Community Organising During Coronavirus

By Sam Fox -

Harold Wilson may have said that a week was a long time in politics, but never has that phrase held so much weight as it does right now. Three weeks ago (at time of writing) I was knocking on doors, trying to persuade people to vote for me in the May local elections. A week later the elections were postponed, and then the next we were in lockdown. Now, I am coordinating a group of volunteers to get essentials to vulnerable people in Stockwood, while at the same time finishing off my dissertation. I know that many people’s lives have been turned upside down because of the virus, and so I recognise that offering your time to be able to help others is a luxury that not everyone can afford. However, as a member of the Labour Party, and somebody who suddenly found themselves with a lot of extra time, I felt an obligation to do whatever I could to help my vulnerable and lonely neighbours.

I feel like I should also point out that I have no experience of community organising , and have never attended a workshop or webinar on the subject (potentially embarrassing things for a candidate to admit), so I can only talk about my personal experiences regarding the community response in Stockwood. Like many things, it began on Facebook. I had no idea what a mutual aid group was, suddenly they were springing up everywhere. The first I encountered was the Bristol Community Care - Covid-19 Mutual Aid group. Within the first few days people were already sharing tips on how to reach out to neighbours, how to organise a volunteer group, and how to stay safe. Surprisingly though, it wasn’t this that spurred me to action, it was because of the other way that great ideas originate. Email.

Next door sent out an email which explained to people five ways they could help in their local community. They highlighted the importance of the local community during this time of crisis, and how bringing people together, and sharing information, was needed in order to keep people safe. If you have any experience of your local “community” Facebook page or group, you may know that they are not always the best tool for sharing such vital information. Important government and NHS guidance can get lost behind swathes of posts about potholes and bins. Seeing that it was being done elsewhere, I created a Facebook group for Stockwood solely dedicated to sharing information about coronavirus.

It got off to a good start, people sharing factual information and lots of people offering support for local vulnerable people. But that was it. There was no way of vulnerable people identifying themselves save for through Facebook. Once again social media provided me with the necessary insight, though this time it came via Twitter. The Hub in Lockleaze had put together a postcard template that people could print off and deliver to their neighbours, so of course I did the natural thing and stole it. So now I had a Facebook group full of volunteers, and a template postcard ready for them to print out. Now all I needed to know was where these volunteers lived and what roads they could do. This is where my experience as a candidate came in handy, as I’m already used to dividing up Stockwood by polling districts and giving volunteers roads to deliver leaflets to.

WhatsApp was the next tool I chose to employ. I created a group for every polling district, added the volunteers who lived in those areas to that group, gave them their postcard templates and sent them on their way, all the while keeping track of what roads had been covered and what requests for help came in. Whilst all this had been happening, I had also been in discussions with Bristol City Council and Counterslip Baptist Church Foodbank regarding the creation of a Community Response Group which could get food out to those who were shielding and identified as the most vulnerable. Fortunately we already had the volunteer base, all that was needed was an organisation in Stockwood that was able to run this operation. Enter the Greater Stockwood Alliance.

And that just about brings you up to date. We printed off new postcards which had contact details for our dedicated local hub (Bristol City Council announced their city-wide hotline the day after printing), and within a week these had gone out to every house in Stockwood. This happened just in time, as almost immediately requests for help started to shoot up. We are now recognised as an official partner to Bristol City Council, and are in charge of coordinating the local response.

I am not suggesting that everywhere in Bristol follow this structure, but certainly it appears to be working in Stockwood, and our neighbours in Hengrove & Whitchurch Park, as well as Brislington, appear to be following suit. The key takeaways should be this:

• Find a strong and well known local organisation to run the volunteer network

• Make it clear who people should contact, whether they need help or are offering help

• Keep it local - volunteers should try to only cover roads near to them

• Share the load - nobody should take on too much, make sure that volunteers can ask each other for help if needed

And most importantly, stay safe!