Your Voice Our Vision – Ready for Everything

In this blog David Robinson gives his message to the Big Lottery Fund. From now until July 2014, we are inviting people to add their voice to a UK wide conversation around key areas of Big Lottery Fund’s work. 

David Robinson

Do we know what a successful community looks like?

For me it is a place where we are all ready and able to benefit from opportunity, to learn at primary school, to thrive in secondary, to succeed at work, to be responsible parents and contributing adults.

And, because we all experience difficulties at some point in our lives, we are all equally ready and able  to manage adversity, to cope with losing a job or a relationship, to rebuild after illness or bereavement, to adapt to change.

The language of ‘resilience’, so commonly used by policy makers, politicians and funders, presupposes problems, victims and perpetrators. It is reactive, reductive, pessimistic, discouraging and, even at its very best insufficient. The language of ‘readiness’ – becoming the best that we can be – identifies  assets and builds on strengths. It is proactive, optimistic, aspirational and motivating.

Big Lottery Fund should make the “ready for everything” community its aspiration and its lodestar.

David Robinson is co-founder and now senior adviser of east London charity Community Links and Chair of the Early Action Taskforce. He is also the founder and chair of We Are What We Do and co-founder of the Children’s Discovery Centre.

Find out more about how you can get involved in the conversation at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/yourvoice or follow @Biglfyourvoice #yourvoice