Our local lab in London is focussed around a neighbourhood on the border between Islington and Hackney, the Mildmay Community Partnership, where our offie is based. Mildmay is a place in which multiple partners interact, from the Islington Local Authority; community and social enterprise organisations; local businesses, schools and faith organisations; to the individuals living in the Mildmay Community Centre’s neighbourhood. 

By rooting the COMENSI project in this community hub, Mapping for Change is using a place-based approach as a way to increase community engagement. In doing so, we aim to create a discussion with all the actors of the Mildmay Community to best identify the marginalised or ‘missing’ individuals.

We've been working hand in hand with Mildmay Community Partnership and residents for the past few months. We're using the collective memories of the community to foster a sense of belonging in the centre and encourage an active role in its future.

So far, we've identified everyone involved in the Centre using Stakeholder mapping, we've met with different stakeholders to identify their needs and ran a few workshops to collect memories and to consider future community led activities.

As everyone else, we were struck by the COVID crisis right at the beginning of our face-to-face activities with the community. We are redesigning our strategy for the coming months so we can engage with the community and other stakeholders to test out activity ideas and build momentum. Any ideas?