Cambridge Community Development Plan – First Draft

Background

The content of these slides cover a number of ideas around the use of social media within my locality – Cambridge. My particular interests are:-Increasing levels of local political engagement & political literacy in how the city & country is run-Breaking the “town-gown” divide-Increasing the connections (and uses of) all of the various community and business groups in Cambridge for the benefit of the city and wider society

Introduction

Cambridge and the surrounding area has undergone significant changes in recent years. It will continue to do so as the population increases.

This slidepack presents a positive vision for the future, examines how we can overcome the barriers and how we can achieve this.

These are series of ideas to be scrutinised, changed, amended and improved. I have put this pack together to stimulate debate from across communities in and around Cambridge. Hopefully we can achieve a future city that is shaped by the people that live and work here, rather than have someone else’s vision imposed on us from above by virtue of money and/or power.

Scoping the issues

– There is a large science community in Cambridge, but relatively low engagement of scientists in politics and public administration given its importance to the UK economy

– Turnout in local elections is low. Given the move towards devolving further powers to a local level, there is an increased risk that local decision-making will not be subject to sufficient scrutiny at a local level unless councils and communities step up to the challenge

– Cambridge continues to grow rapidly in terms of population. This creates challenges for how newcomers to the city are integrated into city life

– Modern communications technologies (and people’s use of them) present new challenges and opportunities to large institutions that operate in and around the city

Scoping the opportunities

– Using social media to increase people’s participation in local political and community issues

– Using social media to help hold local elected representatives to account

– Using social media to engage the large science community and unleash its potential locally and nationally

– Using social media to publicise events in the city– Using social media to help people build and maintain

friendships and contacts across the city – particularly on running community groups and campaigning on causes

What does success look like?

Vision• A vibrant city with community groups taking part in

each others activities• A city where those in most need share in the

economic and social successes of the city• A city where those who are most affluent reach out to

communities they might not otherwise interact with• A city that works together to overcome the challenges

it faces• A city that is greater than the sum of its parts

What does success look like?

Outcomes- Stronger bonds within & between communities in the City- Increased knowledge – in particular around politics and public administration- A vibrant local politics scene with greater participation from all groups – in particular scientists, engineers and those groups whose voices are seldom heard- Stronger links between businesses & voluntary groups- People and institution using social media in a manner that complements the community activities they already do, rather than being seen as a replacement

View from the desk•Local councils have started using social media – in particular Facebook and Twitter – but primarily as a broadcast function rather than for listening and engagement•Some community groups have started using social media, though few of the mainstream ones have been able to do so effectively - ie in a manner that gets wider audiences involved in what they do•Institutions have a limited awareness of how people in Cambridge are self-organising to run their own community groups. Thus it makes it harder for institutions to respond to the needs of such groups•Local political parties generally have a limited presence on digital and social media, although individual politicians are pioneering new approaches through it.

Scoping the problems

Out and about in and around Cambridge

I have attended a wide variety of community events, workshops and meetings over the past 18 months. I have also visited a number of community centres to get a feel for how groups and organisations are functioning. I have also become a school governor at a local primary school in that time.

Cambridge has a large number of community groups and organisations, a number of them thriving and vibrant. However, too many of them remain insular-looking. A number that I have engaged with have asked the same question: How do we reach out to a wider audience?

Scoping the problems

What is already out there?

Who has what information?

There are a number of different organisations with information that could be very useful. These include:-Cambridge City Council (Community Development Officers)-Cambridgeshire County Council (Ditto)-South Cambridgeshire District Council (Ditto)-Cambridge CVS – membership lists of community groups-Cambridge & Anglia Ruskin Universities – student societies

- …there are likely to be significantly more that have further information

What is already out there?

What about the informal groups?

These include the groups that are unlikely to have their own premises and use social media to organise their events. Tools they organise on include but are not limited to:-Facebook-Meetup.Com (Search groups in Cambridge)-Eventbrite.co.uk (Search groups in Cambridge)

What are our ‘unknowns’?

Which sets of information could we do with gathering, publishing and publicising?

Data on community groups:•How many groups are there?•How big are they? (What’s the distribution according to size?)•What areas are these groups most active in – both geographically and on issues of interest?•Who are the people that run them, how can we contact them?•What is the potential for these groups?•What are their needs in order to reach that potential, and what is stopping them? (e.g skills, funding, stable place to meet regularly)

Audience segmentation

What does our city look like?

Despite the headlines about Cambridge being this scientific powerhouse of growth, the place is far more diverse than it has ever been in my lifetime (just over 30 years as a home town). Accordingly, it has a population that has a different set of needs as well as talents that it can contribute.

In order to identify what the needs and talents are, we need to do some segmentation. These will inevitably be generalisations, but undertaking such an exercise may allow for institutions to be more flexible in how they respond and behave when trying to engage with community groups.

An example of audience segmentation

University students 18-25

Assume all connected, but differences on levels of engagement. Also a possible separation btw Anglia and Cambridge University students in terms of family and geographical background.

School/College/sixth form students 14-20

Younger and more locally-based (and more likely to have stronger local ties) but also maybe looking further a field. Local Professionals

Middle-income to affluent workers. Aware but not engaged, low users of council-run public services

Full-time office-based

Low to middle-income workers. Low awareness, low engagement but families likely to be users of council-run public services – e.g. buses and schools.

