Our Work

Stand out in Darwen

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"We’ve challenged the top down culture, and proved that good ideas can come from the ground up if we can trust each other and support each other.”(Community Champion)

“The key thing I have learnt is to stop seeing poor communities as problems and start seeing people as assets and opportunities. Government has learnt to label communities negatively, and we need to start seeing the positives, and expecting more from people.” (Stand Out in Darwen Together member)

Stand Out in Darwen set out to discover the assets and the potential of the town and its communities – people, energy, ideas, skills and ambitions – and encourage local people to put those assets to good use. The project began by going out to where people were, using a ‘touring living room’, listening to their thoughts about change and inviting them to share ideas, and help choose the best ones to turn into community projects and action. A network of community activity was created, delivered by local people and supported by local people, which has begun to enable organisations and businesses in Darwen to come together and discover how to make the town a better place.

The Neighbourhood Challenge was led by Darwen Aldridge Community Academy, a secondary school in the town. The Academy is supported by the Aldridge Foundation, a trust created to harness entrepreneurial ability as a catalyst for social change, and which operates five schools across the country. The Foundation believes there are no limits to what people can achieve, and aims to develop the characteristics of entrepreneurial behaviour through its work: passion, creativity, determination, teamwork, problem solving and risk taking. Stand Out in Darwen set about its work with the same spirit.

Some headline messages fromthe project

All the Neighbourhood Challenge projects offered rich opportunities for learning. We have picked out just a few specific insights from this project below:

  • An asset based approach and way of thinking, which has looked for potential and possibility, rather than focusing on problems and needs, has encouraged people to give time, skills, resources and commitment to community activity, and to each other.
  • Going out to where people are, rather than expecting them to come to specific events or places, has enabled ideas to be gathered and people to feel listened to and valued, drawing many into community action for the first time.
  • Stand Out in Darwen removed many of the traditional barriers to getting involved and focused on the potential of people’s ideas for change. Traditional community meetings, application forms, presentations and decision making panels were replaced by facilitated events, conversations and community votes to select projects to be funded and supported.
  • A strong brand identity and an active and positive use of a wide range of communications methods – web, radio, press, blogs, social media – has helped to create a shift in the perception of Darwen among those involved, and helped to generate a sense of pride and identity.
  • The project has demonstrated that attitudes can be as important as approaches in leading community change. The “boundless enthusiasm, optimism and belief in people” which has been at the centre of the work has been a powerful force for change.

About their approach

  • The project set out to tap into local people’s ideas and enthusiasm for change, and turn those ideas into community action. To do this, Stand Out in Darwen used five main approaches in their work:
  • the project went out and about in the town to places where people gather or spend time,
  • to listen to their ideas to select ideas to turn into community projects, community events were held at which local people shared their ideas and chose which ones to take forward
  • to support the community projects, volunteer Community Champions were trained and paired up with project leaders
  • to connect projects with others who could support them, networking activities and events were held
  • to promote the work, a strong brand identity was created and news of the work was spread through many communication channels

These approaches enabled the project to do four crucial things: (1) find people and ideas that could make change happen in communities, (2) support people to turn ideas into action, (3) create an identity which people associate with positive change and (4) find allies and develop partnerships to sustain change.

1. Finding people and ideas

“If you’ve got a good idea, you can make it happen, and we can help.” (Darwen Aldridge Community Academy)

“We made some great links through Stand Out in Darwen. They helped us with vital funding for CCTV and skips for a much needed clean up. The Residents Association has given us all pride in our area again, it has knitted us together as a proper community now. We have cut police call outs from 87 to 3 in one year.” (Pioneer project holder)

Stand Out in Darwen went on tour to talk to local people about their ideas for change. This was no ordinary tour, as the project created their own transportable pop-up spacein the shape of a Living Room, complete with armchairs, coffee table, potted plant, standard lamp and fluffy pet cat! The Living Room visited supermarkets, a leisure centre, a library, pubs, schools, places of worship, community centres, community events, voluntary organisations, and businesses to chat to local people. People were asked two positive questions: “what do you like about where you live?”, and “what skills or assets do you have to contribute to your community?” The Living Room theme was continued on the web, where an Ideas Sofa invited people to make suggestions for change.

The tour helped to promote Ideas Into Action days, held at the Academy, where people were invited to share their suggestion with others who had also brought ideas. The first day attracted over 100 ideas, and more people. To ensure as many ideas as possible could be considered, the project avoided application forms and presentations and replaced them with ‘speed networking’where people talked with others about their idea. To avoid dependence on established community groups, individuals could be funded, and to avoid concerns about openness in decision making, all those at the event cast votes for those ideas they believed could bring about the most change for the town. When people voted they also committed to give an hour of their own time to the project they voted for. Over the course of two Ideas Into Action days, 60 small community projects, or Neighbourhood Pioneers, were chosen.

2. Supporting people to make change happen

“Having built links in the community it’s really good to see community groups, individuals and the council pooling assets to get work done. At the Ashleigh Barrow project, the (Council) Team offered support to trim back some of the more overgrown areas of the park. This has really helped the project move faster and progress on the site is obvious.”(Project Blog post, Sept 2011)

Community Champion’s were recruited from the town to promote the Neighbourhood Challenge and to support the Pioneer Projects. These people were trained by the Academy to work alongside the Pioneer Projects and act as a sounding board, supporter and link to other projects and back to the Academy. The Champions had a range of backgrounds, including voluntary work, service in the public sector and business people. The Champions increased the capacity of the project to support community activity, and provided Pioneers with support from those who knew the town and its people.

