Difference between revisions of "Roving Community Innovation Lab"
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==What is it?== | ==What is it?== | ||
| + | Instead of just those who are already involved in their communities and socially motivated, this seeks to encourage regular residents--neighbourhood kids, 'uncles' and 'aunties', local business owners and workers--to start ground-up initiatives through a roving lab to heartlands that feature already actionable ideas complete with playbooks. The lab will also collect local ideas and share with other neighbourhoods as it moves from place to place. | ||
*To promote mutual aid and build supportive communities, the Roving Community Innovation Lab will set up a '''pop-up exhibition''' at different neighbourhoods featuring ideas for peer-driven projects or ground up initiatives. Residents can browse these ready-to-run ideas and indicate interest to participate in or organise such activities. | *To promote mutual aid and build supportive communities, the Roving Community Innovation Lab will set up a '''pop-up exhibition''' at different neighbourhoods featuring ideas for peer-driven projects or ground up initiatives. Residents can browse these ready-to-run ideas and indicate interest to participate in or organise such activities. | ||
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====Giving Circles==== | ====Giving Circles==== | ||
| − | [[Abundant Community Initiative|Giving Circles]] - Mobilize small groups of 5-7 families to give directly and top up the income of a family with lesser means to a minimum level required to provide stability, coupled with a circle of support to meet ad hoc needs and even longer term aspirations. | + | [[Abundant Community Initiative|Giving Circles]] - Mobilize small groups of 5-7 families to give directly and top up the income of a family with lesser means to a minimum level required to provide stability, coupled with a circle of support to meet ad hoc needs and even longer term aspirations. |
====Interest-Free Loans==== | ====Interest-Free Loans==== | ||
to insert | to insert | ||
<br /> | <br /> | ||
| − | ====Neighbourhood Orientation Tours==== | + | ====Inclusive Neighbourhood Groups | Neighbourhood Orientation Tours==== |
| − | + | Inclusive Neighbourhood Groups - A small community-led organising group that leads activities (e.g. neighbourhood orientation tours) with the purpose of integrating typically excluded groups such as seniors, single mothers, low-income families or people with disabilities organically. | |
| + | |||
| + | <br /> | ||
====Community Support Circles==== | ====Community Support Circles==== | ||
Revision as of 01:57, 12 April 2023
What is it?
Instead of just those who are already involved in their communities and socially motivated, this seeks to encourage regular residents--neighbourhood kids, 'uncles' and 'aunties', local business owners and workers--to start ground-up initiatives through a roving lab to heartlands that feature already actionable ideas complete with playbooks. The lab will also collect local ideas and share with other neighbourhoods as it moves from place to place.
- To promote mutual aid and build supportive communities, the Roving Community Innovation Lab will set up a pop-up exhibition at different neighbourhoods featuring ideas for peer-driven projects or ground up initiatives. Residents can browse these ready-to-run ideas and indicate interest to participate in or organise such activities.
- Those interested will be equipped with playbooks that acts as a 'DIY manual' so that residents can self-organise these initiatives. There will be a half-day workshop where a facilitator helps run through the mechanics of each concept.
- The half day workshop also includes an ideation session where residents can propose solutions to address local issues. Good ideas will then be added to the list of curated solutions that can be shared with other communities as the Lab moves from place to place.
Why do this?
If you decide to do something tomorrow with your friend or neighbour that helps your community, that is a 'ground up initiative'. The Roving Lab hopes to encourage people who may not ordinarily think of themselves as 'social innovators' or people mobilisers to start such local initiatives. By curating ideas and then sharing them on posters exhibited in a community space, we hope to reduce the barriers to getting involved. Our theory is that people do not participate in the life of their local community because they do not consider themselves to be the 'sociable' type and find most current community gatherings awkward or boring. If asked to join the grassroots, or to 'volunteer' for some social cause, many people might not want to step forward.
However, if people become aware of an interesting and doable idea--a meaningful way to get involved and contribute--they may be more likely to come forward not just to participate, but even to organise. What if we simply offered parents the opportunity to organise their kids in peer-to-peer learning circles, or play host in a neighbourhood orientation tour, or to join a group to share energy savings or sustainability tips?
