This document outlines plans for a community organizing event called #7days4stow to address pressures facing residents of Walthamstow in 2013. It identifies local projects that could help, such as food banks and job training. Example actions are provided, such as mapping loan sharks and recruiting volunteers to promote affordable credit. The document discusses coordinating small, low-risk tasks among volunteers to support these projects through activities like distributing flyers and creating referral networks. It aims to bring people together, identify community needs, and plan bite-sized volunteer actions to enact positive change at a local level.

1. #7days4stow
• Actions to help relieve the pressures people living
in Walthamstow will face in 2013
• Co ordination of action as important as
identifying the actions themselves
• Tonight just the start- as much about identifying
what we don’t know as what we do
• Microvolunteering is about small tasks adding up
to big change- so don’t plan to do too much!

2. How tonight will work.....
• Getting to know each other to be able to work
together
• What are the pressures we face?
• Identifying the projects that could address these
in our local community- and the gaps!
• Identifying how to help these projects and
planning bitesize actions to make these happen
• Assigning responsibilities for next steps
• Getting out there and doing it!

3. The pressures we face...and some
projects that could help!
• Debt and destitution • Eat or Heat Foodbank
• Rising cost of living • Sharkstoppers
especially food, housing and • The Forest Nightshelter
transport • The E17 Pop Up Kitchen
• A lack of career • Supporting and growing our
opportunities local economy
• A lack of local jobs • Befriending vulnerable
• Isolation and emotional residents
distress • Work experience for young
people
And what else...?

4. Planning an action
• All actions have to be clearly defined- if you can’t
explain it in a single sentence it has to be broken
into two!
• If an organisation to support this action this
happen doesn’t exist it is unlikely this action will
happen- could you plan an action to find one to
fill this role?
• All actions need to be quick to set up
• All actions need to be low liability
• All actions need a co-ordinator

5. Example: Eat or Heat
• Project: tackles hunger caused through poverty
• Need: help them get more referrals
• Action: identify contacts for organisations in local
community who can make referrals
• Action: contact those organisations to make sure they
have referral forms
• Action: provide referral forms via email or on paper to
organisations
• Action: identify people to perform the above and
coordinate between them to achieve these actions
• Impact: more people referred to foodbank for help in
Walthamstow

6. Example: Sharkstoppers
• Project: Help local people avoid legal loan sharks by
borrowing from our credit union instead
• Need: To raise awareness of Credit Union and how to
join
• Action: To map out Walthamstow's legal loan sharks
• Action: To recruit leafleters for credit union and
arrange a day to do this
• Action: to remind leafleters of day of action
• Action: identify people to perform the above and
coordinate between them to achieve these actions
• Impact: more people access the credit union to be able
to secure affordable credit and financial advice

7. Example: Befriending
• Project: to offer informal telephone support to vulnerable people in
Walthamstow
• Need: to set up a befriending scheme
• Action: identify if any organisations provide this service within
Walthamstow who could support this project
• Action: produce database of individuals for whom this support
could be beneficial
• Action: produce contact list of people willing to call individuals
during year
• Action: allocate individuals to call and their contact details to
volunteers
• Action: identify people to perform the above and coordinate
between them to achieve these actions
• Impact: more vulnerable people in Walthamstow given emotional
support to manage the pressures they experience during 2013

8. What else do we need to do?
• Action: Update our facebook group = 3 people to take
action
• Action: Produce a list of all the skills, experiences, interests
and contact details for volunteers = 5 people to take action
• Action: Produce a contact list for local organisations who
may be of interest to the projects identified= 2 people to
take action
• Action: Tell the world about what we are doing and how to
be involved = 2 people to take action
• Action: Blog about who is involved in this and their
experiences = 3 people to take action
• Action: Coordinate all of the above = 2 people to take
action

9. 7days4stow...
Thank you Bill for the The next meeting will be
biscuits, Mary, Fiona & 21 February 2012 to
Martin for the teabags review our
and cups, Rebecca for progress....see you
the volunteer then!
management help,
Simon for tweeting- and
you for coming!
...Walthamstow : worth
working for in 2013!