We’re Turning Perceptions

As a certain soda advert slogan says “what’s the worst thing that can happen”.
At Streets Revolution we are dealing with people everyday, who for them this is a reality of daily life.

I had a chilled afternoon watching the drama of ‘Survival Sunday’ unfold in the premiership.

Watching grown men and women cry, others celebrating with strangers as teams stayed up whilst others were relegated.

Bill Shankly famously said “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

I sometimes wish we felt the same about homelessness or poverty, unemployment or social injustices locally and globally.

When I get a call in the middle of all this drama, from someone in the middle of a REAL drama, it reminded me of why we wanted to start Streets Revolution in the first place.

It wasn’t to discover the next Lionel Messi or create a team to play like Barcelona.

Nor was it to just purely to create another project that operated locally, but had no lasting impact.

Our strap line from the beginning was ‘we’re turning perceptions’.

That means we are about change, long lasting wholesale change, in peoples minds from those that come to any session we put on or volunteer for us.

To the public who hear about us and people in the public sector who debate what to do about our ‘participants’.

It’s about sharing a common purpose, we should all want the same things CHANGE it’s a measure of a civilised society how it looks after the weakest in our midst, not how successful or rich the top is.
If we stay true to the original purpose and never forget, quit, or compromise from that mission, I for one believe we can change a lot of people along the way.
Whether that’s in Oxford or Kenya or beyond, we believe in a long lasting Revolution.

Meeting the right one…..

Having meet in my estimation over 500+ new people, in the last year alone. I was left pondering the question how do you know if their the right one.

I spend a lot of my time recently telling people all about Streets Revolution and answering and making thousands of calls talking about the latest project, or updating on the next move.

It’s sometimes fruitful as this week proved with plans for a new Social Enterprise spawning from that simple conversation.

It is also frustrating as seeds grow slowly and sometimes as the expression goes they ‘fall on stoney ground’.

Networking has become a BIG part of the role, I even found myself as Chairman of a network!!!

And yet I am still a novice when trying to decide who is of value? It all seems so mercenary.

I think like in the photo below we all have value, we are all different shapes and sizes, colours and opinions.

The common thread is we all should be working for a common purpose, to score that end GOAL.

You just have to stick in there long enough to find out what that is, that commonality that means WE both win !!!

So maybe the answer is there is no such thing as the right one just the right goal.

The business of people

Interesting conversations recently lead me to wonder. Can you be in the business of people?
We often talk about outputs and outcomes when thinking about project plans and visions, when we are in the BUSINESS of people.
Do you have to be a good people person first or a good business person to make a charity or social enterprise work.

I recently met alot of different people some in business and social enterprise, some local some national. From these like minded people I learnt about what to do and what not to do!!!

For me we should and have to make money to best continue and develop the PEOPLE we are saying we are there to help.

Though never forgetting who and why we are there in the first place.

I was recently told I was a cross between Brian Clough, Mother Theresa, and Chad Varah. Truth is anyone trying to pave the way for those marginalised in society had to be a combination of different traits.

Courage, Creativity, Confident, and single minded. The only way to make a difference.

So below we see how a guy from Oxford( Darren Lavin) can inspire another in Huntingdon (Steve Woodford) so Streets Revolution continues on to new horizons.