Today saw the launch of the latest Bearhunt Thinkpiece Underground-Overground:How small things can make Big Society. It provides some simple ideas that local people can use in their neighbourhoods to begin to move towards their own kind of Big Society, including Opportunity Mapping; Talent Mapping; and unleashing 'The art of the animateur'.

Speaking at the launch, its author, Malcolm McClean said "Big Society is not new. We have been witnessing it in pockets around Britain for well over a decade. The danger is that we ignore the simple things that social entrepreneurs have been doing in favour of unfathomable jargon and rhetoric, structural debates and referendums. That's just dull and pretty meaningless to the person on the street. Let's learn from those that have actually done something...the kind of people featured in Underground-Overground".

The Thinkpiece includes the case studies of amazing people which we call 'animateurs' - The Transformer; The Sparkplug Guy; The Irreverent Reverend; and The Bouncer. The kind of people that exist in every neighbourhood, although they are not always obvious and not always activated. We hope that our simple ideas and stories of incredible people will inspire thousands more to create their own versions of Big Society by unleashing the 'art of the animateur'.

To download Underground-Overground Underground-Overground (1.26 MB)

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