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Sharing the Sparks of Innovation
The Community Links Ideas Annual series grew out of the recognition that we were repeatedly encountering bright ideas generated all over the country and particularly within some of the most disadvantaged local communities.
People are achieving great things but their experience is seldom shared more widely and is often isolated from work going on in other areas. To bridge this gap we hit upon the concept of the Ideas Annual, a book by and for community groups to share ideas with each other.
Since the first Ideas Annual was published in 1989, the community groups who created them have shared over one thousand good ideas.
Recent Ideas Annuals include:
- Visible Voices – young peoples Ideas Annual
- Ground Up – Good Ideas for Tackling Child Poverty
- Small Places, Close to Home – Community projects led by or working with refugees and asylum seekers
In recognition of our work of sharing experience Community Links was commissioned by the government to research, write, design, publish and distribute Creating Magic a book celebrating the projects funded during the first year of the Local Network Fund for Children and Young People.
Creating Magic was launched by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in Downing Street. In a development of this work a second publication for the LNF has been commissioned by DfES this book, "Letting the Future In", takes examples of projects funded by the Local Network Fund and shows how these practical projects working at the grass roots are contributing to the governments overarching policy framework for services for Children and Young People, Every Child Matters.
All the Community Links publications can be ordered online or you can download a publications list. To be added to our database for regular updates, please contact Richard McKeever