The following journal entries were either written by AI or were generated by AI trained on all the team communication over the project's duration. Any AI generated posts are clearly marked with a disclaimer.
Human + AI: Evolving Community Insights Toolkit
We’ve been thinking a lot lately about how technology fits into our community work. At Belong in Plymouth, we're exploring ways AI can support—but never replace—the human side of processing conversati...
By AI.
Mapping Community Insights
Over time, we've learned that listening to stories is just the beginning. In the Belong in Plymouth project, we’re now turning conversations into insights—mapping what we hear into something we can al...
By AI.
Barne Barton: Belonging Through Stories
In Barne Barton, something powerful happened. We gathered as part of Belong in Plymouth, not just to discuss ideas—but to listen to the personal, grounded stories of what belonging really means. Kare...
By AI.
Insights from Workshop Reflections
We’re discovering that slowing down and making space to listen—really listen—makes all the difference. Across our Belong in Plymouth workshops, we’re creating room for reflection, grounding, and deepe...
By AI.
Co-Designing the Future with Youth Leadership
After the buzz of the film premiere, the work continued. In early 2024, we held a workshop with young people to shape what comes next—not just in one project, but across our whole approach. This wasn...
By AI.
Young Voices Lead the Way
For too long, young people have been invited into community conversations only at the very end—after decisions are made. So we flipped the script. In 2023, a group of young people in Plymouth took th...
By AI.
Using Games to Navigate Complexity
What if we could learn to navigate complex systems the same way we learn to play a game? That’s the question behind our pilot for a systems games workshop—a playful, participatory session that helps ...
By AI.
Bringing Belong in Plymouth to Life
In June 2023, the Belong in Plymouth team welcomed a filmmaker to capture stories from across the city. But this wasn’t just about documentation—it was about connection. Karen Pilkington explained th...
By AI.
Building Cross-Sector Connections
Karen Pilkington said something that’s stuck with us: “Different parts of the system have different understandings of what it means to ‘speak with the community.’” It’s true—and it’s exactly why we’v...
By AI.
Streamlining Collaboration: From Reviews to Strategic Flow
Back in June 2023, the Belong in Plymouth team held a bi-monthly Operations Update that revealed something important: while the work was full of energy, it lacked a clear space for strategic thinking....
By AI.
Making Strategic Space, Not Just Meetings
One insight from our June 2023 Ops Update has stuck with us: we don’t have a strategic space. Karen said it simply: “We recognise we have reflective meetings (sprint review) and operational meetings…...
By AI.
Recognizing the Importance of Internal Ops
In June 2023, we held one of our bi-monthly Operations Updates—and it quickly became clear that our internal structures needed just as much care as our community relationships. Karen summed it up per...
By AI.
Maximizing Filming Days Beyond Footage
On 13 June 2023, Karen reminded us of something special: our upcoming filming days weren’t just about cameras—they were about connection. “We have some interest from people in high places and low pla...
By AI.
Filming to Share and Connect
In June 2023, we invited a filmmaker to capture some of the story of Belong in Plymouth—and to spark new conversations about what it really means to belong. Karen shared her excitement: “We have some...
By AI.
Redesigning Community Research Together
What makes someone a ‘community researcher’? According to Belong in Plymouth, it’s not about qualifications—it’s about curiosity, care, and the confidence to hold space for others. In June 2023, Step...
By AI.
Building a Network: Inside Our Neighborhood Pilot
What happens when you try to connect a neighbourhood without putting one person in charge? That’s exactly what Belong in Plymouth set out to explore with its one-year pilot in Stoke. Instead of a tra...
By AI.
Adapting Community Researcher Training
In June 2023, Stephane and Martyn shared a new challenge: how do we keep our Community Researcher training relevant, ethical, and useful as the work evolves? “We feel our existing training sits somew...
By AI.
From Ideas to Action: Many-to-Many
On June 3rd at the Village Hub, we gathered a small group of collaborators to ask a big question: What’s next for many-to-many? We didn’t come for consensus. We came to co-create next steps that felt...
By AI.
Weekly Updates: A Quiet Game-Changer
In June 2023, Matilde floated an idea that seemed small at first: “As many of us have limited time, I thought… sharing weekly updates might be more accessible.” That simple suggestion turned into one...
By AI.
Building Relational Work — Even When Messy
On 31 May 2023, Matt Bell dropped a message into our thread that captured the spirit of our journey: “Love this coming together. Just musing… and connecting.” We were juggling so many moving parts—st...
By AI.
Rethinking Onboarding
Joining a big, multi-layered project like Belong in Plymouth can feel overwhelming—especially if you’re new. That’s why we’ve been reworking how we bring people in. As Stuart Jones said: “We often fo...
By AI.
Rebalancing Power Through Trust
A key question we keep returning to is: how do we share power in a way that builds—not breaks—trust? That’s the heart of our many-to-many work. It’s not just about structures. It’s about relationship...
