Briefing No. 27 - UK Special
“Thank you for a GREAT Learning Journey. I have learned so much that I know will inform my giving going forward.”
A few weeks ago, a group of Greenwood Place community members came together to travel and meet with some of our UK-based partner organisations and social innovators.
Over a period of 3 days, we spent time with leaders from across the UK, and took time to consider together how we could approach this time which feels uncertain and unsettling in so many ways and to dig into the issues we are facing with optimism and energy.
We put together this special edition briefing to share a little of what we learned.
What we’re reading
On the Greenwood Place bedside table
‘The Art of Gathering’ by Priya Parker was a constant source of referral in the run up to the Learning Journey. We recommend it to absolutely anyone looking to create gatherings with intention. The Greenwood Place team have sticky notes and underlinings all over their copy.
FAMILY
John (name changed) is a 19-year-old apprentice at Jamie’s Farm, an organisation that provides a mixture of intense therapy and hard work outdoors on a farm to young people on the verge of dropping out. He’d grown up in the care system - regularly moving from place to place throughout his childhood. The family atmosphere at Jamie’s Farm had, he told us, “softened his pain and helped him to heal.”
People talked to us often about how care, kindness, mentorship and security had allowed them to learn resilience and respect and to thrive independently - and how swiftly things go wrong when family life is detrimental to growth and wellbeing.
SEEING CLEARLY
“These young people are AMAZING - if you think what they achieve every single day - finding free wifi, a shelter for the night, somewhere to wash themselves and their clothes, often holding down college or a job… if we could solve those problems and channel that energy just think what they could achieve....”
Our hosts at New Horizon Youth Centre, a day centre providing practical help to homeless young people, reminded us of the critical importance of seeing people clearly as individuals - understanding their strengths rather than viewing them as part of a complex problem that needs to be solved.
THE TENSION BETWEEN DEPTH AND SCALE
A host at St Giles Trust told us a story of how she was trying to help a troubled young person get in to work. He said to her…“The jump you are asking me to make is like me convincing you to become a drug dealer.”
Numbers, metrics, data - these really matter. But it’s all too easy to prize scale over depth and we heard several times about the hard choices that “going deep” means in terms of resourcing for change.
LISTENING
Ulla, a Link Worker at West London Zone, spends her time working to ensure that vulnerable children and families in her neighbourhood have the support that they need to thrive. She told us that she learns through her work every day that “Listening Is Doing.”
The "success" of any intervention, programme or project should be defined by metrics informed directly by listening to the individual’s needs and agreeing goals that work for them, not for us. Too often we bring our own preconceived ideas about what matters and what will work to our relationships with those we seek to help. The Learning Journey had listening at its heart.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Emma at Body & Soul said to us: “It’s how you build your team that enables the work.”
We saw the critical importance of organisational culture time and time again throughout the week. High-performing organisations dealing with extremely tough issues welcomed us with warmth and laughter.
Sabir (not his real name), a young man from Afghanistan who had experienced extreme trauma on his journey to the UK as a teenager, said that what helped him to begin to heal, when he got to know the team at The Baobab Centre, was the simple fact of “having someone on my side”.
PROXIMITY
We need to make space at the table for those closest to the problem, for the voices of lived experience, and to recognise that healing is not instant.
Naaz (again, not her real name), told us how she was imprisoned for 14 years at the age of 17. She was employed by St Giles Trust while she was still in prison and works to keep other young people from getting involved in gangs. She visits schools, telling her story and acting as a friend and ally for young people at risk. She said to us: “I call the young people I work with every week. I call them so they always know that they have someone to rely on.”
Lastly… a deep thank you from all @ Greenwood Place to our hosts St Giles Trust, Acumen Academy UK, the Acumen UK Fellows, Somerset House Trust, New Horizon Youth Centre, Body & Soul, The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile, Street Talk, West London Zone, Agricology and Jamie’s Farm for their time, their openness and their partnership. And to Simon Hampel, master facilitator, who travelled with us and helped us to make sense of what we learned.
One of our Community Members summed it up perfectly in an email : "This was an amazing and extraordinary experience. Just brilliant. I feel energised and inspired."
UPCOMING EVENTS
On 3rd November, we’ll be joined by Chris Underhill MBE and Andrew Bastawrous for a conversation about Why Caring for Yourself is Part of Caring for Others - And How To Do It Better.
On 1st December, Christy Turlington Burns, Ndinini Kimesera Sikar and Courtenay Cabot Venton will be joining us to discuss the Power of Collective Action - and why putting power squarely in the hands of local women makes such a difference.
And - please do join the Greenwood Place team and people from all over the world on 30th October to watch the Countdown Global Livestream at 12pm ET ahead of COP26. Find details here.
If you would like to talk to us about leaning in to support those impacted by current crisis, how to deal with the longer term social and economic fall-out of global pandemic, or the opportunities it presents to protect and restore our shared environment, please call us.
CAN WE HELP YOU?
Greenwood Place provides philanthropy support, advice and execution for a small group of strategic philanthropists. We take an entrepreneurial approach to tackling tough social and environmental problems. We work closely with our clients to find the places where they can make most difference, we support their learning and we partner with them to achieve real, lasting change.
The Greenwood is the place in Shakespeare's plays where characters go to grow, change and learn.