Real Change to Win

8/12/2019 Real Change to Win

1/88Part one: The ve step community organising campaign 1

#realchange #realchange


2/88

Contents

Introduction

a. The aim of this manualb. Whats in this manual?

c. What do we mean by Community Organising?

Part one - The ve step Community Organising campaign

Step one - Build relationships Step two - Identify campaign issues Step three - Choose a campaign issue Step four - Organise and build your campaign Step ve - Close your campaign, evaluate and move on

Part two - Best practice

Part three - Ideas to help you get started

Further help and information

#realchange


3/883

#realchange

Introduction

Introduction


4/88


5/88


6/88Introduction6

#realchange

Introduction

There are three parts to this manual

Part oneThe ve step organising campaignThis section provides a step-by-step guideto organising in your local area to help yourlocal Party:

Grow your members and supporteractivist base

Develop into a community basedcampaigning organisation

Win elections

The ve steps in this section are:

1) Step one - Build relationships 2) Step two - Identify campaign issues 3) Step three - Choose a campaign issue 4) Step four - Organise and build your

campaign 5) Step ve - Close your campaign,

evaluate and move on

Part twoBest practiceThis section provides examples from acrossthe country of local Parties and partnerorganisations who have embarked on anorganising approach.

Part threeMore top tips and ideas to get you startedThe nal section contains some simpleideas to help you organise in your

community.

Digital campaigningDigital campaigning can play a key rolein Community Organising, a new guide toDigital Campaigning will be available fromautumn 2012.

Whats in this manual?


7/88Introduction 7

#realchange

Introduction

Community Organising is not new.Many local Labour Parties do it andwhere they do they win electionsand have more active membersand supporters.

Labour Party analysts have looked in

detail at the campaigns of some of ourlocal parties who bucked the trend at the2010 General Election.

In each case they possessed a number ofcharacteristics similar to those that aredened as central to the organising modelsadopted by some trade unions and inCommunity Organising.

Four principles of local Labour Partieswho community organise

1) Personal relationships: Theselocal Parties put an emphasis onpersonal contact and relationshipbuilding. They speak to people inlocal communities through coffeemornings, visits to community groups,and on the doorstep. They also putan emphasis on personal contact withtheir members. It means that theirmembers, their potential membersand supporters feel listened to, theyare able to have relationships andfriendships with like-minded peopleand are much more likely to becomesupportive, join and get involved.

2) Community campaigns: They areengaged in and run campaigns in thelocal community around issues thatmatter to local people - it stands toreason that local people are morelikely to support Labour and even joinand get involved if they see that the

Labour Party is campaigning on issuesthat matter to them.

3) Empower members and supporters:In order to organise as they do,these local parties need to identifyand empower people to do it forthemselves. Because they place anemphasis on personal contact andrelationship building, they betterunderstand what people have tooffer and are able to use their talents.

4) Proactively grow the local LabourParty: These local Parties recognisethat in order to be successful theyneed to be proactive about growingtheir local organisation - taking everyopportunity to involve people. Theyalso identify leaders to bring otherpeople into the campaign or theLabour Party.

What do we mean by CommunityOrganising in the Labour Party?


8/88


9/889

#realchange

Part one

The ve stepCommunityOrganising campaign

Part one: The ve step Community Organising campaign


10/88


11/88Part one: The ve step Community Organising campaign 11

#realchange

Part one

There are many different ways toorganise in your community. You willknow what will work best for your localParty and your local community. If youare looking for a starting point, the vesteps set out in this section will helpyou to put the Community Organising

principles on page 7 into action.

The ve step CommunityOrganising campaign

S T E P

T H R

E E

S T EP O N E

S T E P

F I V E

S T E P

T W O

S T E P F O U R

Identify leadersand build

relationships

Identifycampaign

issues

Choosecampaign

issuesOrganise

& build yourcampaign

Enable, empower,recruit & involve

Make changehappen

Closecampaign,evaluate

& move on


12/88Part one: The ve step Community Organising campaign12

#realchange

Step one

Members and supporters Community leaders Trade unions and other

partner organisations

Members and supportersWe need to take a step back and reconnect

with our members and supporters, take thetime to listen to them, nd out what theycare about, what they believe in. We needto nd out how we can make Labour workfor them not just how much work they cando for Labour.

The rst step in any campaign is to startwith people, relationships and motivations.

Lets see what Battersea did to changetheir relationship with members.

Build relationships


13/88Part one: The ve step Community Organising campaign 13

#realchange

Step one Build relationships

They then put people into groups according

to their ward or local area and they askpeople to talk about issues that affect theirlocal community. Members are asked to llout a survey through which they canvolunteer to help out with campaigningactivity but no pressure is put on them.The only thing they are asked to do isto take away the names of two othermembers who they are asked to phone

and try to book a one to one meeting with,to the end that at the next social eventthere are many more members.

Thirty ve members attended the rstsocial event, many of whom then started tocampaign with the local Party. At thesecond social event more than sixtyattended, the vast majority of whomagreed to help in the local campaign.

Battersea Labour Party Social Event

Battersea CLP

Andy Fearn, Batterseas part-time Local

Organiser, and Mark Rowney a newlyactive member, realised that althoughthe local Labour Party did lots ofactivity it always fell on the samesmall handful of people.

They decided to start to change this.

We knew we had to reach out beyond

our office holders and loyal stalwarts

So, together Andy and Mark decided tocall through the members who had joinedBattersea Labour Party in the last year.Everyone they spoke with was askedto meet up for a brief chat as part of amember engagement exercise.

We have met in peoples homes, coffeeshops, and the pub, anywhere really.

At the meetings they explain more aboutthe membership engagement exercise andwhat they are trying to achieve. They thenchat and listen to the member. There is noscript. Generally people start talking aboutthemselves and Mark and Andy sit andlisten. The only thing they ask for at themeeting is that the member comes alongto a social event.

At the event, local members say a fewwords about Battersea and the localLabour Party.


14/8814

#realchange


Tip: One-to-one meetings

Arranging one-to-one meetings with a

group of members or supporters can betime consuming, but as the Batterseaexample shows, it can pay real dividendsand is worth putting other Party work onhold for. Here are some top tips to helpyou start a programme of one-to-ones:

1) Organise a time for two or three ofyou to get together to start making

appointments by phone. It is betterfor morale to work as a team.

2) Start by phoning a small group ofmembers or supporters to makeappointments - new members forexample. If you try to phone all yourmembers it will seem a daunting taskfor those involved.

3) Reassure the people you call that youare doing a member engagementexercise - you are not asking for time ormoney, the local Labour Party just wantto get to know their members.

4) Dont be put off by an answer-machine.Many of our members are busy peopleand you may need to try to contactthem several times before you speak tosomeone. People will not think you arebeing pushy. In the case of members,they have paid to join the Labour Partyand they expect the Labour Party tomake an effort to get in touch.

5) When you attend the meeting, startthe conversation by explaining whyyou have invited them - that the localLabour Party is doing a membershipengagement exercise to get toknow members.

6) Once youve explained why you havecalled the meeting, ask the person youare talking with about themselves. Askthem open and unchallenging questions

to encourage them to talk and to setthem at ease. For example, why did you

join the Labour Party? 7) If they ask you about yourself, the

Party or politics, tell them your viewsbut always remain open and inclusive.Dont dismiss their ideas.

8) Handle objections and criticismspositively. For example, if they have

been a member a while and no-onehas been in touch until now, then listenand talk through their concerns, dontdismiss them.

9) The purpose of the conversation is tostart to build a relationship with themember or supporter. Its not anopportunity to handover a bundle ofleaets to be delivered. However, youshould look for signs about how theperson you are talking with might beinterested in becoming more involvedand what they may have to offer theLabour Party at some point in the future.For example, what are their connectionsin the local community?

10) At the end of the meeting you shouldinvite the member or supporter to a socialevent where they can meet other newmembers.

