We’re delighted to share this guest blog from Michaela, our brilliant Social Action Programme Manager.
Social action is something most of us do naturally, but often we don’t realise we’re doing it. Whether it’s smiling at a stranger on the bus, picking up litter on your street or taking part in a protest against injustice, many of us have had some involvement in social action. At InCommon, we’ve been running our intergenerational social action programmes for four years, encouraging what might sometimes be considered a ‘nice to have’ into a habitual part of our interactions with each other.
I’m Michaela, a Programme Manager at InCommon and I’m focused on developing our intergenerational social action programmes. I’m really interested in how we can move away from individualist habits to being more communally minded and prioritising collective care. Our social action programmes aim to forge friendships between older and younger neighbours to share experiences, learn key campaigning skills and create more shared power in their community by working together to raise awareness of a social issue they feel passionately about.
We kicked off our social action programmes in 2021, bringing generations together across London through a shared desire to tackle injustice in their local communities. Since then, we’ve continued our partnership with Clarion Futures, the #iWill fund, Places for People and Sovereign Network Group to continue embedding youth social action and intergenerational connections nationwide.
This year we’ve also started two exciting new collaborative programmes to help drive intergenerational social action in our communities.
‘How To Make Change’ series with The Advocacy Academy
The ‘How To Make Change’ series has been designed and delivered in collaboration with The Advocacy Academy, a youth organising movement based in Brixton that works to create a more just society by building the collective power of young people to bring about change. Together we’ve created an intergenerational changemaking programme where people across London meet on a monthly basis to build friendships, learn and have fun together. The programme is open to people of all ages and all levels of experience with activism. The workshops give people the space and time to learn about the key principles of changemaking and connect with likeminded people. So far we’ve learnt about power, privilege and community organising and by the end of the programme, the group will have the opportunity to create their own social action campaigns together. If you would like to join our ‘How To Make Change’ sessions, you can sign up on Eventbrite.
Intergenerational social action with the Restorative Justice 4 All
Our second new programme is based in Rotherhithe with the Restorative Justice 4 All (RJ4All) Community Centre. Through the centre and their many projects supporting social justice, they aim to make SE16 London’s first restorative postcode.
We’re supporting young people from their youth club to connect with their older neighbours at a nearby care home. Through games, crafts and music, friendships have already blossomed and we’re excited to see the kind of social action campaigns that the group dream up together.
Last year we collaborated with the young people at RJ4All through creating a mini campaign about food poverty in the UK. They designed food packages with messages of support and hope for people experiencing food poverty. Then at their intergenerational cooking class, they made meals which were packed in these containers and put in their community fridge for those who needed them most.
A photo of decorated food containers, featuring messages of support.
We’re excited to be working with some amazing partners for another year of intergenerational social action programmes and continuing to support older and younger neighbours to make the change they want to see.
If you’d like to find out more about becoming a partner on our social action programme, visit our ‘Partner With Us’ webpage.