Let's Talk Ideas

In this episode we are joined by Jennie Watkins, who reflects on her journey from community activist, to city councillor, to senior case worker for the MP for Gloucester, as she starts her new role at Bromford as an Executive Support Manager.

Today's topic, ABCD or Asset-Based Community Development, a methodology for the sustainable development of communities based on their strengths and potential.

If you'd like to know more about Jennie and her work before Bromford, you can find out over on her LinkedIn.

Links:

Gloucester City Council - ABCD Policy

Nurture Development - Cormac Russell

Gloucester Community Building

In this episode we are joined by Lauren Bond, Head of Delivery at CLES (Centre for Local Economic Strategies) and frequent endorser of anchor organisations.

Anchor organisations are large public sector institutions which are rooted in a particular place and connected to their communities, through things such as universities, local authorities, and hospitals, together forming anchor networks.

In this episode Lauren explains the ins and outs of anchor organisations, how they tie in to the world of housing and most importantly how they help to progress a place based approach when working within communities.

You can find out more about CLES here and you can follow them over on X.

Get in touch with Lauren Bond via email, LinkedIn or Twitter or view her CLES page here.

Kicking off Season 3 of 'Let's Talk Ideas' the strategy team here at Bromford have decided to do something a little different.

In this episode we introduce Bromford's exciting strategic shift towards a Place-Based Working model, of which will also be the overarching theme of this podcast season.

We talk about the thinking behind the change, how we intend on putting our plans into action, what problems we aim to solve with this new way of working as well as discuss the impact it will have going forward.

To learn more about Place-Based Working or the Bromford 2023-2027 Strategy as a whole, click here.

To receive updates on our progress you can follow us on Twitter, Linkedin or read our updates over on the our blog.

In this episode we are joined by Bryony Shannon, who is the Strategic Lead for Practice Development in Adult Social Care at the City of Doncaster and author of the influential blog site Rewriting Social Care.

We talk about why language matters, how human lives and relationships can be reduced to transactional processes through the use of certain terminology and we imagine a brighter future for social care.

This episode was inspired by Bryony's own site dictionary of words that make her think twice and go 'hmmm'.

You can subscribe to the Rewriting Social Care blog here.

Follow Bryony on Twitter or contact her directly here.

In this episode we are joined by Rob Fountain, former CEO of Age UK and current Head of Strategic Partnerships at Gloucestershire VCS Alliance to talk about the challenges of heading up service-based organisations and how we need to go about re-defining the leadership and goals of services to better aid the people who need them.

You can follow Rob over on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn

Links:

TEDTalks

Cormac Russell - Sustainable Community Development

Hilary Cottam - Social Services Are Broken

Books 

John McKnight – ‘The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods’ 

John McKnight & Cormac Russell – ‘The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighbourhoods’ 

Hilary Cottam – ‘Radical Help: How We Can Remake the Relationships Between Us and Revolutionise the Welfare State’ 

Organisations/movements 

The Wigan Deal

Camerados

Nurture Development

Gloucester Community Building Collective

Other X (Twitter) Accounts:

@CormacRussell 

@HilaryCottam 

@ProfDonnaHall 

@MaffPotts 

In this episode we are joined by Jack Shaw, a local government expert to discuss their financial peril. Which factors put a council more at risk from financial pressures? How can a council even go bankrupt? Jack explains all, as well as what will this mean for the the lived experience of residents and anchor organisations within local communities. Finishing with a dose of optimism, Jack sets out practical solutions, as well as thoughts for broader reform of local government.

Read more of Jack's research work here: The State of Local Government Finances - NIESR

Stay up to date with Jack on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/JackTShaw

Will is the Programme Director at Health Innovation South West, one of the 15 Innovation Networks across England, established by NHS England to spread innovation at pace and scale.

Links

In this episode, we are joined by David Parkin, a recognised industry leader in the development of low carbon energy infrastructure to discuss the bigger picture of the UK's transition to a net zero world. We discuss what we mean by net zero, common misconceptions about the transition, and what we need to do to get there.

Find out more about Dave's work at Progressive Energy here:

https://www.progressive-energy.com/

In this episode we are joined by Lizzie Spring, a writer and commentator to discuss why social housing providers can unwittingly stigmatise tenants by focusing on need.

We talk about how the housing sector could rebalance through a relationship of equals - and how it could transform if it recognised the skills and talents of the people it exists to provide for.

https://twitter.com/SafeHomesForAll

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzie-spring-886951157/

Chris Bolton is a researcher, blogger, and good practice expert.

Chris joins Paul Taylor and John Wade to talk about the idea antibodies that can kill innovation, the problem with following ‘best practice; and why we spend so much time ‘bike-shedding’.

You can follow Chris on X and subscribe to his excellent blog here.