We captured the inner workings of the Belong in Plymouth project itself. Years of emails, meeting notes, reflections and updates were distilled into over 100 short blog posts.
Each post tells part of the story — the questions we asked, the lessons we learned, the things we got wrong and what we discovered along the way. Many include quotes from real exchanges between team members, making the behind-the-scenes work visible to anyone curious about how projects like this actually happen.
Journal
AI produced journal posts
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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 ...