Pathways into learning, work and belonging

Someone might arrive as a volunteer, discover an interest and find a pathway into training or employment. Another might bring a lifetime of practical knowledge and enjoy passing it on.

Ready Sustainable Employment and Training Cooperative, or Ready S.E.T. Co-op, takes its name from "ready, set, go": let's not waste time turning possibilities into action. Currently proposed for 9 Ballow Road, Dunwich, the cooperative would connect learners, mentors, workplaces and community projects, sharing equipment, spaces and administrative support. [8]

Try useful work and discover a direction

The proposed Try Everything Once approach would offer supported opportunities to experience different kinds of work: repair, food, care, gardening, film, software, hospitality and community services. People could discover what interests them through doing, with guidance from practitioners.

At Amity, that might include helping organise an accessible event, learning to record a life story, maintaining a community garden or assisting with approved research support tasks. Existing care providers, employers and registered training organisations could help create appropriate roles and recognised pathways. Professional duties would remain with qualified people.

This approach could make an important difference to how young people see their place in the community. They would meet adults who value their contribution and encounter work they might never otherwise consider. Older people could share skills, stories and judgement while building new relationships of their own.

From practical work to shared capability

My existing sole trader business, Strange but True: tech, art and ideas that'll help, is a practical starting point for this wider work. Its Community Ledger presents community thought experiments and designs, each with a public website, inviting people to explore ideas yet to be implemented. [8]

The proposed Dunwich base could bring together co-working, training, media, shared equipment and local computing, linked with the Amity care and research site. Everyday work could become learning material and opportunities for others to take on useful roles. [8]

A story other communities can learn from

The proposed Oceania healthy co-op network extends the idea across communities: shared facilities, practical wellbeing activities, local computing and research shaped by local priorities. Each place could adapt what proves useful to its own circumstances. [9]

Grain by Grain is a documentary concept exploring how communities could carry care, knowledge and responsibility into the future. A local strand could follow this partnership's people, decisions and discoveries, sharing what others can learn. [9]

The opportunity is to connect care with a lively culture of participation, where learning opens doors and the community becomes more capable through the work it does together.