Independent and not-for-profit with 30 years' expertise in planning, community planning and engagement
 

News

Community Places is Recruiting

Community Places is currently recruiting a Planner and Engagement Officer.  This is an exciting opportunity to join our planning team.  Work will include providing planning advice to communities and individuals on a varied and interesting caseload and supporting our community engagement work throughout the region.  The post is permanent and full-time with a competitive salary and flexible terms. 

The Application Form and information for applicants is available to download here.  The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Friday, 8 April 2022. 

 

14 March 2022

Youth Participatory Budgeting (PB) Accelerator Toolkit and DIY Manual Zoom Workshop

 

The toolkit provides detailed guidance to support the design and delivery of youth led PB. The free online resource includes everything from the values that underpin youth participation, enabling conditions for youth PB to thrive, the typical stages of a school or community PB process and good practice case studies from across Europe and America. It is accompanied by a DIY Manual with helpful resources and tools to support Youth PB. 

This online interactive workshop will be in English. There will be three other launch events happening in each of the project partner countries including Poland; Spain; and UK - (England, Scotland and Wales on 17 March 2022) The Erasmus+ research partnership brings together five partners from across three countries. The project is co-ordinated by the Polish Foundation Soclab, with collaborators from Field of Dialogue in Poland, the University of Granada’s Medialab in Spain, as well as Shared Future CIC in the UK and Community Places in Northern Ireland.   Visit the Youth PB Accelerator website to find out more about the project including blogs on youth participation, podcasts from PB practitioners and participants and case studies illustrating youth PB practice in school and community settings.

 
After registering you will receive a Zoom link and programme. During and after the event a link will be available to download the free toolkit and DIY manual.
 
To find out more about the PB Works Project visit: www.participatorybudgetingworks.org or contact Louise O'Kane louise@communityplaces.info   
 
28 February 2022

Guide to Engagement Methods

We are pleased to share our recently developed Guide to Engagement Methods.  It provides details on methods which are most appropriate for achieving different levels of engagement and assesses the strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness of each method alongside useful tips on how to apply each one.   The clickable menu bar to the right of each page enables easy navigation throughout the Guide (as do links in the Methods Table on Page 2).  

If you are interested in finding out more about any engagement method, please contact us.  

 

10 January 2022

Community Development - New Toolkit

The Ashton Trust has just published a Community Development Toolkit prepared by Community Places.  Contents range from knowing your community’s needs and views to making the most of all meetings and from getting people involved to looking after finances and reputation.  The Toolkit also sets out the key ingredients of Community Development and how to establish Project Outcomes when seeking funding and identifies the benefits of collaboration with other areas, communities and groups.  It has been designed with smaller groups in mind while larger organisations will also find the advice and guidance on governance and engagement valuable.  To access the Toolkit click here.

 

25 October 2021

Living Spaces and Places

The National Lottery Community Fund is launching a new funding programme on 1 November 2021.  Living Places and Spaces will offer small scale capital grants (of between £1,000 and £10,000) to eligible organisations.  The aim of the programme is to support communities by creating more sustainable and resilient outdoor spaces through greening, re-wilding and water management.

Types of projects which might be funded include community gardens; allotments; small urban or rural forests; rain gardens and green roofs; installation of furniture or features to promote the use of outdoor spaces as well as measures to improve walking and cycling. 

It is expected that up to 80 projects will be funded and the programme closes for applications on 17 December 2021.  NLCF is delivering this funding on behalf of the Department for Infrastructure.  Further information on the programme; on who is eligible and on how to apply is available on the National Lottery Community Fund’s website.  Note that applications cannot be submitted before 1 November 2021.

11 October 2021

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