Growing up in a small village in Yorkshire, I was used to living with an open-door policy (although I didn’t know it was called something fancy like that at that age!). We’d often come home to find produce from peoples’ gardens on the table or washing had been brought in if it was raining. Everyone knew everyone else and everyone else’s business! But the important thing was, we all knew we were part of a community.
We had a community centre with lots of events. We had a village market on a Friday. All the kids went to the local schools and walked to school together or went on the bus with each other or played with each other after school. Pretty much the whole village knew one another.
We hear a lot about people being disconnected these days, disconnected from self, disconnected from their community, disconnected from the environment.
So, I got to thinking, if government isn’t going to help us – what can we do to help ourselves? How can we get our children involved? How can we improve our own lives and the lives of those around us? How can we turn this ‘selfish’ behemoth around?
What if we started ‘reconnecting’, simply, one street at a time?
While I had initially been focussing on the environment, from talking with friends (a special thank-you to Sarah for her thoughts on mental health) and colleagues another focus was brought into play: society, mental health and well-being. With a belief in building on little kindnesses and with children as equal partners in this journey, the three principles of OneStreet Thinking were developed:
It’s not rocket surgery (yes, you know I mean science but I couldn’t resist!), and it’s easy to implement. You don’t need a lot of money (if any) and more importantly, you can start right now!
Join now and start your own OneStreet journey! We’ve got lots of ideas for programs and street events and would love to hear from you.
Annette Davison
Chief Thinker
OneStreet
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