Both the Pioneers and the Champions became assets to each other, by joining up their projects or by looking for help or resources from within the network of 60 projects. This was a cornerstone of the asset based approach from the Academy; rather than rely on additional funds to add resources to projects, the first task was always to look for them across the network. As Stand Out in Darwen developed, the network widened to include local public services and businesses which offered time, premises, transport and equipment to support the Pioneers to achieve their goals.

3 Creating a brand that people can identify with and associate with positive change

“Local media input to the project has been growing and it’s nothing short of brilliant to see people and projects getting recognised for their work as a result of the Stand Out in Darwen campaign.” (Project blog post, Oct 2011)

“The best messages are the stories which disprove and dispel the fears – get the stories out there, follow them up with hard facts and a call to act.” (Stand Out in Darwen Together member)

Darwen is a former mill town and a close neighbour to Blackburn. Keen to develop a strong and distinct identity with the town, the Neighbourhood Challenge chose the Stand Out in Darwen brand to create a consistent message of positive activity and optimism. The Academy used a wide range of conventional and new media, and a stream of images and good news stories, to reinforce the brand and the message that local people could lead change in their communities.

4. Finding allies and developing partnerships to sustain change

The project has accomplished an impressive amount in a short period of time, to the extent where they have drawn allies into the network - local businesses, the Health Service, Fire Brigade, Police, Local Authority – all have found themselves involved in supporting the Pioneer Projects and have begun to think about their own roles. New approaches to community engagement have been discovered with both the Health Service and the Local Authority piloting asset based methods in communities. The Academy seized the opportunity to bring assets together, hosting a day of sharing between organisations and developing the Stand Out in Darwen Together partnership, which is the vehicle to take forward the work after the Neighbourhood Challenge. It is worth noting that the success has been driven by the highly motivated, enterprising and dedicated, paid staff team.

What's been changing?

The Academy developed an Endowment Fund alongside the regional Community Foundation as part of the plans to sustain the work in the future. Both organisations have needed to work hard to find the best fit for the asset based methods within the Foundation’s usual approach to funding, which is based on meeting needs.

The Academy has begun to see shifts in approach from public sector agencies towards a more asset based way of working, and have learnt that the pace of change within large organisations can seem slow. The Academy has taken up many invitations to share their methods with others in the town and across Lancashire, and will continue to use the Stand Out in Darwen partnership to encourage others to discover and adopt new approaches.

What's changed?

Local assets have been unlocked

  • A new habit of seeking out assets before looking for funds has emerged. This is bringing resources and skills into action in communities, and creating a ‘can do’ mindset among local people.
  • The Neighbourhood Challenge has created a new, wider role for the Academy within the town, as an active participant in change. In the final days of the project, 400 students applied to the Pioneer Projects to deliver 2 days of volunteering to support their community activity. The Academy building is now better used by a range of local people and agencies.
  • 60 Pioneer Projects and enterprises have been created with modest amounts of funding, 16 Community Champions have been trained and over 250 people have made choices and given time to community activity at the Ideas Into Action events.
  • Voluntary time given to the project has been substantial: over 400 hours in one month near the end of the project.

New networks, connections and collaborations have been created

  • A network of small pockets of community activity has been created, and news of that activity and its benefits has been widely shared in the town.
  • Connections have begun to happen spontaneously, between Pioneer projects and between organisations in the town. A ripple effect has been created, with connections and collaborations creating other links as the network has grown.

New opportunities for Influence have been developed

  • The Health Service has worked with the Academy to pilot an asset based approach to community health promotion in Darwen
  • The Academy has supported the Local Authority to create new Ward Solutions meetings in the borough to shift dialogue with local people toward ideas and away from problems.
  • The Stand Out in Darwen partnership has been formed to take forward the work initiated during Neighbourhood Challenge.

New ambitions for change have emerged

  • Many involved with the work believe that the project has changed the way people think about change and about the town.

What next?

“We’ve brainwashed people into thinking that you can’t do anything without money. The money has been the least important part of what has happened in Darwen. We’ve shifted from being needs driven to recognising assets” (Stand Out in Darwen Together member)

“Sustainability is about having more people who are prepared to take action in their community. This is the real prize – committed people who believe that they can make change happen.” (Stand Out in Darwen Together member)

Neighbourhood Challenge has been a catalyst for change in Darwen – a real reaction to the process can be seen in the connections between people in communities, and in new relationships which are developing within partnership working and planning in the town. The Academy has been gathering assets over the life of the Neighbourhood Challenge to continue the change process:

The Academy will continue to support the work and will continue to develop its role in engaging with and motivating local people to take action for themselves. Stand Out in Darwen Together partnership will create a ‘Delivery Panel’ involving the Academy, the Community Champions, the Council for Voluntary Service, the Health Service, the Local Authority and others to broaden the ownership and delivery of the work A ‘Pegasus Fund Panel’ will be set up to attract investments and donations to the Endowment Fund. The Stand Out in Darwen website is being re-shaped to provide an ‘asset – finding’ function to enable local people to continue to connect with each other and with resources. The Academy will continue to share its way of working with others, and is creating a toolkit to distribute learning further afield.

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