Community Transformers

From September Oblong will be running it's innovative 'Community Transformers' training course. The course, part of our Reaching Communities BIG Lottery funded 'Act-Up' project, will enable participants to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to make a positive change in their community.

The aim of the course is to enable participants to:

• Understand more about your neighbourhood – what the problems and the strengths are.
• Create positive change in your local community.
• Develop teamwork skills
• Understand who has power and how to influence them
• Set up a new community project. You and the other people will decide what you want to do and set it up as part of the course.

You’ll leave the course with a plan to continue your work with more training, voluntary work or employment

What subjects will be covered:

• Understand more about equality, diversity, oppression and discrimination
• How to identify what the community really needs
• Understand the roles of voluntary, community and campaigning organisations.
• Learn the skills you need to get involved in organisations, groups or campaigns.
• Understand the values and principles of community development and how it works in practice
• Understand how teams work well together and how to solve conflicts between people.
• Learn how lobbying and campaigning can influence decision-making by people in power.
• How to do research and consultation to understand the needs of the community.
• Get the skills you need to develop a new community project including:
  1. financial management
  2. the roles people may take
  3. promotion and advertising
  4. creating policies
  5. keeping records of what you do
  6. how legal issues might affect you
  7. what funding may be available and how to get it

What kind of community project could you set up?

You and the other people on the course will decide that as the course goes on. It will have to be a new project and something that you all agree you want to do. For example, it could be:

• a music event
• environmental clean-up
• campaign to get more youth facilities
• an art group
• a newsletter or magazine
• a piece of artwork made by a group
• anything else that changes your community for the better!

When will the course be?

We plan to run the course on Tuesdays, from 10am – 2pm with a break for lunch. If you are interested in joining the course but can’t make this time, please let us know when you are available. We may be able to change the time if enough people need us to. If not, we will choose a different time for the next time we run the course. There will be breaks in the course during school holidays. There will be twenty weeks of sessions, so overall it will run for around 24 weeks due to holidays. Most of the work you do will take place in the sessions at Oblong, but you will have to do some work outside the sessions, particularly when you are setting up the project.

What qualification could I get?

The course will lead to the Nationally Recognised Open College Network level 2 qualification in Community Development. There won’t be any exams, you will be able to get the qualification by keeping notes on the work we do.

What skills or experience do I need?

You don’t need particular skills or experience. Some people who join the course will have already been involved in community work and others will have none. All you need is to be sure that you want to complete the course and to have a real passion to learn and get involved in changing you community for the better.

I can’t do it now, when will it run again?

Oblong will run this course twice more in 2010 and again in 2011, so there’s plenty more chances to get on it if you want to.

For more information or an application form contact Oblong on 245 9610 or call in and have a chat to us.

Closing date for applications 17th August 2009