Our first Community Reporter catch-up of the year is set to take place in March and you’re invited!

We host two Community Reporter catch-ups each year and they’re a great way to meet other Community Reporters and learn about what people have been up to in the wider movement. Whether you’ve attended before, or are completely new to Community Reporting – join us for a catch up and a natter.

When is it happening? Monday 27th March 2023 from 12:00pm – 1:00pm

How can I get involved? Sign up for a free ticket through Eventbrite below

Who else will be there? You’ll meet people from the PVM team, Community Reporters from the wider movement and people who are curious to find out more!

Sign up for your free ticket through eventbrite.

We’ll see you soon!

We are pleased to announce that the Eventbrite booking links for the Community Reporting Online Session and Coaching Programme as part of the Not Another Co-Production project are now ready! 

The full listings are detailed below. Please book quickly as places are limited. All sessions are on Zoom and links will be provided upon booking. 

Online Sessions – These sessions are open to anyone living and or working in West Midlands

Audio recording & audio editing – #NACP Workshop

Friday 3^rd March 2023, 10:00am – 11:30am

Video recording & video editing – #NACP Workshop

Friday 10^th March 2023, 10:00am – 11:30am

Digital Tools For Co-Production #NACP Workshop

Tuesday 14th March 2023, 10:00am – 11:30am

Over the past 6 months PVM have been working with Creative Minds and the Mental Health Museum, on a project looking into people’s lived experience with mental health.

A multitude of sessions have taken place across West Yorkshire, specifically in Wakefield and Huddersfield, sharing Community Reporting techniques and providing the opportunity for people to share their stories.

The project initially set out to speak to people who had a connection to the former Stanley Royd Hospital and Fieldhead Hospital, something which we were able to achieve. Head over to the Community Reporter Website to take a look through and listen to some of the stories that have been recorded as part of the project so far – including accounts from former staff members of the hospitals! What also emerged from the project was a wider collection of stories exploring people’s personal mental health journeys.

We’d like to give a huge thank you to the MHM, Creative Minds and of course everyone who took the time to share their stories and take part in the Community Reporter training sessions.

Whilst PVM’s involvement in the project will shortly be coming to an end – if you want to find out more or contribute your story get in touch with the MHM.

Last month EUARENAS partners came together for two days of training led by PVM at FACT, Liverpool.

Over the two days representatives from PVM, CRN, UEF, SWPS and the pilot cities of Gdask, Voru and Reggio Emilia engaged in a series of creative workshops, providing insight into how future scenarios can be explored using interactive play style activities. Each activity was geared towards getting groups to work collectively to imagine a future in which deliberative democracy has been achieved.

Serious Play

Groups used ‘Lego’ style building blocks to construct their vision of the future.

Collaging / Annotation

Groups worked together to create an annotated collage containing imagery and text cut out of newspapers, magazines and other printed media.

Photo Voice

Groups were provided with an instant camera, then instructed to take to the streets and capture images which represented participatory democracy. They returned to the workshop after gathering their pictures and created a visual mind map of what their future scenario could look like.

The activities were really fun to take part in and each group was able to sample each of the methods, with new ideas emerging at every stage. Following this section of the training partners reflected on each of the activities discussing the positive, negatives and potential adaptations – in preparation for the delivery of a series of future thinking workshops which are set to take place over the coming months.

On the second day partners worked within their country teams to produce an action plan for the delivery of the future thinking workshops. These plans were then peer reviewed and will now be utilised to achieve the next steps of the project.

Check out the blog post over on the EUARENAS website to find out even more about what we got up to.

On Wednesday PVM hosted a Knowledge Exchange Event at Gorse Hill studios in Stretford, Greater Manchester, as part of the CONTINUE Project.

Young people, youth workers, staff from Gorse Hill and other community organisations came together to discover the learnings from the project so far and develop policy recommendations to benefit the lives of young people.

“Living in an area that sees lots of tourists – what’s here for us?”

During the workshop, groups worked together to brainstorm ideas and create a vision for what they’d like to see in their community in the form of community maps. These ideas are going to feed into a policy briefing which will summarise the findings of the session and set out a clear list of recommendations to local decision makers.

Some key themes that emerged from the discussions include…

• Parks and public spaces lack facilities for older young people (aged 13+) – equipment should be installed to make these spaces more inviting to this age bracket e.g. a skate park, parkour course or outdoor gym equipment
• Litter is an issue in the local area – providing more bins would improve this problem
• Poorly lit streets & areas can be scary for young people – having more streetlights would help young people feel safer
• Local stadiums and venues attract tourists and visitors from outside of the community who don’t always respect the local area – what can be done to provide people with a space they feel is built for the local community

Outside of the project, Gorse Hill Studios have scheduled to meet with local MP Kate Green to discuss how they can continue to work on influencing policy change in their community. They have also been invited to take part in a project – PLACEHOLDERS – which is looking into how young people’s voices can be included in the co-design and creation of spaces in the area like Stretford Mall.

It looks as though the work that has been done so far will continue to develop into the future – stay tuned for further updates and the release of the policy briefing!