By AI.
Rethinking Long-Term Funding and Partnerships
Funding conversations can feel dry—but they reveal everything about how power, trust, and long-term impact work. That’s why we’ve been having honest discussions with funders and local partners about ...
By AI.
Designing Usable Governance Tools
Let’s be honest—governance tools aren’t always the most exciting part of a project. But what if they could be? In our many-to-many group, we’ve been designing and testing playful governance tools—car...
By AI.
Effective Community Workshops That Work
Hosting community workshops sounds simple—until you try to make them truly inclusive, practical, and human. At Belong in Plymouth, we’ve been learning by doing. In St Budeaux and beyond, we started w...
By AI.
From Stories to Systems Understanding
What began as a project to understand Emergency Department (ED) use in Plymouth quickly expanded into something deeper. We weren’t just collecting stories—we were beginning to trace the systems behind...
By AI.
Building a Community Research Network
Over the past year, our community researcher network has grown into something powerful—and deeply human. It's not just about collecting stories. It's about creating the conditions for care, curiosity,...
By AI.
People's Assembly in Stonehouse Sparks Conversations
Stonehouse recently hosted a People's Assembly—and we were reminded just how powerful it is when people come together in their own neighbourhoods to talk about what matters most. One attendee shared,...
By AI.
Exploring Timebanks and Youth Volunteering in Stonehouse
Not all community support has to look like formal volunteering. Sometimes, it’s a lift to the shops. Or walking someone’s dog. Or sharing tools. That’s why we’re exploring models like timebanks—syste...
By AI.
Building Neighbourhood Networks from Stonehouse
Stonehouse isn’t the only part of Plymouth that’s hungry for more connected neighbourhoods—but it’s been one of the most active. Through people’s assemblies, themed conversations, and informal gather...
By AI.
Rethinking Community Meetings
We’ve all been to community meetings that felt like a box-ticking exercise. Long agendas, top-down updates, not much listening. So we’ve been experimenting with a different approach—one that’s less a...
By AI.
Addressing Stonehouse Concerns: Dog Mess to Green Space
If you spend time in Stonehouse, you’ll hear the same things pop up in conversations: too much dog mess, not enough bins, neglected green spaces, and a sense that some parts of the neighbourhood get o...
By AI.
Piloting a Trust-Based Neighborhood Model
When we started talking about a neighbourhood pilot in Stoke, we weren’t interested in setting up another ‘hub-and-spoke’ model. As Matt Bell put it: “We want to try a truly networked approach that e...
By AI.
Strengthening Local Networks, Neighborhood by Neighborhood
We’ve always known that social isolation and loneliness are local issues. So we began thinking: what would it take to build neighbourhood networks that actually connect people? Karen Pilkington propo...
By AI.
Building Everyday Belonging
The idea of a “care economy” keeps showing up in our conversations—not just as policy, but as practice. As Karen Pilkington put it, “If community groups aren’t funded properly, they can’t keep their ...
By AI.
Rethinking Social Prescribing as an Ecosystem
In our conversations about social prescribing, something kept coming up: it’s not enough to send people to community groups if those groups are barely staying afloat. Karen Pilkington put it bluntly:...
By AI.
Building a Collaborative City
If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that collaboration in Plymouth doesn’t happen by accident—it’s something we grow, together. At a recent gathering, over 50 people from across sectors and comm...
By AI.
Building a Functional Care Economy Through Social Prescribing
We’ve been revisiting social prescribing—because the cracks in the system are becoming too wide to ignore. In one conversation, Karen Pilkington got to the heart of it: “If there’s no community group...
By AI.
Belonging Happens Neighbourhood by Neighbourhood
One of our biggest experiments so far has been our neighbourhood pilot in Stoke. It started with a simple question: what if we focused deeply on one local area? Karen Pilkington led the way: “I’m bot...
By AI.
Beyond Referrals: Enhancing Social Prescribing
Social prescribing has been praised as a bridge between health services and community life. But what happens when the bridge has no foundation? Belong in Plymouth’s Core Team has been grappling with ...
By AI.
Local Pilot, Big Lessons
The idea was simple: what if we tested Belong in Plymouth’s methods in one neighbourhood, deeply and slowly? In early 2023, a pilot took shape in Stoke. Karen Pilkington began connecting with council...
By AI.
Understanding System Shifts
We talk a lot about ‘system change’—but what does that actually look like in Plymouth? For us, it means starting where we are: building relationships, noticing patterns, and sharing power. System sh...
By AI.
The Limits of Social Prescribing
Social prescribing has been a hot topic in Belong in Plymouth discussions—but not without critique. In early 2023, team members revisited the model’s limitations. Karen Pilkington summed it up: “If t...
By AI.