Over to you! How the conversationdevelops depends on you and themember you have been talking with.At the end of the meeting it is goodpractice to agree the next steps andthen to make sure they are followed

up quickly.



15/8815

#realchange


Your turnPick a group of members who have joinedrecently or an inactive branch. Startsmall and make your targets achievable,

remember its about personal contact.

Open questionsinvite others to

Tell their story

Why did you jointhe Labour Party?

Tell me aboutyourself.

What doyou think

Labourneeds to do

to win roundhere?

Tell me

aboutliving in[Name

of area].

What doyou think arethe important

local issues forpeople in your

neighbourhood?

What can wedo in the Labour

Party to makenew membersfeel welcome?



16/8816

#realchange


Community leadersBuilding relationships with ourmembers means people are more likelyto become active and involved and it

helps us to identify peoples talentsand potential to be leaders. As well asbuilding relationships with members,we should also be identifying and buildingrelationships with local community leaders.

Why build relationships withcommunity leaders?Local Labour Parties who are good at

Community Organising, work hard toestablish good relationships with leadersin their communities. Establishing suchrelationships helps us to:

Understand issues a ecting theseleaders communities

Build relationships and communicatewith members of these communitiesthrough their leaders

Identify and run campaigns aroundissues of joint concern which inturn can lead to members of thesecommunities joining campaignsand even signing up as membersand supporters.

What do we mean bycommunity leaders?Local communities have recognised andinformal leaders. Here are some examples:

Community leaders

Local religious leaders People in positions of authority People who run local sports teams

or clubs in the community

Local charity leaders Local business leaders

Leaders of social enterprisesin the community

Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators Local union activists

School governors Resident Association chairs

Informal leaders / opinion formersThese people may not be formal leaders butthey meet with dozens of local peopleevery day and are often at the centre of thelocal grapevine such as:

Shop keepers Post o ce counter sta Bar workers Taxi drivers

Identifying community leaders community mappingCommunity mapping is a great tool tond out who the key leaders are in acommunity and what the relationshipsare between them.

Think about faith groups, sports clubs,Safer Neighbourhood Teams, doctors,nurses, volunteer groups, the list can bequite long.

Labour Party members are membersof the community tooSome of your members are probablycommunity leaders themselves,and no doubt many will also betrade union activists.



17/8817

#realchange


Tip: CommunityChampion Awards

Why not launch a Labour CommunityChampion Awards ask local residents tonominate people who they think make adifference in their community. This is agreat community engagement exercisein itself but it will also allow you to make

contact and build a relationship with vitalopinion formers in the community. Whynot put nomination forms and boxes in

local cafes, pubs, libraries, leisure centresor churches.

Make contact with these people/groupsask them to let you know what they thinkis important in their area.

Anne Snelgrove andSouth Swindons story

Anne Snelgrove was selected asLabours parliamentary candidate forSouth Swindon in 2011, just as Siobhanstarted work in the constituency as aTrainee Organiser. Together they havesought to build relationships with communityleaders across the constituency.

They started by researching all businesses,community and charity organisations inthe area and then approached them askingif they could meet them and nd out moreabout their organisation. By doing one ortwo meetings a week, they were able tomeet with many local organisations andcommunity leaders in the rst couple ofmonths, including Wiltshire Law Centre,First Great Western HQ, Great WesternHospital, Nationwide HQ, Swindon TownFootball Club Community Trust, localChurch Ministers, Neighbourhood PoliceTeams and local childrens centres.

The meetings have already been benecial

as Anne explains: We can use the meetingsto build a secure base for Labour in thecommunity and create links between the

private, public and voluntary sectors inSwindon. I aim to demonstrate that even inopposition we can make things happen andget things done, contrasting with the ToryMP who is responsible with his Governmentfor closing down valuable local resources.

Anne and Siobhan have followed asimilar approach to the one described onpage 13 - setting up one-to-ones with keyindividuals and just nding out about themand their organisation. This enabled Anneand Siobhan to build relationships withintheir community and helped them becomeinvolved in issues that people care about.

Anne Snelgrove with Jon Trickett MP



18/8818

#realchange


Tip:Listening panels

Why not hold regular listening panels withcommunity leaders in your area. Explain tocommunity leaders that you would like toget regular feedback and ideas oncommunity issues and would they mindparticipating online, in a regular telephoneconversation or by attending a meeting.

Sociograms/Community mappingAs well as identifying who the key leadersare in a community and meeting with them,we should also seek to understand the

relationships and potential relationshipsbetween them. This will be key to ourCommunity Organising campaigns:

We will understand which leaders maybe able to bring other groups of peopleor organisations into a campaign

We will understand which leaders may be able to inuence key decision

makers in the community to helpus achieve our campaign aims.

We will understand who the leadersare in our local Party who may be ableto bring people into our campaigns andactivity or help us to secure change.

To help us do this work we can usecommunity mapping to draw up asociogram.

A sociogram is a graphic representationof social links that a person has. It is agraph drawing that plots the structureof interpersonal relations in a groupsituation. Merriam-Webster.com.

How to draw up a sociogram1) Put the key individuals in your

community on your map clearly namingthem. Remember to think aboutmembers of your local Labour Partyand in particular the informationyou may have gathered throughone-to-one meetings and their linksand relationships within the community

2) Link the individuals by theirrelationship or potential

relationships to each other.

See opposite for an example sociogram.



19/88

# r e a l c h a n g e

S o c i o g

r a m

P a t R a n

k i n

V o l u n t e e r w

i t h

V i c t i m

S u p p o r t

J a v e

d K

h a n

L o c a

l C o u n c i

l l o r

f o r

A n y t o w n

B o

b C h a n

d l e r

L a

b o u r s u p p o r t e r

A t t e n

d s

l o c a

l S a

f e r

N e

i g h b o u r h o o

d s p a n e

l

m a r r

i e d t o

E m

i l y

K e r r

R e g S m

i t h

C a m p a

i g n c o - o

r d i n a t o r

A n y t o w n

C L P

R y a n

F r a n c i s

N e i g

b o u r h o o

d

w a t c

h c o o r d

i n a t o r

E m

i l y K e r r

C h a

i r o

f t h e

l o c a

l t e n a n t s

a n

d r e s

i d e n t s a s s o c i a t i o n

M a r r

i e d t o

B o

b C h a n

d l e r

A s o c i o g r a m

w i l l b e e x t r e m e

l y u s e

f u l w h e n y o u a r e p

l a n n

i n g

c a m p a

i g n s

a n

d i d e n t i

f y i n g w

h o m

i g h t

b r i n g p e o p

l e i n t o

t h e c a m p a

i g n o r w

h o m

i g h t

b e a

b l e t o

i n u e n c e

d e c i s i o n

m a

k e r s

. F o r e x a m p

l e t h e s o c i o g r a m

b e

l o w

s h o w s

h o w

w e

m i g h t m o b

i l i s e p e o p

l e a r o u n

d a s t r e e t

l i g h t c a m p a

i g n

.


20/88


21/8821

#realchange


Once you have made contact with theRegional Political Officers, explain to themthat you are working on a project to bringthe Party and the unions together locally on

joint campaigns. Ask them what the unions key campaigns

and priorities are, and how you might worktogether to support them.

Ask them to help you organise a meeting with key union people whocover your area.

Ask them if they can provide key unioncontacts for your area. Some unions might

give you the names and contact details ofthe key Full Time Officers (FTOs) for yourarea, others might give you the namesand contact details of branch secretaries.If you explain that your aim is to buildlinks and campaign together then theyare more likely to help you.

Auditing existing relationships Ask your CLP Secretary about what formal

links your CLP already has with local tradeunions. What trade union branches areaffiliated? Do they send a delegate andparticipate in meetings?

Ask around the CLP to nd out if there areany historic links with trade unions. Havesome trade union branches dropped outof affiliation? Do people have an informalrelationship with a trade union? Have yourun joint campaigns together in the past

if so, who was the contact? Ask around the local Party to see who

has links with local trade union members,activists or officials. Dont forget to askyour elected representatives if they haveany links with local trade unions?

