Imagine

Imagine if there was an alternative process for how resources reach neighbourhoods?

Today I’ve spent time with some remarkable folk from across Greater Manchester. People who have been involved with the Spaces Fund and the Dream Weavers Gathering. A group of people invited to come together as part of a participatory grant making process, with a pot of cash of £400,000 to be allocated by May. £200,000 from GMCA and £200,000 from Lankelly Chase Foundation.

In one of the exercises we were asked to explore our red lines. Where should the funding not go. A common theme began to emerge across Greater Manchester. The way in which grassroots growth was hampered by those who already have a seat at the power table.

‘She had to fund it herself, because the voluntary group had the commission, and didn’t tell her about it, because they thought she might be competition.’ 

I’ve heard the same said in the town where I live. ‘We do this round here’. When new grassroots groups are forming, there’s not a warm welcome. And they’ve usually formed the new groups because they’ve found the bigger, better funded and commissioned organisations have adopted some of the practices of toxic systems.

Today made me feel really grateful for the work that Lankelly Chase and GMCA are doing to disrupt this space. Like, to get into a GM space usually from Wigan, you need consent from the tower of power. You have to get pass the people who supposedly ‘represent us’ and who also seem to take the largest share of the resource pie. 

We seem to wait for ever for a new paper or a coming to life of some funded ‘distributed leadership’ model, which locally they’ve been talking about since the beginning of Covid times. 

And here’s Lankelly and GMCA sorting out a process in no time at all. Making sure too that anyone taking part is recompensed for their time. Building that in as common practice. 

Who knows what this might become in time. Imagine if there was an alternative process for how resources reach neighbourhoods? One free from political processes. One connected to the lived experience of community members. One that centres those most harmed by systems. Imagine that? I can smell it, taste it, hear it and feel it. It was alive in the room today.