15 Years of Community Development
As we approach our 15th anniversary in 2027, it’s made us think back. We’re firmly focussed on the future, but it’s handy to look back and reflect sometimes, too.
We’ve been doing this a long time - working and imagining together, in one form or another, to bring homes, land and buildings into community hands. As we move into a new chapter, with our new name Two Up Two Down recentring our efforts, here’s some of the things we’ve learned along the way.
Our community knows what they need, and we already have everything here to make it happen. We can trust and believe in our expertise - we know our context and community best and know much more than we realise. From the beginning we have been gathering and building skills and knowledge and now is the time to back that up with the self confidence we now have from doing this for almost 15 years.
Choose your partners carefully. Like all relationships in life, the professional partnerships you build can pan out very differently to how you might imagine in the beginning. Over the years we’ve partnered with many brilliant organisations and individuals who have backed us and supported our values. But, when it mattered most, key partnerships that we trusted in left us vulnerable to power imbalances, meaning we had little leverage when commitments were not delivered on as promised. Partnerships are essential to how we work, but we’ve learned to be more mindful to ensure new partnerships are truly aligned, so that all our collective energy can be focussed to deliver our shared vision.
Home is where we start. Over the years we’ve developed a wide engagement programme which has spanned creative public events, supporting local businesses, retrofit education, cleaning and greening our neighbourhood, and loads more – all working to create a place we can all live well. But it became clear, through members’ meetings, workshops and feedback from our neighbours, that with a small (but mighty) team and limited resources, we need to prioritise our resources and energy. The delivery of community-owned assets and warm affordable homes is vital in that. It doesn’t mean stopping our wider programme but rather fine tuning it.
Quality matters. Lower property values in our area mean that, when compared with standard development, it’s difficult to make the numbers stack up when you factor retrofit and high quality renovation costs into the equation. But our priorities are different to those of commercial developers. We will always strive for the quality our community deserves and we won’t let that affect affordability either. The property sector is built on inequitable systems and structures and we reject the myth that achieving good development balanced with affordability is not possible in our neighbourhood. And we certainly won’t stand for anyone who tries to tell us otherwise.
Clear identity is key. Sharing a name with another local organisation can come with its challenges. Although the CLT and Bakery grew from the same place and resistance to what was happening in our neighbourhood, we've always been two separate organisations with two distinct purposes. The CLT was set up as the vehicle for local people to own and shape assets, and the Bakery was the first manifestation of what a community business could look like on our high street. Confusion between the two has, at times, hindered progress. But by adopting our new trading name, Two Up Two Down, that individual identity is clear.
“Good enough for now, safe enough to try.” A borrowed mantra from our partners, People Support Co-op. We will always strive for the best for our community, but the reality is, we’re all just people. Despite all our love and commitment we are individuals with lives and limits. We’ve learned not to let perfection get in the way of progress, and to better care for ourselves and each other along the way.