By Keith Hebden, former Leicester Citizens Organiser. There are two ways to stockpile and panic-hoard; the right way and the wrong way. The wrong way has been well-documented and has led to shortages of food, hand-sanitizer, and – most famously and mysteriously – toilet paper. The second way is what’s keeping my mental health above … Continue reading A survivor’s Guide to Stockpiling

By Andy Lewis - Assistant Headteacher at St Bonaventure's School, East London. Andy has worked with Citizens UK for 4 years, with the Newham alliance. Find him on Twitter at @andylewis_re For around 6 years, St Bonaventure’s school, a Catholic School in Forest Gate East London had tried to engage our local bus companies to … Continue reading Sorting the Buses: A Victory for St Bonaventure’s Community Organising Team

By Pete Rogers, Citizens UK Organiser in Nottingham  A few summers ago I started going to my local gym. I'd not long turned 30. My impressively fast metabolism which had until that point in life enabled me to eat whatever the heck I wanted was beginning to slow down,  and for all of my wife's … Continue reading Beyond the Founders – A Journey Towards Reorganising an alliance

By Joy Faulkner-Mpeho* I have been a youth worker for 12 years, which is my whole adult life! My degree is in youth work and applied theology and I’ve had the joy of working with young people in both rural and urban contexts, spending the last decade working with young people in London. As a … Continue reading Learning by doing: An Organising Summer School

By Diane Vanette, OneLA leader with Temple Emanuel* Diane shares about the dangers of soft money and the action that OneLA ran over the summer of 2019 to raise $200,000 through dues. There are times when we get so caught up in changing this world from what it is to what it should be we … Continue reading “(Hard) Money Matters”

Thank you for the really insightful comments and reflections shared with me by a number of organisers and leaders, many of which have been incorporated into this piece. Saying ‘thank you’ is a vital part of human interaction. When we say ‘thank you’, we recognise a kind/generous deed that someone else did for us. We … Continue reading In organising, we don’t say ‘thank you’

Big housing wins are still possible. At a people's assembly this week, 235 leaders from Waltham Forest Citizens, working with Waltham Forest Council, have agreed to ensure that thousands of social homes are built in the borough by 2022. Waltham Forest Council will build 1400 social rent homes and work with developers to build another … Continue reading What a victory! Rebuilding social housing in East London

By Alistair Rooms I have recently been witness to the excellent work of a Catholic Parish in Forest Gate[1], disorganizing and re-organising. This deep organising work built a strong internal structure which has allowed us to convince London City Airport to change their policy on low-wages. Here are the lessons I learned. To disorganise and … Continue reading Lessons from Dis-organising and Re-organising: A Catholic Parish in Forest Gate