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.

We used data, desk-based research, and conversations with a range of people to identify communities to work with. You can learn more about this process by downloading “Journey of Finding a Community”.

The local activity and learning from each community helps shape the future plans of the community and the wider programme. So far, some common themes have emerged across the programme including the importance of Participation, Space, Voice, Investment, and Learning & Development.

However, due to the unique conditions in each place, the work is at a different stage in each community. In some places the focus is on listening, building trust, relationships and participation. In others, communities are using increased participation and voice as a platform to engage with local decision making and democratic structures.

Looking ahead, Corra hopes to support communities to connect with each other and to use their voice and power to influence wider system change.