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 doors open, let alone expand.”

It’s a reminder that behind every referral, every social prescribing link, every warm handoff—there’s a web of local people holding it all together.

We’re learning that belonging isn’t a program. It’s a pattern. It shows up in the way someone is greeted. In the follow-up call. In the chairs arranged in a circle instead of rows.

It’s these small choices that create large meaning. And if we want that kind of care to be sustainable, we have to resource it properly.

We’re not just building services. We’re building culture. And culture is held by people—most of them underfunded, often invisible.

That’s what we mean when we talk about a care economy. Not just an idea. A way of living and working that says: people matter most.