The work of a Resident's Association

Last night was the AGM of the Seven Kings and Newbury Park Resident's Association (SKNPRA). This is what I said in my opening remarks as Chair:

2012 has been a year of further development and growth for SKNPRA. What I want to do is set the scene by outlining the broad areas of SKNPRA’s work.

The first thing to mention is our ongoing liaison with the Council and other agencies over specific issues in particular parts of the area. This work results either from our own observation of issues in the locality or through notification by other SKNPRA members or members of the local community. This work is not publicised but regularly achieves small but consistent improvements to the area simply by bringing issues to the attention of the authorities.

Second, we have worked hard to increase our membership because that means that more issues can be noted and addressed and more people can be drawn into higher profile campaigns and other work undertaken by SKNPRA. With this in mind, we have also re-introduced social and fundraising events to the SKNPRA programme, beginning with our recent Quiz Night, as these increase our profile, generate funds which can be used to publicise the Association, and bring our members together.

Third, are our higher profile campaigns which this year has primarily been the campaign to reopen the toilets in Seven Kings Park. Campaigns like this need to use different approaches at different times in order to achieve their overall aims. We began the campaign with significant publicity but, in more recent months, it has been more effective to have been campaigning on this issue behind the scenes.

Fourth, we facilitate other groups and initiatives. So, over the past year, have organised meetings which have led on to the establishment of new Neighbourhood Watch groups and also the Seven Kings Park Users group.

Fifth, we contribute to various committees such as the Area 5 Committee, where we have had a co-opted member, and also the Ward Panel for Seven Kings.

Finally, we have also been liaising and networking with other groups, such as the Goodmayes Resident’s Association, and are linked in with plans to possibly create a network of Resident’s Associations in Redbridge.

All these different but significant strands of our work combine to mean that SKNPRA remains a viable and effective Resident’s Association for Seven Kings and Newbury Park.   

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Tracy Chapman - If Not Now.

Community campaigns

Seven Kings & Newbury Park Resident's Association (SKNPRA) organised a recent meeting to review the recent history of community campaigns in the area and to explore ideas for continuing community campaigns in future. The meeting heard four different approaches outlined by representatives of SKNPRA, Take Action for Seven Kings (TASK), Residents Associations in the UK, and The East London Communities Organisation (TELCO).

 

SKNPRA and TASK have undertaken a wide range of influential community campaigns and community improvement activities such as community clean-up actions. The two organisations have supported each other's campaigns but differ in that SKNPRA is a formally constituted membership association while TASK has had a less formal membership and decision-making structure. It was noted that, while the three founding members of TASK are for varying reasons no longer able to take its work forward as they once were, Padraig Floyd hopes to liaise with members to explore how to take TASK forward in future.  

 

Resident's Associations in the UK seeks to link up Resident's Associations as part of a wider network which can provide information, resources and coordination for campaigns. Their website provides much of their information and resources as well as a help desk feature for specific advice.

 

TELCO works with the people who want to transform the world — from what it is to what they believe it should be. Drawing on the proven power of person-to-person organising, their work transforms communities and builds the local power necessary to create local and national change. They challenge people to imagine the change they can accomplish, connect individuals and organisations to multiply their power, and mobilise people by the thousands to make their voices heard.

 

These differing approaches - local campaigns through constituted associations, local campaigns through informal associations, networked associations, and area-wide community organising - together with single issue campaigning represent the main ways of doing community campaigning in the UK.

 

The discussion which followed the four presentations included input from Resident Association organisers and members, Trade Union officials and local Councillors. The discussion emphasised the importance of campaigns being locally focused but also recognised the benefits of shared campaigns and local groups working together in wider networks. Wider networks were more able to deliver training in campaigning or community organising to local people and could present a greater weight of opinion on issues that were shared across a wider area. The issue of disparities between different areas was raised as an aspect of community campaigns - this sense is often a motivator to local people to join campaigns - but it was also suggested that where such disparities became the main focus of campaigns the effect could be counter-productive. The importance of genuinely involving all groups within the local community in local campaigns and the need for greater understanding of how to do so was also noted.

 

The meeting seemed useful as a way of introducing organisations which provide campaigning networks to local campaigners and also as a way of beginning to form links and networks across local campaigning groups.

 

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The Ruts - In A Rut.