Ripple Effect: Reconnecting Generations in Plymouth
We’ve been thinking a lot about who we spend time with—and who we don’t. So we launched Ripple Effect, an intergenerational project bringing people together across age groups in the heart of Plymouth...
By AI.
Youth Voice: Rewriting the Invitation
In January 2023, the Belong in Plymouth team revisited a familiar challenge: how can young people have real influence in shaping their city? “Youth influence has waxed and waned,” Matt Bell noted, ec...
By AI.
Engaging and Retaining Young People
In January 2023, Belong in Plymouth turned its focus to a crucial question: how can young people have a real say in city-wide decisions? “Youth influence has waxed and waned,” Matt Bell acknowledged....
By AI.
Sprint Reviews — Balancing Reflection and Action
In January 2023, our Sprint 3 Review became a moment of honest reflection—and raised a powerful tension in the room. “It’s a safe place to articulate what we often suppress,” one participant said. Pe...
By AI.
Staying Honest About Change
At our Sprint 3 Review in January 2023, someone voiced a worry: “I’m concerned we’re becoming a talking shop. Where’s the tangible progress?” That tension—between reflection and movement—is real for ...
By AI.
Reimagining Youth Voice
On 27 January 2023, we took a fresh look at how young people are invited into decision-making in Plymouth. “Youth influence has waxed and waned,” Matt Bell reflected, noting that we’ve been here befo...
By AI.
Revisiting Youth Voice: It Matters
Youth voice has come up time and time again in Belong in Plymouth—and in January 2023, we returned to the challenge with fresh determination. “Youth influence has waxed and waned,” Matt Bell acknowle...
By AI.
Practicing Consent-Based Decisions
In our many-to-many working group, we’ve been experimenting with consent-based decision-making. It’s not always easy—but it’s changing the way we work together. Instead of aiming for total agreement...
By AI.
Exploring Collaborative Networks
When it comes to tackling complex challenges like loneliness, inequality, and system change, there’s no single leader or linear fix. That’s why we’ve been exploring what we call “many-to-many” collab...
By AI.
Shaping Change with Changing Futures
Back in December, we sat down with the Changing Futures team—a programme also working with people experiencing deep, multiple disadvantages. “It was a meeting of two like-minded programs that share a...
By AI.
Finding Shared Purpose with Changing Futures
In December 2022, we sat down with colleagues from the Changing Futures programme. What struck us most? We were speaking the same language—despite different scopes, timelines, and remits. “It was a m...
By AI.
The Importance of Onboarding in Complex Projects
When people join the Belong in Plymouth network, they’re stepping into a web of stories, relationships, and evolving projects. But that complexity can be overwhelming. As Stuart Jones reflected, “We ...
By AI.
Creating Inviting Onboarding
Joining Belong in Plymouth should feel like being welcomed into a community—not like reading a manual. That was the feeling behind our conversation in late 2022, when Stuart Jones said: “We often for...
By AI.
Reimagining Demographic Data Collection
When Belong in Plymouth first began developing its community conversation tools, the question came up: how do we gather demographic information respectfully? Matt Bell offered a suggestion: “Rather t...
By AI.
Transforming Our Work Through Stories
As Belong in Plymouth’s community research grew, so did our understanding of what it means to work relationally. A string of conversations in late 2022 reflected a shift—from collecting stories to co-...
By AI.
The Importance of Intersectionality in Research
In late September 2022, a vibrant email conversation took off across the Belong in Plymouth network. The topic? Intersectionality—and how to embed it into every part of our community research. Jade W...
By AI.
Launching a Community Research Group: Importance and Impact
In September 2022, Belong in Plymouth took a big step forward in its community research efforts by creating a dedicated group for those leading conversations across the city. Karen Pilkington kicked ...
By AI.
Belonging: Ancient Roots, Modern Relevance
In an August 2022 email, Matt Bell offered a surprising take on collaboration: it’s not a modern invention—it’s a survival instinct. “Cooperation is a fundamental human characteristic,” he wrote. “Fr...
By AI.
Stories Shaping System Change
By August 2022, the pressure on Plymouth’s Emergency Department (ED) had reached critical levels. But instead of pointing fingers or seeking quick fixes, Belong in Plymouth asked a different question:...
By AI.
Transparent Budgeting Through Trust
When Alex Hayes from The National Lottery Community Fund emailed in July 2022, the message was clear: let’s keep the budget conversation open. “If you are holding a cash balance, please let us know an...
By AI.
Starting with Questions: The Origin of Belong in Plymouth
Back in March 2022, the Belong in Plymouth Core Team sparked its first conversations with a simple aim: figure out how to make Plymouth a place where no one feels forgotten. Matt Bell’s early message ...
By AI.
From the beginning
From the beginning, we’ve said Belong in Plymouth isn’t about creating something new—it’s about connecting what already exists. Matt Bell said it best in our very first Core Team email: “We’re not cr...
By AI.