Citizens Somerset

Citizens UK – in Somerset

 Working for Justice through Community Action

Citizens UK is an organisation committed to working with local people, to hear their concerns about their community and take action to put them right. It describes itself as the “Home of Community Organising in the United Kingdom” and has been behind many successful campaigns, including being the driving force behind the introduction of the Real Living Wage (which the Methodist Church and many other employers have now adopted). It is concerned with real world issues of how society works but it is strictly non-party political.

Citizens UK has a number of branches – called Chapters – in London, Wales and many major cities across the country. And now the movement has come to the South West with the establishment of a local chapter “Citizens Somerset” which was formally launched at a Founding Assembly in Taunton in March 2019. It is the first to be set up in a mainly rural area.

The Methodist Circuit of Taunton Deane and South Sedgemoor has formally joined Citizens Somerset as a Founding Member Organisation, joining the Diocese of Bath & Wells, the United Reformed Church in Taunton and the Quakers, together with non-faith organisations like local schools and colleges and a number of committed individuals. The Circuit has taken the view that the goals of Citizens UK are very much in line with the Mission of the Methodist Church, to tackle issues of social justice and unfairness in our society and assist anybody who is affected by them. 

It is early days for Citizens Somerset but the Circuit is looking forward to working with others to address issues which concern our membership. For a link to the Citizens Somerset website and to keep up to date with campaigns on the areas chosen as initial priorities, please click on the link below

https://www.citizensuk.org/somerset

HEARING OUR VOICES

Following on from our successful Refounding Assembly,  we are excited to be participating in the new listening campaign, aimed at understanding the pressures that people are facing – and for us, that  specifically means in our Methodist family, which includes those using our premises.

We will be speaking to members of congregations, and also – for instance –  mums at Messy Church and people using the Pantry and older people at the  Community Café ….
We are all well aware of the pressures of housing, transport, social isolation,  job insecurity, knife crime, substance abuse [to name a few common problems] – and the  new listening project is designed to tease out what is actually  impacting on people, so that new Citizens campaigns can be pursued.

The first step, before the project is rolled out later this summer, will be a short training session – please let me know  if you want to be involved.

Elaine Banks