Mapping local unions Use the TULO Directory at

www.unionstogether.org.uk/contacts towork out which region your CLP is in for

each of the trade unions (it may vary). Contact each unions regional o ce to

ask for a list of key workplaces, officersand branches in your constituency.

Mapping local workplacesGet a group of your members together andpool your knowledge to come up with alist of all the workplaces you can think of

in your area, and which union representsthe workers there (in some workplacesthere will be more than one recognisedtrade union, in some there might be norecognised union).

These are some ideas for workplaces thatmight help you get started: Hospital / care homes Factories / plants Supermarkets and other shops Local council, job centre etc Schools / colleges / universities Sorting o ces and distribution depots Construction sites Bus station, train station, train depots Call centres and many, many more!

As your list grows, and you make contactwith more people from the unions, aim toget a key contact (it could be a workplacerep, full time officer or a branch official) foreach of the workplaces you have identied.Keep in regular contact with all of them, andask them to keep in touch about issuesaffecting their members.



22/8822

#realchange


Working with local trade unionsto identify issuesThousands of people in your constituencywill be members of a trade union and there

are a range of simple activities you canundertake to make sure you are keeping intouch with issues that concern them.

To organise a workplace visit:

Work with the union. Speak to theunion rep who covers the workplace,and ask them to set it up for you.

It will help if youve done yourworkplace mapping in advance of this!

If the union is willing to helporganise the visit, ask them toapproach the employer to getpermission for the visit.

Make sure you ask the union rep for a quick brieng in advance.

On the day, spend some time with theunion reps at the workplace, and askthem to tell you about whats going on,if there are any problems.

You might also want to ask permissionto take a survey with you to askpeople to ll it in.

Make sure you follow up on anythingraised, and add any new contacts toyour list or database.

Communicating with union membersMany of the unions will have regional orlocal newletters or e-bulletins to members.If you have a good relationship with a union,why not ask them to help you communicatewith their members about one of yourcampaigns?

Its also a good idea to theme meetingson a particular issue, rather than justinviting people in for a chat.

Recruitment: working togetherAs part of a working relationship with localtrade unions, some local Labour Parties willorganise a party recruitment drive- perhapsby circulating union membership forms toLabour Party members. In return the unionmay encourage its members to join theLabour Party.

If you do work with unions to plan a Partyrecruitment drive, then remember there is aspecial discounted rate for people who aremembers of the affiliated trade unions. Youcan download a membership form speciallydesigned for recruiting union members here:www.unionstogether.org.uk/ghtback

Other affiliated organisationsand partnersIn addition to many trade unions, there areother organisations which are affiliated orwork in partnership with the Labour Party.These organisations also provide you witha great opportunity to organise in yourcommunity. In particular these organisationscan advise you and sometimes facilitaterelationship building with key communitygroups. For example, the Christian SocialistMovement will help local Labour Partiesestablish relationships with churchcommunities. For contact details and afull list of our affiliated partners see theFurther help and information section atthe back of this manual.



23/8823

#realchange


Conclusion - Step one

You should now havea sound understanding of:

1) The importance of buildingrelationships with our membersand supporters.

2) How to start a membershipengagement and relationshipbuilding programme.

3) The importance of buildingrelationships with leadersin the local community.

4) How to start a community leaderengagement and relationshipbuilding programme.

5) How mapping can helpus to organise.

6) How to build relationships withtrade union members and otheraffiliated organisations.

Relationship building doesnt stop at the end of Step one.It remains an integral part of our organising approach throughout.



24/88


25/8825

#realchange

Step two

We have begun to establish relationshipswith previously inactive local members,with leaders in our local community,local trade unions and other partnerorganisations.

We now need to identify an issue around

which to organise a campaign. After all,whilst people do join the Labour Party tomeet with and spend time with like mindedpeople, they also join because they want tochange the world for the better.

There are a number of ways we can identifypotential campaign issues:

We will identify campaign issuesduring our one-to-one discussionswith our members and with communityleaders.

We can organise listening exercises inthe local community such as doorstepresident surveys and roving surgeries.

We can visit community organisationsand talk with their members.

We can organise co ee mornings. We can visit workplaces and talk

to working people.

As we will see in step three - not everylocal issue that is raised is a good campaignissue, so the best thing to do is to go outinto the community and into workplaces,listen to what people have to say andcompile a list of possible campaign issues

which you can review and consider later.

Door-to-door resident surveysMost Labour campaigners have spent manyhours on the doorstep. In the constituencieswhich adopt a Community Organisingapproach they dont only ask voter IDquestions. They also use doorstep work asa way of capturing local issues and recruiting

members and supporters. You can print outresidents surveys which volunteers takedoor-to-door to ll out there and then withresidents. Model direct mail and a surveycan be found on pages 26 and 27.

But this isnt about sticking to a script.To really understand what people areconcerned about, your volunteers should betrying to engage people in a conversation.

There is no reason why you cant identifynew campaigners or community leadersthrough conversations you have on thedoorstep.

Identifying campaign issues

G

a r y

H a

l e y

P h o t o g r a p

h e r



26/8826

#realchange

Step two Identifying campaign issues

Model letter to accompany residents survey

Dear xxxxx

Across the country in every city, town, neighbourhood and street we know thatmany people and families are suffering as the policies of this out of touch Tory-ledGovernment are starting to bite.

As a party we are not willing to stand by and do nothing as residents of xxxx Street/Road are ignored and left without a voice in the community they care about.

The Labour Party has never taken your support for granted and it never will. We wantto renew our commitment to you and to every resident in xxxx Street/Road. We wantto prove to you that Labour is demanding fairness in these tough times. Many of yourneighbours have already let us know what they think, you can have your say too.

We want to hear from everyone. Regardless of which party you vote for or even if younever vote, we want to know your views.

We want to work with residents such as yourself in xxxxx street/block to nd outwhats important to you and work with you to change your neighbourhood for thebetter.

Tell us about your area, tell us what you like, what you dont and what could be doneto improve it. By letting us know your views and priorities, we can prove to you that byworking together we can make a difference.

We will be speaking to residents in xxxx street/road on xxxx date and hope to speak toyou then. In case we miss you, why not ll out this survey and pop it in the post to us.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this letter, we hope to hear from you soon andwe look forward to working with you to make our community a better place to live.

Many thanks,

Anytown Labour CLP



27/8827

#realchange


Model residents survey

How long have you lived here?

Whats it like to live here?

What are two three things you really like about this neighbourhood?

What are two three things you would change if you could?

What, if anything, would you be willing to work with other local people

to change?

Do you belong to any local organisations, if so please list them?

Would you be willing to work with our Labour Community Action Team

to bring about some of the changes that you said you would like to

see around here? Yes No

Do you usually vote? Yes No

If yes who do you usually vote for?

If no why dont you usually vote?

Contact details:NameAddress Postcodeemailtelephone mobile

Anytown Labour CLP residents survey



28/8828

#realchange


Ideas and follow up questions for the doorstep

When you are door knocking youmay notice someone has a sticker

for a charity, faith group or any otherorganisations in their window.

Try to engage them in conversationabout this.

ASK:Would you be willing to work with our Labour CommunityAction Team to bring about some of the changes that you

are talking about?We will work with you to send out iers and will make

door knocking visits to inform and update residents and toask them to get involved

Build relationships

If there is an opportunity, share alittle about why you do this kind ofwork. Identify things that connect

you to the person.Identify things that could connect the

person with others in the group.

ASK:How long have you lived here?

Whats it like to live here?

What are things you really like about this neighbourhood?

What are things you would change if you could?

How do your neighbours, friends or family feel?

What is one thing you would work with others to change?



