Unit 2: Getting to know the community

Unit 1 helped you get to know each other better and to think about and represent other people and their needs. Now stronger as a group, it is time to draw together what you know about the local community, its strengths, needs and networks and how your group links with others. Because climate change is a problem facing the world, it will be important to think how you and your group fit into the global community and the opportunities and challenges that gives you.

Understanding communities
Mapping communities
Identifying community links and support

The UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC) is a group of youth climate change activists who bring together young people from different backgrounds to build a youth climate movement and demand action on climate change.

They aim to inspire young people into action by working with the youth organisations they belong to and forming a coalition of organisations from which to coordinate the campaign against climate change. Through training, public speaking, workshops, campaigns and sharing stories they get young people working from their local communities on a global issue. They sent the Youth Delegation to the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen and organised the massive youth summit, Power Shift.

In order to create a diverse youth movement the coalition needed to understand and appreciate the different communities they wanted to unite. It was important they identified the links that they already had and how they were going to gather support from not only those young people that they didn’t have contact with, but also those who were outside the traditional environmental movement.

Below are the three aims of the unit. Use activity sheet 8 to rate your current knowledge. Give yourself a personal score on the scale 1-2-3-4-5. 1 is low and 5 is high. What proof do you have? Refer to the list in the Introduction for examples of what might be good sources of evidence. This is particularly important if you are using this unit to gain credits toward an award. What score would you give yourselves as a group?

Aim	Personal score		Group score
	Low	High	Low	High
Understanding communities	1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5		1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Mapping communities	1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5		1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Identifying community links and allies	1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5		1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5