Relationships Project

In this blog, Rich Bell explores why revitalising grassroots democracy and community life must mean directly supporting people to develop the relational skills that make the work of weaving community possible.

relationshipsproject.org/beyond-pound...

The case for shifting power into communities has never been more clear in the wake of last week's Mandelson-Epstein revelations, and delivering on the programme's potential will take bold action to strengthen the relational foundations of our communities.

Last Thursday, the Prime Minister made a speech that would - in any other week - have made some waves. In it, he announced the expansion of the government's Pride in Place programme into forty new areas.

In the latest article from our Sixth Edition, Ray Shostak, Richard Bell and David Robinson explore the power of human connection in public services.

Read the full article here: heywoodquarterly.com/the-role-of-...

#Government @rshipsproject.bsky.social

And we interrogated the relationships scale. Some of the group described this as an "aha" moment – the understanding that sometimes deep relationships are needed and sometimes a transactional relationship is more appropriate. (more on this here: relationshipsproject.org/what-we-mean...)

Change doesn’t start with systems. It starts with relationships.

We've assembled 10 funders who are getting into the possibilities of relational funding over a year-long programme – testing approaches and working through challenges together. On Friday, the cohort came together for the 1st time.

What if we enlarged the human element in 2026, refusing to subordinate it to process and protocol?

relationshipsproject.org/make-yoursel...

#relational
#relationships

Too often systems and organisations make us small. Increasing dependence on rules and automation and transactional processes diminish us all, stripping away the agency, the compassion, and the common sense.

In a new blog, David Robinson shares the wisdom of Wes, his son's football coach who would "scream from the bench like his tracksuit was on fire, “Make yourself big! Make yourself big..."

Anybody who believes in the importance of relationships can put themselves on the publicly accessible Relationships Map – and help connections to be made, ideas to be shared, and resources to flow: airtable.com/shr6pVk5hFEH...

What inspires people who put relationships at the heart of their work? 💡

In this piece – drawing on contributions from over 170 individuals and organisations on our Relationships Map – we share resources that have shaped people's relational practice.

relationshipsproject.org/what-shapes-...

Relationship centred practice isn’t new, it isn’t radical, and it has proved its value repeatedly. So why is it still so often at the margins of big organisations and complex systems rather than embedded in the middle, and what are we doing about it?

relationshipsproject.org/notes-on-a-j...

In a new essay, David Robinson shares how he and friends, all teenagers at the time, clubbed together to buy a Routemaster bus, and how meeting people where they were at, literally and metaphorically, brought the community together

relationshipsproject.org/notes-on-a-j...

🧵 2) If you live, work or volunteer in Middlesbrough, are active in your community and want to make your town a better and safer place, book a taster session:

mvda.info/user-events/...

🧵 1) Our Community Bridgebuilders programme is coming to Middlesbrough in January!

It's a free programme that supports people to:

🌉 Talk to people who bring different perspectives
🌉 Challenge well while staying open and meeting needs
🌉 Encourage positive changes in your own community

🧵3) Gwen is inviting bridgebuilders to be a part of the research in Britain. Do you know anyone who might be interested? Please tag them in the comments.

🧵2) @gwenburnyeat.bsky.social is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. In this blog she introduces her work researching people seeking to create and nurture relationships across complex political divides:

relationshipsproject.org/bridgebuilding-in-colombia-and-britain/

🧵1) "...often, major social changes, from the end of Apartheid in South Africa to women's suffrage in the UK, have been driven by a combination of resistance and filigree bridgebuilding across difference. Yet history doesn’t always make visible this painstaking work."

Pride in Place Strategy The Pride in Place Strategy will help build stronger communities, create thriving places and empower local people.

🧵3) Pride in Place is the first regeneration programme, stretching right back to the Urban Programmes of the 1960s and 70s, to recognise prominently and explicitly the power and importance of relationships.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

🧵2) "All places should have strong relationships and a collective sense of belonging to their community. This helps bring people together to build community cohesion and resilience, helping people to feel proud of their area and safe in their neighbourhood..."

🧵1) This is a milestone moment. The first (first!) objective of the £5bn UK Government's Pride in Place programme couldn't be clearer:

🧵3)Relational Readiness:
📝 Sign up to the Zoom: lnkd.in/et5-46pa
📖 Read more on our blog: lnkd.in/eCxNxvrK
💭 And whether or not you can make the Zoom, we'd love it if you added any thoughts to this doc: bit.ly/relationalreadiness

🧵2) What are the indicators that a place is ready to embrace and embed relationship-centred practice?

🧵1) We’ve been thinking about ‘relational readiness’: an individual, organisation or community's receptivity to the values and intentions of relational practice, and ability to embed it in their day-to-day doings. Some places are more ready than others.

Relational Leadership - ThemPra Social Pedagogy

Keen to know more about Human Learning Systems or how to create psychological safety within our teams and across systems?

This Relational Leadership course from ThemPra looks great:

www.thempra.org.uk/thempra/our-...

Four signs: Love is the running to strangers [et_pb_section fb_built=1 _builder_version=4.27.4 _module_preset=default min_height=2134.4px custom_padding=18px||0px||| global_colors_info={}][et_pb_row _builder_version=4.27.4 _module_preset=default...

"We’d run through fire for people we love but most of us study our phones when faced with a stranger."

In this short, personal blog, David reflects on the power of kindness, and how caring for and about people we do not know is a human superpower: relationshipsproject.org/four-signs-l...

Our relationships with one another are the foundations, the bedrock, on which all else is built. And yet UK society has consistently undervalued them, marginalising the evidence.

David Robinson maps how we could set a different course and build a different future: Read the essay: bit.ly/3SyahnU

Want to engage in conversations beyond your usual circle and meaningfully connect with someone new?@therootsprogramme.bsky.social is running a free online exchange that brings together adults from different backgrounds.

Learn more and sign up 👉: tinyurl.com/yhs2278e

@commcats.bsky.social