We are proud to be working with Onion Collective on an innovative project using a piece of software called Understory. Understory maps the non-profit organisations and groups that exist in a community and the partnerships and bonds that tie them all together. By doing this, we can map our social capital.
In Minehead, we are very blessed to have many fantastic non-profit organisations, charities, CICs and community groups working hard to make Minehead a better place to live, work and visit. These organisations are tirelessly run by hard-working people within our community, and while these organisations are already doing a fantastic job in their relative industries and areas, there is always room for building stronger ties, better collaboration and improved support.
But in order to achieve this, we first needed to know which organisations exist in Minehead, and who runs them! And this is where the concept of community mapping came in. After discussing the project with Onion Collective, based in our neighbouring town of Watchet, we were offered the chance to map community action for free as part of a National Lottery funded project called Understory.
Understory is a tool that allows us to map the network of relationships that support our organisations and people. It builds community strength by helping a community to understand itself better. The map enables us to see who we have here in the community, what goals everyone is working towards, and how each of our organisations connect. This information tells us how to build stronger ties between people and stronger collaborations around our goals. Understory explores the relationships between people - the trusted working relationships that allow us to build community power.
In January 2023, we invited as many communtiy groups, non-profits and CICs in Minehead as we could to join us for a mapping workshop. The map was then made together in an hybrid meeting, with some attending in person, and some on Zoom.
Impact and Outcomes
To date, 47 organisations have taken our survey and joined the Understory community map. As a result, we now have an incredible dynamic map that shows us which organisations exist in our community, where partnership working is already taking place and where there is room for improvement and more collaboration. We have also used the map to make community groups operating in specific sectors aware of funding opportunities. And we are now using the map to identify areas of improvement in our community... so watch this space!!
