At Trident me and my colleagues have arrived at the last week of our project. To end the 6 months we are making a presentation showing what we have done and the contribution we have made to Trident House in the last 6 months. We’ll be making the presentation on the morning of the last day on Friday.
Last week the new Digital Village team that is taking over from us started working in Trident House. We’ve been working with them trying to help them get settled in with the tower block, showing them the facilities, particularly the studio and the residents lounge and giving them a quick outline of what they will be doing with Ian and Chris.
We’ve also cleared out the studio to ensure that it is a good, clean area to work and record in. There are already plans for the area after we have left. The YMCA are interested in running sessions in the studio and Crisis are planning to run computer lessons for residents using the newer computers.
On Friday, I interviewed Barbara and Gary at Trident as part of Birmingham Local Democracy Week. Having attended the FLIP training session run by Nick Booth/Podnosh in September, I decided to do an interview with people at Trident House to find out how the Residents Association contributes to democracy in the local area.
Barbara, the central site co-ordinator for Trident, started by saying that the purpose of the Trident House Residents Association is to give a voice to 320 residents living in a high rise tower block. As well as giving them a voice,
Barbara said the other main objective is to allow the residents to work together to improve the community within the tower block.
Gary, a resident at Trident House and member of the Residents Association, said the Residents Association does give tenants an opportunity to meet and discuss issues, but believes the group must move on from past issues (previous residents associations had existed in Trident House) in order to move forward.
As a newly established Residents Association, Barbara believes that she is beginning to see the various strengths and weaknesses of the people involved, and said that it is important for the group to make use of their strengths in order to come together and agree on issues.
When I asked how democracy could be implemented outside of the residents meetings, Barbara mentioned that Trident had been contacted by an organisation that wanted to train residents in using computers. Crisis will be running computer lessons and may work with the residents association. Gary said outdoor events would be a good way of getting the group together outside of a standard meeting, and that the group was also hoping to organise a Christmas party.
I hope to have a link to the interview on this blog soon.