29/8829

#realchange


Tip: Roving surgeriesMany local Labour Parties use rovingsurgeries to identify key issues affecting a

local community. Heres how to organise aroving surgery:

1) Prepare a simple leaet which explains: The local Labour Party want to

hear your views and concerns. They will be in the road on

Saturday afternoon. If you want them to knock on

your door, please put this leaetin your window.

2) The local Labour team which shouldinclude local candidates and electedrepresentatives should then return tothe street at the time specied and callat the houses where there is a leaet inthe window.

Visits to community groups, coffeemornings and house meetingsBy identifying key community leaders,contacting them and starting to buildrelationships with them, you have givenyourself the opportunity to start to engagewith their members and followers.

Many Labour representatives and localParties organise coffee mornings throughwhich they invite a community group or agroup of residents from a neighbourhoodfor coffee. This is a great opportunity tomeet people and identify issues that are ofconcern to them. Here are some top tips fororganising a good coffee morning:

Tip: Coffee morningsor residents meetings

1) Approach the leader of the group youwish to invite and explain youd like tospend some time with their membersto learn about issues affecting them.

2) Alternatively leaet an estate orneighbourhood and invite residentsto a coffee morning and ask communityleaders to bring people as well. Followup the leaet with a phone call or a knock

on the door.3) Some community groups will invite

you to meet their members at theirown building. If not try to identify awelcoming environment in which tohold the meeting. A members houseis a great venue.

4) The local candidate or representativeshould act as host of the event even if itis in someone elses house. They shouldsay a few words of welcome at thebeginning and explain that the purposeof the event is to listen to their views.

5) If the community organisation you areworking with have a particular concernyou know about you may wish toinvite along other relevant communitystakeholders. For example an MP mightinvite a local community police officerto a meeting with neighbourhood watchco-ordinators.

6) Make sure there are enough of you at theevent to ensure everyone who attends isspoken with and made to feel welcomeand listened to.

7) Even if the event doesnt raise issueswhich you will use as a communitycampaign, ensure that you follow up

where you are asked for help.



30/8830

#realchange


8) Your event host should thank everyoneat the end of the event and explain whatwill happen with the concerns that havebeen raised.

Dulwich and West Norwood -Capturing issues throughlocal meetings

In Dulwich and West Norwood, local Labour

MP Tessa Jowell and local Party membersuse residents meetings to capture issues.Working with local community groups theyorganise action days in a local communitywhich then coincides with a residentsmeeting where they talk with people aboutlocal issues of concern.

Find out how Tessa and her team identieda campaign issue on a local housing estatein our Best Practice section.

Getting to the heart of the issue

The types of questions we ask people willhelp us get to the heart of the issues that

are important to them.

Rather than asking questions which onlyrequire a yes or no answer, try and ask openquestions. For example, instead of saying:Has this been going on a long time?,ask How long has this been going on?.That way, instead of closing the conversationdown into a yes or no response, you open

it out and encourage the other person tokeep talking.

Help me understand ___? How would you like things to be di erent? How can I help you with ___? What are the good things about ___ andwhat are the less good things about it? When would you be most likely to___? What have you tried before to makea change? What do you want to do next?

If the person youre speaking withglosses over an important point, try sayingTell me more about, or sounds a difficultarea for you will help them clarify thepoints, not only for you, but for themselves.



31/8831

#realchange


Conclusion - Step two

You should now have

an understanding of:

1) Some techniques to help youidentify local campaign issuesincluding:

Meetings with community groups. Co ee mornings. Doorstep surveys.

2) How to understand what issuespeople care about.



32/88


33/8833

#realchange

Step three

Not all issues that are raised with youand your team are good campaigningissues. When deciding on the rightissue it often helps asking yourselfthe following three questions:

1) Is the campaign consistent with

Labour values?As Labour Party members we want tocampaign on issues that speak to ourLabour values. Any campaign you runwill have an impact on the perception ofLabour across the local community so itis important to consider this when youchoose a campaign issue.

2) What do you aim to achieve throughyour campaign?This is an important question. You needto be able to set very clear and achievableaims and objectives at the outset. That said,you can be sophisticated in how you deneyour aims. For example, Siobhain McDonaghMP ran a local campaign to help youngpeople into work with clear, measurableand deliverable aims. Her campaign wasaimed at supporting young people toput CVs together and set up a local workexperience scheme. Siobhain was clearabout what she was aiming to do at theoutset and she achieved this.

3) Can it mobilise a movement of localcampaigners?The best campaign issues affect a

signicant number of people and arepowerful. Good campaigns get peopleinvolved and help to grow your local Labour

Party. An issue that fails to motivate peoplewont do that.

Casework or campaign issue?You must distinguish between caseworkor issues that only affect a small numberof people and those issues that have broad

appeal and could affect a wider range ofpeople- this is crucial.

Testing a campaign issueBefore embarking upon a campaign itis a good idea to test the water withlocal residents. You could go back on thedoorstep and talk to people asking themto get involved. You should be looking totest whether your campaign and specicallywhat you are campaigning towards (yourcampaign aim) will motivate people to takeaction. For example:

Hello Mrs Jones. When I called a couple ofweeks ago you told me about the lack ofstreet lights through the park. A numberof other people have made the samepoint and were going to try and make thecouncil do something about it. Would yoube willing to come along to a meeting atthe community centre on Wednesday?Well be discussing how we might persuadethe council to take action.

Choose a campaign issue



34/8834

#realchange

Step three Choose a campaign issue

Conclusion - Step three

You should now understand:

1) What makes a good campaign issue: A Labour issue. An issue around which you can

set a clear and achievable aim. An issue with broad based support. A powerful issue i.e. an issue people

would take action about if youprovided them the opportunityto do so.

2) How to test your campaign issue.

If your meeting is well attended, you knowyou have an issue around which to organisea campaign.

If your meeting is not well attended,you have two choices:

1) Tell people that to win thiscampaign we will need to getmore people behind it and askthem to bring their friends andneighbours next time.

2) If you dont think your campaignissue is going to provide thebasis for a large scale CommunityOrganising campaign, agree amore modest course of action tohelp you achieve your campaignaims - for example that everyoneshould write to the local paperand urge their friends and familyto do so.

You should look at who else you might bringto this meeting as well- local councillorswith relevant responsibility for example.

G

a r y

H a

l e y

P h o t o g r a p

h e r

Dave Anderson MP campaigning against the saleof Chopwell Woods



35/8835

#realchange

Step four

You now have a relationship with agroup of potential campaigners anda powerful local issue around whichto organise your campaign. Its timeto get campaigning.

Three steps

1) Set clear campaignaims and objectives.

2) Make change happen.3) Involve people and

build your campaign.

1) Set clear campaignaims and objectives

Earlier we set out the importance ofhaving a clear and achievable campaignaim. This is what you are telling people youare campaigning for. Clearly dened aimsand objectives:

Help you tell people what the campaignis for. People wont be motivated to

join if you cant be clear about yourend goal. Think about how muchmore powerful a campaign to save thelocal police station is compared to acampaign against crime.

Help you to ensure that you are beingrealistic- you can decide at the outsetwhat you will tell people you areaiming for and there is less dangerof over promising.

Help you to understand how you willachieve change. Once you know what

you are trying to change, you can startto work out how to change it.

Tip: SMART ObjectivesAn approach called SMART- helps us setour aims and objectives. SMART stands for: Speci c Measurable Achievable Relevant

Timed

Consider the following campaign objective:To secure new street lighting throughthe park between the railway stationand the housing estate by Christmas.

This objective is:Specic and Measurable We aim to have new street lights in thepark- we will be able to measure denitivelywhether this is achieved or not. If ourobjective was to make the park saferwhether or not we had achieved ourobjective would be open to interpretation.It would be neither specic nor measurable

Achievable In this instance asking for improved streetlighting in the park is denitely achievable.

