The Palmers Green Community Hub was held on 28th November and attracted around 120 different organisations and individual attendees. Francis Sealey celebrates a successful afternoon.
The Hub was organised by Enfield Climate Action Forum, the local social justice movement LocalMotion and the Co-op membership engagement team. Palmers Green Mosque agreed to host it and played an integral part in its development and delivery.
When we planned the Hub we never expected that this many would turn up and were quite amazed at the level of interest. It was full of energy as we discussed the eight topics that formed the substance of the Hub. People came up with many innovative ideas and people and groups networked together to create possible future partnerships.
The Hub was set up to show that community ideas do matter and that by working together we can turn many of these ideas into action.
To be free to express concerns and ideas in a non-threatening environment is really important. It is the basis of a bottom-up democracy that is so much needed at this moment in time. When traditional politics is in disarray and held in low esteem we have to find new ways of recreating democracy so community voices are heard and community action can follow.
And follow it will. It will take some time to sift through all the ideas that developed but already there are some positive outcomes. As a result of the Hub, the Ruth Winston Centre wants to talk with us about the problems facing older people because of climate change. How do we create contingency plans for excess heat that could lead to many older people dying?
We have wanted for some time to look at how we recruit climate champions or ambassadors to visit schools, businesses and other organisations to talk about carbon literacy and being sustainable. As a result of the Hub, Enfield Voluntary Action is now talking to us about that.
Again as a result of the Hub, we have had an interest in looking at how we can develop energy co-ops so that communities can help themselves at a time of fuel poverty and changing technology.
And because of the collaborative nature of community hubs we have been approached by the council's adult social care team to see how we can help them develop solutions around a process of co-design where the community is part of the solution.
These are just some ideas that are being discussed and there will be more. So the Palmers Green Community Hub did exactly what we hoped. It set people’s imaginations alight through a dynamic atmosphere of engagement and from that we hope there will be a series of continuing outputs and future activities.