Creative Confident Communities: Glossary

Glossary of key terms

Anchor organisations

Refers to organisations which have an important presence in a place. Their long-term sustainability is tied to the social and economic wellbeing of the communities they serve.

Examples include universities, businesses that employ a large proportion of a community, local authorities, hospitals, etc. Some do also contribute to a better understanding of place-led change, e.g. University of Plymouth.

Circular Economy

The circular economy is a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated. In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting. There are lots of links to a 'regenerative economy' below.

Co-created art

Co-creative projects are developed with rather than for participants and audiences. The benefit of co-creative arts projects rests both in the art work produced and the benefits of collaboration (e.g. mental health improvements, community cohesion, local pride).

An example is Creative Civic Change, an Esmée collaboration with Local Trust and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Community anchor organisations

Community anchor organisations are independent community-led organisations. They support active citizenship by encouraging local people to get involved in groups and have a say about local issues and services, as well as influencing policy and practice at a local level and more widely. Many community anchors own or manage important community assets within an area and/or sub-let them to generate income that supports wider community service delivery.

Examples include Back on the Map in Sunderland.

Community capacity building

This is the process of supporting individuals and community organisations to help them better identify and meet the needs of their areas. It involves building on the existing skills, providing opportunities for people to learn through experience and increasing people’s awareness and confidence to enable them to participate more fully in society.

An example of this is Corra Foundation’s Getting Alongside Communities.

Community-led / centred

Community-led approaches are those that are led not by an organization or other outsiders but by a collective, community process. It has become an essential way of working to combat power imbalances that exist between traditional ‘authorities’ and the communities who are facing inequities.

Community-led enterprise (terms like 'Community Business' or ‘Socially Trading Organisation’ may also be used)

Community-led enterprises are trading businesses that are run by local people for the benefit of their local community. They often respond to needs in their neighbourhoods, re-invest profit back into their local area and be accountable to their local community through their governance structures. Common legal structures include Co-ops, Community Benefit Societies and Community Interest Companies (CICs). Community-led enterprises are much more rooted in a local community than a normal business or social enterprise.

Examples include Organic Lea.

Community organising

Community organising is the work of bringing people together to take action around their common concerns and overcome social injustice. Community organisers work in communities to listen, connect and inspire people to action. Organisers redefine skills and power in a community to build their collective power together. A community organisers role is to help communities shift the balance of power back to the communities themselves - building leadership, creating core teams, teaching skills, and providing space for communities to support each other to make change.

Examples include the Connecting For Good Movement at Grapevine, Coventry and Warwickshire.

Community ownership

Community ownership puts communities in charge of land, buildings, businesses etc. Usually, community-owned organisations have membership open to anyone in their local community, and local democratic accountability through participation and governance.

Examples include Community Land Scotland.

Community wealth building

Community wealth building is a people-centred approach to local economic development, which redirects wealth back into the local economy, and places control and benefits into the hands of local people. Practical examples include employing local people, using local supply chains and community ownership of assets which enable them to generate income, thus enabling longer term sustainability for organisations. Organisations such as CLES (Centre for Local Economic Strategies) are key to this work.

Co-production

Co-production refers to a way of working, whereby everybody works together on an equal basis to create a service or come to a decision which works for them all. A key element of good co-production includes people with lived experience and professional experience sharing power to come to joint outcomes that work for all.

Doughnut Economics

Doughnut Economics proposes a new economic mindset for the 21st Century. It advocates shifting away from a focus on endless economic growth, and instead argues that society needs to balance the social needs of all people (a social foundation) within the limitations of our living planet (an ecological ceiling). It was developed by economist Kate Raworth and more information can be found on the Doughnut Economics Action Lab website.

Infrastructure organisations (IOs)

Sometimes called CVSs (Council for Voluntary Action), or VCSE (voluntary community social enterprise) they work across a place, town or city. Key features of IOs are:

• Sector support: connecting with local groups and helping people discover what’s happening in their community.
• Building sector capacity: helping charity and community groups to grow and increase their positive impact.
• Strategic Support: ensuring that volunteer groups can share their ideas and participate in local decision-making.
• Effective Information/Collaboration: helping different groups work well together and share vital information.

Local economy

A local economy covers many different areas, such as the businesses, jobs and services in a place. Every aspect of a local economy affects the lives of the people who live there - financially, socially and environmentally. The strength of the local economy affects how and where people can work, eat and spend money. Also see 'community wealth building' above.

Regenerative economy (also terms like 'nature based economy')

A regenerative economy means moving away from environmentally extractive business models and instead doing (locally-led) economic development in a way that has a positive impact on nature, climate and people. It moves beyond 'net zero' or prevention of loss but focuses on positive addition and 'net gain'.

An example is Civic Square.

Social Infrastructure

Social infrastructure is organisations, places and spaces that enable communities to create social connections and provide creative/civic spaces, such as community centres, pubs, libraries and parks that provide space for people to meet, engage, and build relationships and trust that underpin any community.

Other elements of social infrastructure are less visible and tangible: the networks of formal and informal groups, organisations, partnerships and initiatives that both benefit from and sustain the physical and social fabric of a place and enable streets, neighbourhoods and communities to thrive.

Social infrastructure also exists online with local Facebook and WhatsApp groups and was most on display during Covid lockdown when meeting in person was restricted.