Relevant In seeking an achievable goal for acampaign we can sometimes lose sightof what people are angry or concernedabout and we begin to campaign aroundan issue that isnt relevant. What if streetlighting wasnt achievable? What if the local

Labour councillors started thinking aboutan alternative solution and came up with anidea nobody wanted? This is why it is very

Organise and buildyour campaign



36/88


37/8837

#realchange

Step four Organise and build your campaign

Who else can inuence decision makers?As well as local residents and members ofthe local media, you should think aboutother people or organisations who might

inuence your decision maker.

Colleagues If the decision makers are electedrepresentatives you might inuencethem by identifying and talking withcolleagues who have inuence overthem - your community mapping mighthelp you understand who this is

Customers or clientsIf an organisation sees that theircustomers or clients are part of yourcampaign they may change theircourse of action

Community ActionSometimes a decision doesnt need tobe taken by anyone for the lives of localpeople to be improved. For example manylocal Parties now organise clean up days inlocal areas. This is less about campaigningbut it can be incredibly valuable work.Community action helps the local LabourParty build relationships and get peopleinvolved in the party.

For an example see the Dulwich and WestNorwood story in the Best Practice section.

The Christian Socialist Movement alsowork with local parties who want toundertake this sort of work. For fulldetails about their Labour Neighbourproject email [email protected]

3) Involve people andbuild your campaign

So you know what you are trying to achieve(your aims and objectives) and you knowhow to achieve change but a Community

Other ways of persuadingdecision makersA decision maker sensing a ground swell ofopinion may be willing to listen or change

their mind.

1) Meetings You can organise a meeting wherelocal people will present their viewsand concerns to the decision maker.

2) Petitions A petition is another way you candemonstrate large scale support for

your campaign to a decision maker.3) Letter writing

Similar to a petition is a letter writingcampaign through which you can asklocal people to write to a decisionmaker and demand change.

4) Posters Posters in windows across acommunity will also demonstratea groundswell of opinion.

5) Events and rallies Where you engage large numbers ofpeople in your campaign, you might beable to demonstrate a large groundswellof opinion by organising events,marches or rallies.

6) Online Increasingly all of the above methodsof persuasion can also be organisedonline using social networking sitesand websites.

Engaging the local media in your campaignFor many decision makers, coverage in thelocal media or concern about criticism in thelocal media will motivate them to act. Somecampaigns will make an attractive story forthe local media in themselves. For others

you will also need to demonstrate a groundswell of opinion or identify individualstories of people affected by the issue.



38/8838

#realchange


Organising campaign is about more thanachieving change. It is about empoweringpeople to achieve change for themselves.So your campaign needs to be planned so

it involves people at every step.

Take every opportunity to invitepeople in and bring others with themInvite everyone you meet to get involved.Include it in every letter, leaet, pressrelease and communication. Not everyonewill join you, but many will. Use yourcommunity, membership and workplace

mapping, as well as your union contactsdatabase, to identify the key people whocan bring others into the campaign.

What links and relationships do youand your team have that you canreach out to?Think about who else, such as localcommunity groups may want to getinvolved and invite them.

Be open with campaignersAlways be open about the aims of thecampaign and be open to further ideas andadvice. If you miss this stage and assumeeveryone knows why you are doing thingsthen it may fall apart later or there may bedisagreements about the objectives or yourcampaign methods.

Never forget that it is also personalrelationships that really motivate people,so make sure you ask people to join youface to face if possible. Then always workto grow your relationships with anyone whowants to get involved no matter how muchor little.

Margaret Hodge and BarkingConstituency Labour Party

As well as engaging with the longstandingcommunity, we reached out to the newcommunity too. We actively recruitednew members wherever we went in theBorough and doubled our membershipduring the period when Labour nationallywas losing members. We welcomed youngerpeople, many individuals from all BAMEcommunities and many more women.

They joined because they wanted to workwith us to defeat the BNP and becausewe made sure that they were all valuedand included. We built up a fantastic Labouraction team of dedicated activists whoare still working and growing in numbers.Some of the new members replacedexisting councillors, understanding thatthey had to change what they did to win.

Membership is no longer about going toendless, tedious Party meetings. It is allabout working together in the communityand growing support for Labour.

To read Margaret Hodges full storysee our Best Practice section



39/88


40/8840

#realchange


Enable and empowerTo get the best out of people we need toenable and empower them to make theirown decisions and bring their talent,

creativity and energy to the campaign.

The key to ensure that a campaignstays focused but harnesses the verybest from those involved is good planning,communications and training.

Make sure you regularly communicatewith everyone whos involved about

what you are trying to achieve, howyou are trying to achieve it and theprogress so far- plan these regularupdates and make them someonesresponsibility.

When allocating responsibility topeople make sure that they areproperly trained and understand howto undertake their responsibility andwhy it is so important as part of thecampaign.

Put people in small teams with a well trained team leader who clearlyunderstands their role and whatthey are expected to achieve. Teammembers will then have more of astake in terms of deciding how toachieve the team aims. People will feelmore motivated and empowered toplay their part than if they arrive at alarge central campaign office and aregiven a list of doors to knock on in anarea which they know very little about.

Top down versus EmpowermentThe diagrams (below) show a topdown model (top) and an empowermentmodel (bottom).

Diagrams from Movement for Change



41/8841

#realchange


In the top down model, the leader at thetop passes instructions and directionsdown the chain.

In the empowerment model, the leader atthe centre provides overall direction butempowers other leaders to make decisionsand organise. These leaders then identifyothers who may bring people into thecampaign and they empower them.

The advantages of the empowermentmodel are:

1) If a leader drops out other leaders will llin the gaps

2) There is an emphasis on recruiting newleaders and growing the campaigns

3) People are empowered and enabled togive their very best

Conclusion - Step fourYou should now understand:

1) The importance of clear aims andobjectives

2) How to set campaign aims andobjectives

3) How to achieve change through yourcampaign

a. How to identify a decision maker b. How to inuence a decision4) How to build your campaign and bring

people in5) How to organise your campaign so

that it enables and empowers people



42/88


43/8843

#realchange

Step ve

Getting an outcomeThe nal step in our Community Organisingguide looks at how we close the campaign,feedback to supporters and move onto thenext campaign. Ideally you want to achieveyour objectives and have all sides feel thatthey have got what they needed from the

situation. The dynamic will irrevocablychange if one side feels they have lostwhere another has won. If this is the type ofobjective you are aiming for, make sure youhave thought through the consequencesand the impact this will have on your futurerelationship with the other side.

Going back to your campaignersand residents with the outcomeAchieving your objectives isnt the end,you need to go back and communicatethe outcome to your campaign team,your supporters, local residents and tothe local press. Ensure that press releasesare prepared and sent to local blogs andnewspapers, photos taken, leaets anddirect mail written and delivered rememberthat every piece of material should thankthe community for getting involved. Makesure that you are asking your union contactsto get the message out to their network, orputting leaets in the work canteen or onthe notice board. This is the communitiesvictory not your own, although you will reapthe benet for your leadership, involvementand the relationships you have built alongthe way.

Very often the outcomes will take time totake effect and if this is the case in your

campaign you need to get this messageacross. The challenge is to keep supportand momentum going even if the resultswont be seen for a while.

Our aim should be to run a number ofcampaigns at the same time - some with

long term and others with short termobjectives. Dont wait for one campaign tonish before starting another. That said ifyou are just starting out as a CommunityOrganiser, dont stretch yourself too thinlyat the outset.

As one campaigncloses another begins



44/88


45/8845

#realchange

Part two

Best practice

Part two: Best practice


46/88


47/88Part two: Best practice 47

#realchange

Best practice

Community Organising is not new forthe Labour Party. Up and down thecountry local Labour Parties, Labourcandidates and elected representativeshave organised in their communitiesfor many years. As a result these arecommunities in which:

More local people are active andparticipate in the political process

More people join and support Labour Labour achieves better results at

elections

This section contains some great examplesboth from the Labour Party and partnerorganisations including Trade Unions.

