Grass-roots Community
Ownership
Community Members Working
Together for Positive Change
Josephine Lebbing 0438 045 853
empowermentnetwork2014@gmail.com
Facebook Page: Empowerment Network Western Australia

• Every person is valuable and has something
to contribute.
• Community building can only really happen
from the inside out.
• Collectively we have the capacity to create
communities in which we can all thrive.

INQUIRY
HONESTYRESPECT
Acceptance Understanding
Trust
RELATIONSHIP
Grass-roots Community Ownership
RELATIONSHIPS: THE THREADS THAT CREATE COMMUNITY
Tim Muirhead, Weaving Tapestries

Grass-roots Community Ownership
People and relationships must come first.
The frameworks, systems, processes which we
operate within need to evolve to reflect this…
Know that change takes times and that
you / we can start practicing right now.

You can make a difference.
You can choose to make that difference a
positive one.
Grass-roots Community Ownership
By growing our self-awareness we increase our
capacity for working with others in a positive way.

Habits of
Seeing, Thinking, Feeling, Behaving
Individual Collective
Power ‘over’ Empowering
Success Meaning
Surface / Facade Deep / Heart felt & meaningful
Directing Facilitating
Fixed / Linear Movable / Circular Macro/Micro
Simplified (Complex = Too Hard) Complex / Whole View / System
Program / Outcome Focussed Person, Process & System Focussed
Planning & Control Emergence & Choice
Debate / Discussion Dialogue
Expert / Patient Personal responsibility
Critical & Assumptions Curious & Explorative
Needs Assets / Strengths / Gifts
Right / Wrong, Black / White Opportunities & ‘Have a go’, Colourful
Problems & Issues Constraints & Challenges
Shouldn’t. Can’t. Don’t. Could
Dependent / Co-dependent Independent / Interdependent
Top down, Hierarchy Bottom up / Inside Out, Networks
Limited & Constricting Expansive & Opening

Habits of
Seeing, Thinking, Feeling, Behaving
• Like changing any habit, attention and practice are necessary…..
• Practice being mindful of ‘which glasses’ you are wearing..
• Ask yourself are these glasses helpful in getting me where I
want to be?
What you focus on grows….
Perspective & focus directly influences your capacity…
Focus on what You CAN Do and what enlivens you!

Family
Comfort Zones
Characteristics: Private
person / Open Person; Slow / Fast
Mover; Talkative / Quiet
Attributes: people
person, organising, arty,
doing, interacting
Agendas, Intentions
Experiences
Culture
Connections
Dreams/Visions
Concerns
Interaction Characteristics:
In Charge; ‘Doer - Get things going;
Planners; Behind the scenes.
Interest Areas:
Age Specific;
Art, Craft & Culture;
Community Building;
Education & Training;
Emergency Services;
Environment & Sustainability;
Health & Wellbeing;
Service or Self Help Groups;
Social or Special Interest / Beliefs;
Sport & Recreation
Perspectives
Roles
Spirituality
Stories
Values
Needs: Survival, Love and
Belonging, Power, Freedom, Fun.
Passions
Personality Type
History
Habits/Patterns
Health & Wellbeing
Ideals & Expectations
Beliefs
Grass-roots Community Ownership
INDIVIDUALS COMPLEXITIES

INQUIRY
HONESTYRESPECT
Acceptance Understanding
Trust
RELATIONSHIP
Grass-roots Community Ownership
GET TO KNOW THE PEOPLE
Tim Muirhead, Weaving Tapestries
• Be curious and inquisitive.
• Find out their stories.
• What’s important to them?
• What do they care about?

When you don’t find common ground,
differences become barriers.
When common ground is achieved,
differences are appreciated.
Sandra Krempl
The Five Dimensions of Community

Our Community
A dynamic selection of complex individuals
in relationship with each other…..

Grass-roots Community Ownership
What can we do?
Nurture our Communities Capacity for Sharing
Stories, Connecting & Celebrating by:
• Value –adding to what’s already there.
• Creating forums for sharing.
Nurture our Communities Capacity for
Working Together
• Evolving frameworks, systems, processes
and tools to be people focussed.
Our Individual Capacity for Influencing
Positive Change
• Grow your self awareness of your ‘habits’;
your complexities, what you care about,
what frustrates you, what it looks like
when you operate in an effective and
sustainable way.

Grass-roots Community Ownership
Nurture our Communities Capacity for Working Together
Work together to develop meetings and project management
processes.
• Start with small steps.
• Identify your allies and invite them to explore what the process
would look like if it was the ideal of: Inclusive, sustainable and
reinvigorating….
• Be mindful of developing a shared language and understanding of
the aims and processes of communication.
• Plan – do – reflect.
• Repeat

Grass-roots Community Ownership
Check In: How are we all feeling?
Feelings Matter
They can be like a gauge on the dashboard.
How’s the fuel tank?

Nurture the exploration and co-creation of
inclusive and sustainable projects….
“Give a man fish and he eats for a day.
Teach him how to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime”.

http://www.pozible.com/index.php/collection/detail/27
Castlemaine Crowd
Castlemaine Crowd is crowd funding gone local.
The collection showcases local projects from
Castlemaine and surrounding districts of Mount
Alexander Shire. Become a micro-philanthropist
and give life to one of the projects in your
community! Or apply to add your own project to
Castlemaine Crowd!

Proactive Community Building:
• Complexities are important and need to be considered when developing new group habits:
Inclusive; Sustainable; Accountable;
• Change takes time…. Trust that it takes time…..that there are no big bang, showy, one size fits
all ‘answer’.
• For each individual, the steps will be different.
• It is not a linear process. We plan to allow for emergence. This is where the exciting stuff
happens
• Timing is everything!
• Empowerment cannot be done by one person (or service) to another. It is a process which
requires certain conditions. It’s a collective approach where we work together to be the best
individuals we can be for the benefit of all…
• Language matters – it can either disconnect or connect. Develop a common language around
working with others which is suitable to the community: inclusivity.
• Openness: Shared experience; shared opportunities to grow; shared weight/responsibility.
Not reliant on individuals.
• Build people’s confidence and understanding of: running community projects; the
complexities of community; their own skills, attributes, challenges.
• ‘Community work’ is most effective when ongoing, consistent and reliable support for groups
and projects is provided to assist them to self-organise.

Creating a positive future begins in human
conversation. The simplest and most powerful
investment any member of a community or an
organization may make in renewal is to begin
talking with other people as though the answers
mattered.
William Grieder, Who Will Tell the People?