Systems and practices
The technical work has followed the interpersonal simply because the available technical tools and standard practices are designed for another context (as described above). As we have discovered, rela...
Journal
Humility and curiosity
This has a number of different aspects to it. First, at a very human level, if members of a collaboration make assumptions that, because of an area of expertise or worse, positional power, they need t...
Belong in Plymouth @ Matters of the HeART
On May 18th, Belong in Plymouth hosted an event at Ocean Studios to emphasize the importance of listening. The event aimed to make participants feel heard, regardless of their roles or labels, and to ...
Engagement with Young People
I've been hearing how hard it is to engage young people. "We create events for them to come to but no one comes." Belong in Plymouth used the following engagement tools with good success: - Built re...
Creativity in the face of Stuckness
It's common for emergent work to become stuck. We had been trying to build momentum for grassroots work in a local community to demonstrate how partnership work could really make a difference at a hyp...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...