If you have an example of your own, shareit with us at labour.org.uk/realchange or#realchange on Twitter

Community Organising in action


48/88

#realchange

There were constituencies up anddown the country which bucked thetrend and performed fantasticallywell for Labour at the 2010 GeneralElection.

In Barking Labour candidate and MP,Margaret Hodge beat BNP leader NickGriffin increasing her share of the votefrom 48% to 54%. At the same timeLabour defeated all the BNP councillorson the borough council.

Margaret Hodge MP takes up the story:There are lessons everyone can learn

from our experience in Barking which

Barking Labour PartyBest practice

could help Labour elsewhere rebuild for future elections.

Barking had always been a traditionalLabour stronghold. We were used toweighing in, not counting the Labour voteand we didnt have to campaign very hardto win well.

That began to change in 2001 when theturnout at the General Election dropped to45.5% - the lowest turnout since 1918. At

Our street meetings bring people together to nd solutions to local problems. We still holdone every fortnight



49/88


50/88


51/88

#realchange

Our canvassing strategy is also different.When people answer the door we identifyourselves as being out with the LabourAction team and we talk about some

change I have achieved in the area, likegetting yellow lines painted on the road.We then ask people what else they wouldlike me to tackle to improve their areaand where we can, we promise to try todo something, so the conversation cantake time.

Only at the end do we undertake the voter

ID. When we nd Labour voters we makesure we keep in regular touch with them,with newsletters, local campaigns andupdates on local issues. Keeping inregular touch with Labour supportersis hugely important to getting the voteout on the day.

At one new members event I askedone woman why she had joined theParty and she replied that she had beenso impressed that I had got her a newdustbin within days of a Saturday canvass,she wanted to help!

We also run big campaigns on constituencyissues getting a new maternity unit inthe borough, stopping post office closuresor opposing the closure of a local A&Edepartment. For these campaigns wealso recruit volunteers who are not Partymembers but who support the campaignand are willing to help with leaetdeliveries and petition signatures.

None of this is rocket science. But itdoes require consistent, hard workby a team of Labour activists.

And nally, we were well-organised.People who came to help never spent

time in the campaign HQ. Those whotrudged the streets in the snow wererewarded with soup and Mars bars! Wealways dealt efficiently with casework.

Our literature was of a high quality and focused on local, not national issues. Wewere rigorous in our voter ID because wewanted to ensure we knocked up only theLabour vote. We really mobilised the BAMEvote, but we also regained much of thewhite working class support we had lost.

And in the end we triumphed. Wetriumphed because of the support ofcountless people who came to help and toall of whom we are indebted. But the thingof which I am most proud is Barking Labour

Party. We turned a small group into abrilliant team of community activists. Webuilt a party properly representative in age,

We opened up the party to new people whobecame our new activists

Best practice Barking Labour Party



52/88

#realchange

Best practice Barking Labour Party

We ran big campaigns on local issues like savingthe A&E

ethnicity and gender of the community werepresent, and dedicated to the values ofsolidarity and equality which underpin theLabour Party. We are still out on Saturdays,

we still hold regular coffee afternoons andstreet meetings, we still listen and respondand we still make reconnection the test ofeverything we do. Thank you to all whohelped us in Barking to win suchan important national struggle.



53/88

#realchange


BackgroundEdinburgh Labour decided that in order tore-engage with the electorate in Edinburgh,their local government manifesto had todirectly involve those that they sought torepresent - the local community. Becausewe had all our candidates in place bySeptember 2011 we were able to makean early start.

Next stepsWorking together, the Local GovernmentCommittee and Labour Group produced an

outline manifesto of ideas that it hoped totake forward, and released this document inNovember 2011. The manifesto was broken

Edinburgh Labour ManifestoConsultation Process

Best practice

down into sections, but was kept broad,so that details could be lled in basedon consultations with local people andcommunity organisations such as tradeunions, small businesses and voluntaryorganisations. We consulted people throughresidents surveys and a newspaper.

Press Involvement/Social media usage

We invited the local media to thelaunch of the consultation documentin November, which Labour group leader

Street stalls proved to be very successful.We sold books and gave out surveys that askedpeople to respond to the manifesto consultation.


54/88

Labour group leader (now leader of council,Andrew Burns) launches consultation

Best practice Edinburgh Labour Manifesto Consultation Process

Edinburgh Labour employed a localmember to compile the responses andcouncillors then drew them together intoa full manifesto document.

The nal manifesto was composed andlaunched in February 2012 by Labourgroup leader Andrew Burns and ScottishLabour leader Johann Lamont. The nalcopy was published online and distributedin the community through street stalls.The manifesto included a thank you toall those who had been involved.

The response we received on the doorstepwas overwhelmingly supportive and thepublic were receptive to being involved

in the manifesto process. The ideas in themanifesto were broken down and given tocandidates in bullet point format to promote

(now Edinburghs council leader!) AndrewBurns spoke at, and it received localpress coverage.

Whilst hard copies of the document weremade available and were given out atstreet stalls etc, the main source forfeeding back information was throughour website, where members of thepublic could read the consultationdocument online and then feedback ideasthey wanted to see. The website waspromoted by Twitter and supplemented

by a Facebook page, and all candidateswere asked to promote the social mediaaspect of the campaign so that theconsultation reached as many outlets aspossible. At its peak, the Facebook pagewas reaching over 3,000 people a weekdirectly and many more indirectly throughTwitter. Existing portfolio holders weregiven a week in which it was their turn totalk about what they wanted to see for aco-operative city within their portfolio brief.

Forums and responsibilityLabour group leader Andrew Burnsdelegated responsibility to the relevantspokespersons within the Labour Groupto hold local forum meetings, and to invitealong local community groups, unions,businesses etc. These meetings werewell attended.

From consultation to manifestoThe consultation with the public endedin January 2012, by which time over 200pieces of individual feedback had beensubmitted by local organisations and morethan 2,500 surveys had been returned bymembers of the public. We responded to

all the surveys when they were submitted,explaining how their response would be fedinto the consultation process.

#realchange



55/88

#realchange


on the doorstep. The consistent themethroughout was that Edinburgh Labourwas listening to peoples views and wasgoing to continue to do so if successful

in being elected as the largest party (whichwe were!)

Link to manifestowww.edinburghlabour.com/p/moving- edinburgh-forward-together_12.html

Best practice Edinburgh Labour Manifesto Consultation Process

Edinburgh Young Labour team out talking to votersabout what THEY wanted to see.

MOVING WOMEN FORWARD Edinburgh Labour event for women within theparty and the wider community to contribute tothe manifesto consultation process. We held break

out groups on transport, employment and childcare.The event was attended by Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont.


56/88

More and more people were coming toMP Siobhain McDonaghs weekly surgeryworried about the cost of heating andlighting their homes. Not only are billsgetting bigger, theyre complicated andits hard to know how to make savings.

So in February we arranged a UtilitiesAdvice Day, a big community event open toall local residents with professional consumeradvisers there to help, and utility companieson hand to help people understand theirbills. We wanted constituents to getinformation about how to reduce their bills,how to switch providers, how to cut heatingand lighting costs through insulation andenergy efficiency, and so on.

Our local volunteers, lled envelopesinviting every local household to comealong and other volunteers kindly deliveredthe invitations. More than 500 peoplecame to what felt at times like a busy dayat Labour Party Conference, with peoplewandering from stall to stall picking upadvice and freebies.

We persuaded each of the big six energycompanies to come, along with CooperativeEnergy. Audrey Gallacher, the director ofenergy at Consumer Focus, whose job itis to ensure consumers get a good deal,agreed to hold a series of question andanswer seminars throughout the daydesigned to advise people how to keep

bills to the minimum.

A number of independent switchingadvisors came too, including uSwitch andenergyhelpline. And to ensure people alsohad advice about benets, rents and howto manage debts, several charities andvoluntary groups such as Age UK, Mind,the British Legion and our local CreditUnion came to o er their help, alongsiderepresentatives from Merton Council,

JobCentre Plus, and all our local housingassociations.

