Getting Alongside Communities

dunterlie food share volunteers smiling and working together to distribute food parcels

People in Place is currently working alongside eight communities in Scotland, supporting local people to connect, collaborate on ideas, and take action to create positive change.

The community is at the heart of everything we do. Each community we work with has a dedicated Community Co-ordinator, who will get alongside the community by listening, bringing people together for conversations, and to identify shared priorities. We focus on inclusive engagement.

We help facilitate and enable capacity building within the community; widening community participation, seeking out voices that are seldom heard; and ultimately resulting in locally-led actions being taken.

How did we decide which communities to work alongside?

We used data, desk-based research, and conversations with a range of people to identify communities to work with. This process is outlined in Our Journey to Finding a Community.

The communities we are working alongside

children presenting their hand drawn pictures

Blacklands

group of people working together in the buckhynd bakery

Buckhaven

group of children and adults opening a new space in the community

Carbrain

group of children and adults out for a walk in castlehill

Castlehill

Cumnock community market

Cumnock

community picture celebrating variety of activities offered through the Dunterlie holiday partnership

Dunterlie

community celebrating at the opening of new football pitch

Langlees

community enjoying music in a local hall

Methil

Legacy communities

As Corra’s work directly alongside a community draws to a close, our relationships and community-led change are sustained through a legacy phase.

visual display of things and spaces that the community in fernhill wanted to change

Blairbeth and Fernhill

The communities across Scotland

The interactive map below shows where each of the Getting Alongside Communities is. The purple areas are those communities we are working within. 

What next? 

Communities are facing a critical moment of transition as they begin to emerge from the pandemic and grapple with the rising cost of living. We are seeing and hearing, in addition to deep and difficult issues, new priorities emerging and an urgency to act from community members.

The time is now! We know from communities, local authorities, and other partners that this a ‘moment in time’ for communities to create changes that address immediate issues and to truly imagine a better future.

To support that process, we will focus our work around three key elements.

Priorities

We know that communities’ priorities are changing. We can play an important role in supporting priorities to be shaped and shared.

Plans

Supporting communities to set out their priorities and actions to achieve them in a ‘community-owned’ plan.

Partnerships 

We have a key role to play in connecting with partners who can help to produce the plan and/or help deliver on community priorities.

These ‘three P’s’ help build upon the strong foundations – of skills, knowledge, trust, and relationships – that have been established to date and will continue to be instrumental in the work.