Manchester City Centre has just seen the arrival of two new Community Organisers, who aim to listen to at least 1000 people and recruit a group volunteers interested in improving their local communities in the Northern Quarter and Ancoats.
Alice Toomer and Sherelle Fairweather will be listening to and working with the communities of the Northern Quarter and Ancoats over the next year, being hosted by the Young Advisors Charity based in the Northern Quarter.
The Community Organisers programme, run by Locality and the Re:Generate Trust, aims to empower communities by listening to residents’ loves, concerns and visions for where they live, and then working with them to create positive local change.
The city centre is already home to two Community Organisers, Pollyanna and Elle, who are hosted by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation. They started listening to people in the area around six months ago and have since supported residents in setting up local markets, arts and culture events, as well as having trained up a group of volunteer Community Organisers to reach out even further into the community.
The new Organisers hope to achieve similar success with the communities they will be working with. Alice said: “We are both really excited about working with the communities of the NQ and Ancoats. We have already had some encouraging conversations with people who have great ideas, and look forward to hearing from anyone else with concerns or ideas about how to improve the area.”
Alice and Sherelle will be walking around the area, knocking on doors and meeting with local organisations over the next year in order to listen to people’s views and ideas, and encourage those who would like to talk about any community issues or ideas to get in touch via facebook, email or phone.
For further information, visit: www.facebook.com/alice.toomer.corganiser or www.facebook.com/sfCorganiser, or contact 0792 933 6015 or 0792 934 0096, or email: [email protected] or [email protected].