Many of them handed out money-savingfreebies like electricity usage monitors,and providers of insulation schemes, suchas Warm Front, also signed people up. Forexample, the Climate Energy scheme whovisit homes and install new energy savinggadgets had an astonishing 150 referralsas a result of the advice day.

Best practice

Mitcham and Morden Utilities Advice Day

#realchange



57/88

#realchange


Through regular doorstep campaigning,Luciana Berger MP and her campaignteam identied growing concernamongst residents about the lackof police presence on local streets.

Lucianas team circulated a police survey

across the constituency. There was a hugeresponse and Luciana then organised apublic meeting where residents wereable to raise their concerns about crimeand anti-social behaviour with Luciana,Vernon Coaker, who was Shadow PoliceMinister at the time, and representativesfrom the local police. More than 130 peoplecame along.

Luciana said, As a consequence of theresidents survey and meeting, police inWavertree have responded to a numberof local anti-social behaviour issues, andnew neighbourhood watch schemes havebeen set up. And I have been able to buildup a relationship with hundreds of localresidents on local crime and policing.

Liverpool WavertreeBest practice

Top: Lucianas team delivered her policing survey to24,000 households and received a huge response.Above: Luciana organised a public meeting on localpolicing - it was standing room only!


58/88

Over the past couple of yearspayday lenders, and other providersof high cost credit, have come todominate Walthamstows high street.Residents faced with the rising costsof living and unemployment or wagefreezes hitting their family incomes,are increasingly turning to these legalloan sharks to make ends meet.

Many have come to see their local MP toask for advice on how to deal with thedebts they incurred or losing their homes,

families and jobs as a result. With one inthree payday loans taken out to pay off

WalthamstowBest practice

other payday loans, the spiral of debtthese companies cause requires urgentaction.

Having seen the impact of thesecompanies, MP Stella Creasy has beencampaigning in Parliament for caps on whatcan be charged for credit to give Britishconsumers the same protection from thesecompanies that others around the worldenjoy. She has also been working withMovement for Change to organise action totry to limit the damage these companies

can cause in Walthamstow.

#realchange



59/88

#realchange


Best practice Walthamstow

Along with local volunteers, Stella beganworking to raise the prole of alternativeforms of affordable credit in the area.

For example, leaets warning peopleabout these local companies andhighlighting the credit union weredistributed outside the premises of thesecompanies. Volunteers also held postersup identifying the companies as legalloan sharks to raise awareness aboutthe campaign. These sessions have nowbecome a regular event at the end of each

month, with volunteers from across thecommunity as well as labour supporterssigning up to help out.

Alongside these sessions, Stella alsoorganised debt advice training forpeople who work with the most vulnerableresidents in Walthamstow. Stella arrangedfor expert speakers from the CitizensAdvice Bureau, insolvency experts R3,Christians Against Poverty and thelocal credit union to meet with residents,community and voluntary grouprepresentatives and council staff to learnmore about the law around debt as well asto ensure they knew how to appropriatelyrefer people to debt advice services.

Stella has also worked with many Labourcouncillors to promote the campaign.Several have passed motions at councilmeetings, often with the support ofConservative and Liberal Democratcouncillors, committing the council tosupporting the campaign against highcost credit and to work locally to discourageresidents from using the companies. Labourcouncillors in Medway have set up an

investigation into the issue, whilst IslingtonCouncil has launched a public campaign topersuade residents not to use loan sharks,

and has used council powers to supportcredit unions and discourage high costcredit shops.

Campaigning activities have taken manycreative forms. For example, Stellais also working with football fans to lobbytheir clubs to remove advertising for thesecompanies from football websites, groundsand programmes through the Red Cardfor Wonga campaign. In student unions,NUS have been challenging how thesecompanies target students. Using a

mailing list of campaigners across thecountry, Stella has been able to mobilisecampaigners to support all these differentactivities as well as to lobby journalists andMPs to support her legislative proposals.Twitter users have been asked to Tweettheir MPs and to help recruit people to thecampaign and hold the companies toaccount.

If you would like to know more about anyof the above or how to help please emailStella at [email protected] . She is also producing a guide forcampaigners which can be requested byemail and contains ideas on how to supportthe campaign both through parliamentarylobbying and local activism. You can alsofollow Stella on @stellacreasy on Twitterfor updates.


60/88

When Tory-controlled Suffolk CountyCouncil announced plans to shutlibraries and scrap school crossingpatrols it sparked outrage acrossthe county. In response Labourcouncillors in Ipswich launcheda massive community campaign.

Their team targeted areas of Ipswichthat would be hit by the cuts with a leaetcalling on residents to back their campaignby signing a petition and putting up aposter in their window. The team securedhundreds of signatures but many residentswere willing to go further and offered tohelp the local Party deliver leaets andgather more petition signatures.

Lollipops and libraries became thecentral issue in the campaign for theIpswich Borough Council elections in2011 thanks to the Labour campaign.As well as the increased capacity theCLP had from new members followingthe General Election they were able tocall on new supporters they had recruitedthrough the library campaign to help themdeliver election leaets.

On election day, Labour won 12 of16 council seats being contested andcomfortably took control of the council -showing that campaigning in the heartof the community is crucial to securingLabour success at the polls.

Ipswich CLP Secretary John Cook said,Through our campaign we were able

to show were in touch with the issueslocal people are concerned about, andwe recruited local residents to help thecampaign. Our election results showed theimpact this has and now the Tory CountyCouncil is under real pressure to ditch thecuts to libraries and crossing patrols.

IpswichBest practice

Top: Ed Balls joins the campaign. Bottom: Labourcandidate David Ellesmere with local lollypop lady.

#realchange



61/88

#realchange


Working with the residents of theLilford Estate in Camberwell London

How we started off - helpingout and listening to concernsThe Lilford estate built in the 1930sconsists of 250 ats and is owned by

Lambeth Living Housing Association.The estate has a high level of supportfor Labour but the turnout has been lowat elections.

The local Residents Association wereorganising a community clean up day andit seemed a good opportunity for the localLabour Party to work with them and helpthem out.

We built a team of Labour Party helpers forthe day by asking our new members to signup when they attended a social event withour MP Tessa Jowell.

We also took the opportunity to organisea community meeting for the day of thebig clean up so that we could meet, listento and get to know local residents.

Eight days prior to the event we deliveredletters to the estate and surrounding areaasking people to come to the clean up aswell as the residents meeting

On the day over 30 people of all ages andbackgrounds participated at the event of

which about half were local residents

The residents meetingAt the meeting local residents explained thatthey were encouraged by the days activitiesbut wanted further action taken about theirpoor living conditions, such as rotten windowframes, doors and leaking roofs.

Many residents talked about how thedamp and condensation was effectingtheir health.

So listening to residents concerns, Tessaand the Labour councillor agreed to workwith the Residents Association to improvetheir poor living conditions.

But both Tessa and the councillorsemphasised that rather than simplytrying to resolve the situation forresidents, they would work withresidents to get Lambeth Councilto recognise their plight.

Empowering residents to get thecouncil to listen to themWith the support of Movement for Change,

Best practice

Dulwich and West Norwood


62/88

we worked up a plan with the ResidentsAssociation to get Lambeth Council tolisten to and involve residents in xingthe problems.

Firstly we delivered a joint letter toresidents of the estate with a survey thatthey could send back using our FREEPOSTservice.

After working out which households hadreturned the surveys, we knocked on theremaining households to persuade them

to complete their surveys.

The key aim of the survey and doorknocking was to encourage the residentsto tell their own stories about how difficultit was for them and their families due to thepoor state of disrepair.

With the information gathered, Tessagot the leading councillor for housing tovisit some of the residents ats whohad responded.

With the evidence collected the ResidentsAssociation felt they were then able to takea deputation to a full council meeting ofLambeth councillors in order to put theircase on the councillors agenda.

