Ever tried to describe what local government does but not quite done it justice? You’re not alone. So come and join a group of creative communicators looking to put that right.
by Dawn Reeves
We’re fantastic communicators and we’ve got amazing local stories but what is our big pitch? When we’re asked why local government should be at the table, deserve resources or what value we add, it can feel like, yet again, we’re starting afresh on a new narrative. Even our best work suffers from the lack of a coherent view across the sector. There isn’t a story that underpins our glorious diversity, that shows not tells why we’re fundamental to society.
But what if we seized the moment to change all that? Couldn’t we produce something collectively developed and owned that helped us change perceptions and made our jobs easier?
While local government has always struggled to articulate the reality of what we do for our communities and how we make the world a better place, the past few extraordinary months have shone a new light on our work. As we stepped up to the challenge of keeping frontline services going as the world locked down, people noticed.
They thanked our binmen. They clapped for our care-workers. And they were cross if our parks were closed. Our unique connections with our communities – often unnoticed and usually taken for granted – have been playing a critical role in the nation’s response to the pandemic.
It’s a challenge get to the essence of what, how and why we do what we do. Local government holds thousands of stories. But we know why we’re here – to protect, mobilise, collaborate, enable, empower, build, reshape and more – and we know we are trusted to knit together our social fabric. Today this matters more than ever and we owe it to all the people we serve to share our stories.
So, in a bottom-up, punky guerrilla diy style, there’s a small group of creative souls, ready to ready to take our storytelling up a level - with honesty, at speed and in bold, innovative ways. And we’re looking for friends!
Join us to dream, to experiment, to gather and share local stories in new ways - and draw out of it one shared narrative – with some tools, resources, and collateral.
We’re running a speed story workshop session to imagine where we might go with it – let us know if you’re up for it! The session is on Thursday 25 June 9.30am-10.30am (via Zoom)
We hope our stories will be used and shared to illustrate why we’re here, why we should be valued and how we’re making the world a better place for all our futures. And we hope that many more of us working in or with local government will share our stories as we learn to live in a vastly new landscape.
Please DM one of us on Twitter if you can make it and we’ll share the invite: @futuredawn @darrencaveney @InterimBoy @frannycoll
Dawn Reeves is a facilitator, change agent, writer and public services specialist
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Image via Alan Levine
