Your Voice, Your Town is a new way of organising in each of the borough's Seven towns. It brings residents, businesses, faith and community organisations, and councillors together to improve their area and make great things happen.
This approach aims to unlock the skills, energy, and potential in each town to take action on the things we all care most about.
As part of this, each of the borough’s Seven towns has a Town Team. These teams are made up of people who either live, work, or study in that town.
Town Teams act as the local decision-making bodies. They are a group of people who will make choices and take action in their town while always ensuring they support the priorities of Your Voice, Your Town.
They will focus on making sure their work includes and supports everyone. They will also help bring new ideas to life and encourage people to get involved in local issues.
Town Team members are volunteers who join a Town Team in their area and commit to working together to achieve shared goals.
They have a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives but are united by a desire to help make positive change in their town.
The Town Team aims to bring people together. People with different skills, connections and views that are reflective of the different people living in the borough’s towns.
Each Town Team is a group of up to 20 people, including:
Town Team members are asked to join the Town Team for around 12 months, typically following a yearly schedule to support community-led action, including the delivery of a community-led fund.
The exact dates for these 12 months are agreed with each Town Team. If Town Team members want to stay on for longer, the Town Team will look at who is in the group to make sure there is a good mix of different opinions from the town.
Council officers will make the final decision about who can be part of the Town Team.
Town Teams have agreed a set of values or ways of working that they developed, to support how they work together and how often they meet. This is shared on each Town Team’s page. Town Team members must also sign a Town Team Participation Agreement. This explains what their role is, what they’re responsible for, and how they should handle things like sharing information.
Each team will manage a community fund and decide how best to use it to address challenges and develop great ideas in their area
Before the teams were formed, Ealing Council spoke with lots of people to understand what matters most in each town. You can see this process here. Following borough-wide engagement, Ealing Council invited people to register their interest in joining a Town Team.
The opportunity to join the Town Team was shared by:
People could sign up using a simple form on the Do Something Good website, or by giving their details directly to council staff. If you're interested in being part of a Town Team, get in touch.
The first area of focus for Town Teams has been on developing a community-led fund – a pot of money to support projects that match the town’s priorities chosen by local people.
The fund will also demonstrate how Ealing Council and local people can work together to support community-led change. To find out more about your town’s community-fund and how to apply, visit your town’s page.
Each Town Team has been guided by what local people said during community engagement, including a clear set of collective statements.Some teams have also had wider conversations, looked at data or what else is already going on in their town. Find out more about the Your Voice, Your Town community funds, on each town’s page.
In each town there may be events or activities to get involved in, including community celebrations and information sessions. Find out more on each town’s page.
Once funds are awarded in each town, there should be lots of activities and ways to get involved in projects.
Town Teams are also thinking about other ways to address local priorities.They want to find new ways to involve more people in setting goals and taking action. More updates about other ways to get involved will be shared in the coming months.
Some Town Teams still have space for new members. If you’re interested in joining a Town Team or want to hear more about how you can get involved in Your Voice, Your Town please get in touch.