Local GP practices were also approachedand they wrote letters for the campaignto demonstrate how the poor livingconditions of the estate were affectingtheir patients health.

At the same time work to engagemembers of the public in the campaignwas in full swing.

The Result Victory for the Residents!

After a year of campaigning, LambethCouncil agreed to allocate over2.5 million to the Lilford Estate.

Now the local councillors will be workingwith the Residents Association to ensurethat the money to improve their estateleads to real improvements to their atsand their health.

Best practice Dulwich and West Norwood

#realchange



63/88

#realchange


Best practice

Since the Labour Party was founded,we have strived to share our vision offairness, justice and cooperation withcommunities throughout Britain.

Dulwich and West Norwood (DaWN) LabourParty has always tried to put this vision

into practice. I hope the examples providedhere will contribute to the current debateabout the future direction that our partyshould be taking.

Background a long history of campaigningDaWN Labour Party has always heldthe view that campaigning is not just anexercise that starts in the six month run upto an election. As such, it has worked hardto engage regularly with residents throughsurveys, on doorsteps and by holding AnyQuestions? style local residents meetings.In the two years prior to the 2010 GeneralElection for example, we received almost5,000 responses to local surveys on veryspecic local issues.

The success of our campaigning hasdepended on ensuring that importantissues that arise in local communities areaddressed. The only parent promotedschool in the country is in my constituencyand is a prime example of this approach inaction. It started when I met a group ofparents who spoke of their vision for a localsecondary school led by the local community.

This was harnessed and that vision soon ledto this school becoming a reality, along withthree other new secondary schools in theconstituency. This was, of course, supported

signicantly by the national vision providedby a Labour Government that was preparedto invest in our childrens futures.

Our approach in developing sustainablecommunity-rooted campaigning was a vitalfactor in increasing the number of Labour

councillors in the constituency from eightto fteen at the local elections in 2010.

Moving Forward developing new approachesAgainst the backdrop of Labours defeatnationally and the issues we now facelocally, we have taken the opportunityto reappraise our attitude to campaigningas well as developing new approaches.A catalyst to this has been an inux ofsome 400 new party members in thepast year making DaWN Labour Partyone of the largest in the country and oneof the largest community groups in theconstituency. There was a clear andpressing task which was to involve andharness the knowledge and enthusiasmof these new members in a way thatwould keep them engaged and bringbenet to the party and their localcommunity. Our campaigning wasalready effective in terms of listeningand advocacy. We realised however,that there was capacity within individualsand local organisations to improve peopleslives and the local environment that wasoften untapped. Grasping this point and

mobilising our increased membership,we have embarked on attempting anotherapproach to campaigning and engagement.

Community Organising in Dulwichand West Norwood By Tessa Jowell MP


64/88

#realchange

Best practice Community Organising in Dulwich and West Norwood

Community Action from small beginningsStarting on a small scale and workingthrough local Labour Leaders such as our

Labour councillors, we have worked with anumber of local communities to offer helpwith initiatives taken up by residents toimprove their lives and the local area.Initiatives have included setting up anafter school club, developing grow yourown patches on a housing estate andattempting to keep young people awayfrom gang involvement.

We know that these are just a few ofthe numerous initiatives that already goon in local communities. We believe it isimportant to start off by supporting projectswhere we have resources to deliver realchange in order to avoid disappointmentamongst communities and members alike.We favour concentrated involvement ratherthan sparse integration.

Having found community initiativesthat we could support, we had to moveour membership towards communityaction. Apart from individual discussionsand branch meetings with members,we organised an event at Westminsterattended by over one hundred local peoplewho signed up to help with one of sixcommunity action projects. This hasmeant that a high number of our membersare now working with residents at ourcommunity action days as well asother local community initiated events.Although this is just the start, there arealready two clear positives. First, localcommunities can see for themselves thatwe are prepared to offer practical support

rather than an anonymous party thatputs a leaet through a letterbox. Second,during the process in which community

action initiatives develop, there is aclear tie that bonds our local communitiesand our members together. We are now,for example, seeing enthused new

members taking on positions in localcommunity groups.

Conclusion lessons for our partyOur approach has been to ensure that ourcommunity action initiatives are realisticand sustainable. It needs to be a processthat evolves with the local community and,

in turn, our members develop in terms ofcapacity and strength.

Critically, it shows that Labour Partyvalues are aligned with the values of thecommunity, and that the party is preparedto provide practical help and support. Thishas to be a cornerstone of our project towin over communities toward the LabourParty in a sustainable and lasting way.



65/88

#realchange


Best practice Community Organising in Dulwich and West Norwood

How to start your community campaigning.

Working with your local CouncillorsCarol Boucher, Jim Dickson & Leanne Targett-Parker

Dear Resident,

HELP US MAKE YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD BETTER!

JOIN TESSA JOWELL MP FOR AN AFTERNOONHELPING TO BRIGHTEN UP THE LILFORD ESTATE

FOLLOWED BY OUR REGULAR MP AND COUNCILLORS QUESTION TIME

EVERYBODY IS WELCOMESunday 27th March 2pm-4.30pm Meet at St Matthews Church, Lilford Road

Since the Elections last May the media has been full of stories of harsh cuts thatare creating new hardships for ordinary people. This new Government has shownlittle care for residents here and we know things are going to get really tough in thecoming months.

But your local Labour representatives your MP Tessa Jowell and your localCouncillors - have promised to work with you and for you to make your homes,streets and neighbourhoods safer and better places for you to live and work.

On Sunday 27th March we will be making a start and will be out with the Lilford

Area Residents Association, a local residents group, who are brightening up theLilford Estate by painting its main entrance.

From 2pm well be painting, so why not come along and help. If you can, please bringalong a 2 inch paint brush and remember to wear some old clothes rather than yourSunday best!

At 3.30pm well be stopping for a break with refreshments, and a question and answersession in St Matthews Church with Tessa and your Councillors .

We want to know exactly what you think is most important and what you want to seehappening in the local area in the next few months and years so we need you to comealong and tell us. By working together we can achieve great things for thisneighbourhood so please join us.

With very best wishes,

Tessa Jowell

On behalf of your local CouncillorsCarol Boucher, Jim Dickson & Leanne Targett-Parker

From Tessa Jowell MP


66/88

Dumfries and Galloway CLP, ledby local Labour MP Russell Brown,have strong links with their localcommunities. These relationships havebeen developed by leading campaignson prominent local issues and mobilisingsupport from within the community to

secure positive change locally.

On a whole host of issues - includingdemanding cash from government to helpregenerate run down local town centres,to ghting to save closure threatened posto ces, to securing new locally-based NHSdentists- Russell has successfully reachedout to residents, community groups he hasbuilt relationships with over time, localbusinesses and the local media for supportin his campaigns.

By approaching local community groupsto involve them in action days, or localshop owners and businesses to helpgather petition signatures, Russell hasgiven greater credibility to his campaignsand shown that the local Labour Partyis at the heart of the community.

And by reaching out to the communityRussell has helped mobilise many morepeople to take part in his campaigns. WhenTory-run Dumfries and Galloway Councilthreatened to close local day centres foradults with learning disabilities, Russellhelped identify and support carers who

wanted to take action by supporting hiscampaign and mobilising other carers,

centre users, and their friends and familyto take part in the campaign too.

Russell says, The most successfulcampaigns weve run have always beenwhere weve worked with members ofthe local community to demand action fromthe council, government or health board.

Dumfries and GallowayBest practice

#realchange



67/88

#realchange


This pamphlet sets out some ofthe achievements of the LiverpoolWest Derby Labour Party sinceSeptember 2007. I am indebted to thetruly fantastic activists of West Derby

long standing campaigners and newmembers.

When I was selected I promised to be anactive, campaigning local MP engagingboth with Party members and the generalpublic. The membership was just 176 andwe held just ve of the 18 Council seats in

Real Change to Win

Documents

Transcript of Real Change to Win