Dudley CVS had come across an interesting project initiated in Detroit which celebrates and supports creative projects through micro-funding community dinners. Detroit SOUP promotes connection and change in a place through crowdfunding, creativity, collaboration, democracy, trust and fun. A few people in Dudley respond really positively when we mentioned SOUP – their eyes lit up at the thought of a SOUP dinner in Dudley, or got genuine interest from local people by sharing the idea on social media.

We put some information about SOUP in a blog and did an open call for anyone interested in getting involved in starting Dudley SOUP. We thought about the sorts of skills and interests needed and kept sharing and sharing on social media, saying we already had much of what we needed (a borough jam-packed with people with creative ideas and aspirations to run great projects, a hall at DY1 that could be used for free to hold SOUP events, instructions on how to start a SOUP from Detroit and friends in Birmingham who had started a SOUP in 2015). So all we needed was a team of people combining leadership flair, creative awesomeness, web wizardry, storytelling mastery, soup making spells and a sixth sense for finding hidden treasure.

10 individuals responded to the open call and we facilitated a 2 hour session in which they formed a SOUP team, took on roles and agreed a way forward.

The simple act of bringing people together around an idea like SOUP led to someone who had never been active in the community to get involved, and people who do a lot in Dudley’s voluntary sector through their work to get involved in activity which they clearly saw as ‘not work’. The Dudley SOUP team formed in April 2016, launched online the same month, and held 3 micro-granting dinners between September 2016 and March 2017.

The following is feedback from SOUP participants

SOUP creates opportunities to…
“bring people together in a community & to share knowledge”
“realise the ideas people have to make a stronger and resilient community”
“realise how fantastic people are”

 

The thing I value most about SOUP is…
“The non-judgemental nature & acceptance of everyone.”
“That it is happening & celebrating Dudley.”
“It’s a bit of a beacon of good stuff & good people that challenges perceptions about Dudley.”
“people come along because they care about others.”
“community and possibilities.”
“being part of it”

One of the Dudley SOUP team, Helen, had never been active in the community. She tells the story of how she was inspired to get involved, saying “I was really drawn to the simplicity of it and the fact that someone with a spark of an idea can walk away with a little money to use to make a difference within their community.” You can read Helen’s story in full here.

Bayer Street Allotments Association initially approached Dudley CVS to talk about their aspirations and their funding needs to achieve them. The group wanted to be more community minded and bring new people to the allotments to share their love of growing. In particular, the group wanted to engage with schools and young people.

To do this, the site needed to be more accessible to young people, people who are disabled and women. The biggest part of the group’s plan was to install an eco-toilet costing around £10,000, so members of the group asked for support with funding.

After meeting with the group to understand what they wanted to achieve, the support we gave was around more than funding. We helped the group to become eligible for funding, which involved supporting the group to adapt their constitution and to understand the rules within it.

Support also included identifying Awards for All as a possible funder and linking them with staff at the Big Lottery Fund.

A big challenge the group faced was to do with its lack of lease. Awards for All needed assurances that the local authority had no plans to remove the group from the council-owned site for at least five years. We liaised with the local authority and Awards for All to help reassure the funder.

Finally, because it was clear that all of this would take time, we encouraged the group increase their links with East Coseley Big Local, which would help build community support for the project.

Bayer Street Allotments Association has been involved in lots of community growing projects in and around Coseley and members can now welcome more people onto the allotments site thanks to a successful £10,000 from Awards for All for an accessible eco-toilet which has now been installed.

The group also received an award from the Green Spaces Awards for all the hard work their members put in to engage people in growing.

What’s more, Dudley CVS heard from residents living near Grange Park in Dudley who were keen to resurrect the Friends of the Park group there. We took them to visit Bayer Street Allotments to see what the group had been able to achieve. The visit really inspired the Grange Park residents to get to action and we have been working with them to set up Friends of Grange Park and plan activities there.

“We’ve got a big sense of achievement and we’re looking forward to other projects we can get our teeth into and encouraging others to get involved in voluntary work.” Tom Blackham, Bayer Street Allotments Association