Who are we?

Supported by

@juliandobson

@johnpopham

@sospot

@dosticen@davidwilcox

@LadyLowe

@watfordgap

@philralph

How did we start?• Day 1: 1 blog post• Day 2: 4 people in a café• Day 4: Online forum launched• Day 12: 100 people attend event• July 2011: 20,000 web visits to online

forum• Today: 594 members

…all pretty much for free

Limited resources• Spend to date: approx £129 online

costs, travel, CDX support• Freebies: Venues & food, eventbrite,

logo/brand, goodwill…

From north focus to Our Society

• Started as Big Society in the North• Interest from Dudley, the South West

and other areas• Wanted to step away from and

challenge the Big Society label

Is Big Society a “dead parrot”?

I’m not an ex parrot!

Challenge: Identity v. ownership

• We are not an organisation• Individual opinion• Clear mission statement• Links to local networks• Save the baby!

Our Society in Dudley Borough

• LSP sign up• Our Society

Steering Group• Our Society

Planning Group• In job descriptions

and work plans

Our Society in Dudley Borough

• Activity to test change and develop evidence

• Working with senior decision-makers • Visit from Cabinet Office • Voluntary Sector Network event • Celebrating community activity • Developing Dudley Council’s

approach

Community Rights project

Community Rights project

Our Society: A Guide• Policy context and drivers, vision and

approach• Identifying existing and new social assets• Rethinking structures as networks/systems • Changing roles • Methods (toolkits, frameworks, knowledge

hub)• Practical steps which Dudley can take

Community Lover’s Guide

Social Spaces game

Social Spaces game

Arts

groups

and

citizens

can do

this

togethe

r

1. Arts groups

can do this

in partnership

2. Support we

would like…

@dosticenlorna@dudleycvs.org.uk01384 573381

Join Our Society: www.oursociety.org.uk

Join the local discussion: www.oursocietydudley.org.uk