The Action Research Collective
The Action Research Collective (ARC) was brought together by the Jam and Justice team in November 2016. Our process of recruitment to the ARC began with a launch event held at the People's History Museum in May 2016, followed by three hands-on workshops to find out more about the research. We met with interested participants, went on recces across the city-region and tried to spread the word through our networks and supporters. We had 50 applicants making the final selection a difficult decision! We finally selected our ARC to bring diverse people together who collectively had different kinds of skills and expertise and brought roots, reach and relationships to the project.
At project end (July 2019) Jam and Justice ARC members included:
- Adrian Ball, Chief Executive Manchester Settlement
- Alice Toomer McAlpine, Media Producer, Journalist and Community Worker
- Amanda Bickerton, National Community Link Worker Church Action on Poverty, Communications
- Andrew Burridge Occupation Policy & Programme Manager in a Regional Adult Social Care Programme Office
- Jez Hall, Self-employed Consultant & Director of Shared Future CIC
- Julie Asumu, Voluntary Project Manager Community Centre
- Kate Finney, Co-Founder and Lead Facilitator at Amity
- Laura Williams, Activism Officer at Global Justice Now and Carbon Coop
- Paul Maher, Director at The Children’s Society
- Sarah Whitehead, Community Pride CIC
Previous members of the Jam and Justice ARC who we want to thank and recognise for their role in influencing and shaping the direction of the work include:
- Dave Fraser, Team Leader, Community Cooperative
- Roxy Legane, Youth Engagement Worker, formerly Alumni Network Lead, RECLAIM
- Jenny Rouse, formerly of Centre for Local Economic Strategies and now Head of Regional Funding, North West, Big Lottery Fund.
The ARC co-initiated action research projects to test and learn about different ways of getting citizens involved in decision-making in Greater Manchester. Through this process we set up action research teams (ARTs) to develop, deliver and evaluate the projects.
Our Jam and Justice ART members include:
- Jonathan Atkinson, Carbon Coop, (Working on: People's Republic of Energy)
- Stuart McDonald, Centre for Local Economic Strategies, (Working on: People's Procurement)
- Joanna Hunt and Natalie Hindson, Children's Society, (Working on: Young People Missing From Decisions)
- Benjamin Lear, Community Researcher, (Working on: Mapping Citizen Led Economic Social-Innovation)
- Michelle Brook and Mat Basford, Democracy Society, (Working on: Space in Common)
- Jayne MacFadyen, Shared Future CIC, (Working on: Testing an Inverted Citizen Jury: The Challenge of Care at Home)
- Claire Haigh, Collaborate Out Loud, (Working on: Testing an Inverted Citizen Jury: The Challenge of Care at Home)
- Dawn Kelly and Sharon Senior, North West Employers, (Working on: Testing the 21st Century Councillor Framework)