On Wednesday the 9th November 2011 Stand Out in Darwen: Neighbourhood Challenge team; Jude Smith and Chris Midgley, teamed up with representatives from the NHS: Healthy Streets program and Blackburn with Darwen council staff to deliver our vision of shared practice under a unified “Stand Out in Darwen Together” brand.
Invitations to the event were given to anyone who works within local services, statutory organizations or businesses that work in an environment dealing with customers on a daily basis, exploring the possibility of a shared approach to asset based working.
63 people turned up representing all sorts of organisations within the community including Pub landlords, market stall traders, NHS staff, council staff, children’s center workers, housing association staff, local shop keepers, road safety teams, town councilors, age UK, Sainsbury’s, the library, residents associations and community center staff to name just a few.
The event was facilitated by International Community Builder -Jim Diers. Jim ran a number of workshops around ABCD that captured the imaginations of all attending. Following the workshops everyone listed a number of actions they could take to try use an asset based approach within their particular work setting. They then filled out postcards to be posted to them a fortnight following the event to remind them of their commitment.
The Stand Out in Darwen team has since started to contact each of the organisations attending to arrange personalized meetings. The focus of which is to offer support, training and linking opportunities looking to maximize the opportunity for those wanting to adopt this way of working.
