The pandemic has confirmed the absolutely critical role of organised, engaged communities, backed with both the funding and the support needed to meet local needs. As well as nurturing and supporting community action, we must also address power imbalances that keep communities locked out of decisions they are best placed to make.
Help communities to organise
We will:
- Invest in dedicated community organisers across Glasgow to assist residents to come together to identify shared priorities, engage with democratic processes, develop skills and capacity, and take collective action.
- Ensure that greater levels of resources are available to communities with the greatest barriers to organising.
Unlock community assets
We will:
- Strengthen community power to improve vacant and derelict land and buildings, including calling for councils to have Compulsory Sales Order powers so they can support local community-led regeneration, and powers for a local vacant and derelict land levy to help to bring unused land back into use for the common good.
- Make successful Stalled Spaces projects permanent if the land owner has done nothing with the land over a certain period of time.
- Support the development of cooperative businesses, working with existing cooperatives and co-op organisers in a consortium approach.
- Actively support community-led initiatives to regenerate our high streets by providing financial support, such as grants or rates relief, to projects that tackle derelict buildings and land for the betterment of the community or provide a long-term positive future for historic buildings.
Fund sustainable youth work
We will:
- Recognise the value of youth work when creating Council policies, in particular its impact on young people’s mental health, wellbeing and development and the prevention of crisis spending in health, social work, justice and education.
- Move away from short-term community interventions into sustainable funding of long-term, relational youth work in every community, which embeds the fundamentals of building relationships of trust with young people over the long term, and creating conditions and opportunities for young people to develop and thrive.
- Prioritise the reopening of community venues to support youth work, and develop a participatory approach to budgeting involving young people.