Locations and Dates
Jurong: (May - Jul 2023)
Local Partner: Tasek Jurong
Venue: Taman Jurong Community Centre / Tasek Jurong Youth Drop-in Centre
Address: 1 Yung Sheng Road, #03-06 S(618495)
Dates & Programme
| Purpose | Programme | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1-Identify and equip Tasek staff/local volunteers keen to directly organise, support or facilitate some initiatives
(Helps to identify ready organisers for initiatives in case residents only indicate they are interested to participate) |
Preliminary engagement with Tasek | __May 2023 |
| 2-Get youths from Tasek to surface ideas to address local community issues/ activate local community | Design Thinking Workshop / Asset Mapping Session | __May 2023 |
| 3-Showcase curated ideas and solicit for interest from residents to participate or organise | Week-long Pop-up Exhibition | __ to __ July 2023 |
| 4-Get residents to come up with their own ideas for local initiatives | Half-day Community Ideathon
|
__July 2023 |
Yishun: (Sep - Oct 2023)
Local Partner: Tzu Chi Singapore
Venue: Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre
Address: 30A Yishun Central 1, Singapore 768796
Dates & Programme
| Purpose | Programme | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1-Identify and equip Tzu Chi volunteers/grassroots keen to directly organise, support or facilitate some initiatives
(Helps to identify ready organisers for initiatives in case residents only indicate they are interested to participate) |
Preliminary engagement with Tzu Chi volunteers/grassroots | __Sep 2023 |
| 2-Get youths from Tzu Chi to surface ideas to address local community issues/ activate local community | Design Thinking Workshop / Asset Mapping Session | __Sep 2023 |
| 3-Showcase curated ideas and solicit for interest from residents to participate or organise | Week-long Pop-up Exhibition | __ to __ Oct 2023 |
| 4-Get residents to come up with their own ideas for local initiatives | Half-day Community Ideathon
|
__Oct 2023 |
Ideas
The solutions we have curated here those that can already be run by a community without the need for any professionals, philanthropy or permission.
Peer-to-Peer Learning
Peer Learning Circles - Study groups that use self-directed, collaborative and peer-to-peer learning as an alternative to private tuition to achieve learning goals or educational outcomes for youths. Adult learning circles focused on technical, academic or even hobbyist areas also possible.
Giving Circles
Giving Circles - Mobilize small groups of 5-7 families to give directly and top up the income of a family with lesser means to a minimum level required to provide stability, coupled with a circle of support to meet ad hoc needs and even longer term aspirations.
Interest-Free Loans
to insert
Inclusive Neighbourhood Groups | Neighbourhood Orientation Tours
Inclusive Neighbourhood Groups - A small community-led organising group that leads activities (e.g. neighbourhood orientation tours) with the purpose of integrating typically excluded groups such as seniors, single mothers, low-income families or people with disabilities organically.
Community Support Circles
Community Support Circles - The formation of a small circle of support of about 5-7 people from diverse backgrounds around for a person (e.g. frail seniors, people with disabilities, single mothers etc) instead of single person befrienders or peer support. This group shows up for an hour-long meet-up only once a month, and a facilitator helps distribute tasks. It makes social support less intimidating and onerous, and people can calibrate their level of involvement to their comfort level.
Timebanks
[to include asset mapping through block IC, floor IC]
Open Collaboration to Map Social Needs & Community Assets
Contribute to the wiki.socialcollab.sg platform itself, or organise a wikithon.
See the range of roles you can play in this draft of our Landing Page
Dancing in Pitch Darkness
Come and dance like nobody is watching—because nobody can in almost total darkness.
Dancing used to be a natural way of expressing joy at hearing music. Professionals have stylised these movements, created standards and determined what kinds of bodies can dance. Now dancing is mostly performance and posturing. There are norms on who should be doing what kind of dance, and how they should look, dress and move while participating.
What if we took that judgment away? What if we could participate in collective joy again?
Come for a one hour dancing in the dark social experiment.
Come dressed in comfortable clothes. Bring the young, the old and the awkward.
(Inspired by the No Lights No Lycra movement from Melbourne. )
Other Ideas
[These might be ideas that your local grassroots may already be doing]
- Toy Swops / Toy Libraries
- Estate clean up
- Setup our own Repair Kopitiam