Developing a Local Group

Ideas for growing your group

The follow list is not a list of essentials and not necessarily in sequential order. Depending on the size, skills, time capacity and focus of your group, some of these will be more relevant to you. You are free to organise in whatever ways suit you.

• Connect to your Nation/Region Gardener for support
• Take a trip to join a nearby action or event nearby
• Read more about 'integrating' new rebels
• Plan some 'outreach' to find even more people near you
• Plan a 'People's Assembly' style meeting to collaboratively find a good focus for your group
• Arts and making activities.
• Organising some in-person training for your group (ask your Gardener help find a trainer to visit your group, or train to deliver these yourself) Example trainings are:
  • Heading for Extinction
  • Welcome to XR for Local Groups
  • NVDA (Nonviolent Direct Action)

With all your activities, think about how to advertise them. This could be via social media, posters, flyers, outreach on stalls or doing survey boards. It could be reaching in to your own current social networks (book club, choirs, walking group, sports teams, faith groups etc). Using and building your email list can also be effective.

Choosing a campaign direction for your Local Group

Local Groups (unless they are huge!) tend to be more productive when they are focused on one of two areas of campaigning. Otherwise it can feel like a small number of people are trying to take on every problem in a local area, instead of focusing on smaller topics which can feel more achievable, and present more areas for collaboration with other organisations.

Consider running a 'What Next?' meeting for your Local Group. Advertise it widely to the local community, other local environmental organisations, and people who have been involved with XR previously but aren't any more.

Use a loose People's Assembly format to hear from everyone in the room about what they think the key issues for the area are, and what they think the local group should be focusing on. Get each small group to feed back their opinions and have a whole group discussion to find a focus that works for the group.

Its really important to follow up this activity with another meeting to progress the plan, or to form working groups who will go away from the 'What Next?' session to develop areas of the group's campaign.

If you would like someone to help you facilitate a meeting like this, contact your Regional or National Gardener.