Healthcare and education

Low to middle income workers. A minority likely to be migrant workers – esp in healthcare so may not have voting rights but likely to be users of public services. UK workers increased likelihood of being trade union members

Part-time workers

Likely to be working to supplement income – especially those with children of school age. Low awareness & engagement

Part-time workers

Likely to be working to supplement income – especially those with children of school age. Low awareness & engagementUnemployed/benefits’ dependent

Levels of connection & engagement low & low?

Middle-to-affluent parents

Levels of connection likely to be high – esp former professionals. Awareness reasonable – access to networks

Poorer-to-middle parents

Levels of connection & engagement = ?

Pensioners

Levels of connection variable, but levels of awareness and engagement reasonable to high – especially those who actively volunteer. Manual workers

Levels of connection likely to be high. Unknown on levels of engagement even though Govt regulations likely to affect their work

Connection/Awareness/Engagement through social media

Disengaged Unaware Aware Engaged Active

Switched off

Infrequent access

Daily but not continual access e.g. work/college

Continual access at home & work

Continual connection on the move (iPhone/ laptop)

“Victor Meldrew”

Very busy professionals to high web users following particular people/ celebrities

Student activists

Paid activists

Local activists who are not online

Regular bloggers who engage with their audience

People who read about issues in mainstream websites

People who follow new media sites but choose not to interact

People who respond infrequently on established media sites

Social media users in politics field

People who respond frequently in interactive sites

Infrequent bloggers/ article writers

“Entertainment media watchers”

Affluent but disinterested

People who read about issues “old” media

People who write (not email) into newspapers regularly

Advocates

A segmented city or a city of silos?

Business HealthUniversities Community Politics

Points for discussion:•To what extent are people within each of the above interacting with each other?•Which of the segments align well with each other?•Which of the segments have considerable barriers between them?•What are those barriers and how can they be overcome?•What would you like to see being done differently and by which people/organisations/institutions?

CambridgeL!VE

Schools Leisure Commuters

High level communications, but little grassroots engagement?

It appears that we may have a number of silos where individuals, firms and organisations communicate within, but not necessarily between them at a hyper-local level.

Business Public SectorUniversity Voluntary and Community/Civil Society Sector

Local politics

High level strategic links – for example at what was “local strategic partnership” level

Links between university and skills & capital-intensive business

Public sector a core funder and supporter of the VCS/CCS

Local politicians pay a close interest in voluntary and community groups

Strong links between politicians & university political societies

Business sponsorship of individual local charities

How to break the silosTrying to break the silos is incredibly difficult. Changes to public administration made by central government brought into being “Local Strategic Partnerships” which brought together the heads of large organisations and representatives of key partnerships.

While senior managers may spend lots of time in meetings, most other people do not. Therefore trying to use a “meetings-based format” for people who, for example are out and about regularly may not be the most suitable model.

What social media can do is enable people make those links with other people and become aware of issues they care about/may affect them that they would otherwise miss out on commenting on. The best examples of this are housing and planning issues.

Breaking the silos

The nature of social media use is that it is very informal and fluid, rather than formal and structured. This potentially is what may make it work for a wider group of people & make it easier for organisations to engage with people.

Business Public SectorUniversity Voluntary and Community/Civil Society Sector

Local politics

High level strategic links – for example at what was “local strategic partnership” level

Developed “operational level” links between organisations and people that are “off the radar” of the strategy people.

Micro-grassroots links – very informal local level and small-scale.

What I would like to see is Cambridge develop a community development strategy to help unleash the city’s potential.

I recommend that is broadly geographically-based (but not rigidly so), rather than one based on institutional or administrative boundaries.

Tools and behaviours

• Some of this work has already been attempted by various organisations. The problem is that none of them seem to have gathered a critical mass of people to make it seen as ‘the place to go to.

• Is it possible to merge as many of the ones that are out there into a single community-wide platform, or have them functioning where there is some sort of co-ordination, especially with the publication of events?

Business HealthUniversities Community Politics

CambridgeL!VESchools Leisure Travel

A single community-wide internet message board

Interactive, accessible user-friendly events calendar

Consistency & co-ordination across institutions on how they communicate – online & offline

Next steps?How do we make this happen?

For a start, these are just a series of ideas. They need significant work to improve them. Hence we need to have a workshop with all interested and influential parties. This allows them to make improvements to the concept.

Given that the main output is a community development strategy, this early engagement is essential as we will be asking heads of institutions to commit their organisations to the strategy.

Next steps?How do we make this happen?Assuming the major institutions are content with the principle, then we can start work on the following:•engaging with communities to get their input – in particular on issues they would like to see covered•Organising workshops bringing people from different backgrounds together – business, academia, community groups etc & facilitate conversations•Work on co-ordinating actions across institutions – eg a public calendar of community events.

And finally…?Which bits will be time-limited and which will be ongoing activities?At some stage, we will need to have a community development strategy written, consulted on and signed off – similar to Oldham’s Neighbourhood Agreements. That strategy will need to have a refresh date on it too.Developing community-wide message-boards and a single events portal is something that we can deliver through a series of ‘hack days’ and training sessions.Finally, I would also like to see annual ‘community groups fairs’ similar to the freshers fairs university students have.

Any Questions?