Community engagement
Citizen able
The Big Society is nothing new! For years Resource Futures has been working with communities to encourage people to come together to take action. We have a proven track record in initiating innovative approaches to the environmental challenges facing our society and inspiring communities to improve their local area and quality of life.
Resource Futures offers services in:
- Project development and management
- Community mapping and capacity building
- Partnership working
We can support people defined as a community - by geographical area or neighbourhood or by common activity or shared interest - to recycle more, reduce contamination, prevent food waste and compost at home.
We can help to uncover the issues that prevent positive behaviours within a community (barriers to participation), identify community influencers and harness their skills to catalyse change and facilitate effective stakeholder communication to achieve genuine community consultation.
And it’s not just about waste. Visit our case study for details of a sustainable travel initiative carried out in Brighton and Hove.
As well as providing consultancy services, Resource Futures has sought to develop and manage a number of community-based projects that inspire positive behaviour change from the grass roots.
Community Action Groups (CAGs) is a network of local voluntary groups in Oxfordshire at the forefront of community-led climate change action. The CAGs organise events and initiatives to encourage residents to act on waste reduction, reuse and recycling; carbon reduction; sustainable transport and food, energy and water issues in order to live a more sustainable life in their local community. The project commenced in 2001 and currently 40 groups are supported. For more information, please visit the Community Action Groups website.
The project is used as a best practice ‘live’ case study in WRAP’s training course on working with Community and Voluntary Sector (CVS). The initiative is funded and supported by Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP). We are working with OCC and the CAG project to monitor and evaluate the waste and carbon reduction impacts of the project using a bespoke model.
Community RePaint has built a network of more than 60 schemes across the UK, collecting and re-distributing leftover reusable paint to community groups and individuals in need since 1993. For more information, please visit the Community RePaint website.
Our Recycling in Flats Everyday project has focused on the 30,000 Bristol residents living in multiple-occupancy dwellings with the aim of increasing the use of the city’s mini recycling centres. Since 2003 we have worked with Bristol City Council and landlords, caretakers and collection contractors to ensure the smooth running of flats recycling services. We are currently engaged by May Gurney to increase further recycling facilities in Bristol’s flatted properties.
We enable people to use the mini recycling centres by delivering presentations to local groups, distributing information and storage bags and canvassing door-to-door. A local outreach worker and a group of volunteers were recruited to engage with their neighbours and encourage uptake in blocks with large Somali populations. Find out more about flats recycling in our case study.