Community engagement - no such thing as small change

I am interested in getting more involved in my community. What can I do?

The information below is a good place to start. You can also contact the Community Engagement Team to get support finding an activity that’s right for you, or register for updates from us about new opportunities.

• get involved via the 'City Living, Local Life' programme which provides support and funding in partnership with Councillors directly in local areas
• join your local tenant or resident association. See our page on resident associations for more, including about our Gold Standard Award scheme which provides £500 grants and other benefits to resident associations that demonstrate excellence.
• become a community evaluator or resident reviewer and help us improve services using your experiences. Community evaluators receive in-depth training and develop an ongoing relationship to improve services, while Resident Reviewers act as 'mystery shoppers'.
• attend an upcoming event and share your views
• volunteer
• help improve health and social care services by joining the Local Involvement Network (LINk)
• have your say in one of our current consultations

For local news and events, we recommend the site ActiveLink, which is resident-created and run.

Our team is also responsible for a number of other programmes that benefit the community.  We liaise with voluntary organisations and community groups, including a grants scheme and other funding support. We are also in the process of refreshing our Compact.

Where can I get advice on equality and diversity issues?

Our team leads Council work on equality and diversity. Find out more on our equality and diversity page.

I am interested in best practice engagement advice. How can the Community Engagement Team help me?

Our team works to provide strategic and practical advice on community engagement to the Council. We also aim to better co-ordinate and promote best practice across the Council to reduce duplication and maximise opportunities for local people. Contact us for more information.

You can also make use of a new practical guide produced by Involve, a charity specialising in understanding and sharing creative thinking in engagement and producing practical guides to help practitioners undertake better community engagement activity. The guide is packed with informal and fun ideas on engaging the public in helping design, develop, improve and evaluate services. The Community Engagement Team played an active role in contributing to the production of this document.

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