This week we launched an exciting new look for Community Organisers along with a completely revamped website.

This major launch is the result of more than a year’s challenging work, which included detailed research with members of our network and a variety of external stakeholders to get in-depth feedback on what we need to improve.

The outcome of the research was that we should be bolder and more inspiring with a strong message of hope that resonates with communities up and down the country.

Our new look is therefore cleaner, fresher and more engaging with a striking logo, vibrant colour scheme and new messaging based around ‘Listen, Power, Action’ and the rallying cry of ‘Together we will be heard, be powerful and make change for good’.  It has been carefully designed to inspire people to get involved; join our growing movement; and develop their community organising knowledge and skills to challenge social injustice and create a better future for themselves.

The centrepiece of our new brand identity is a completely overhauled and improved website.  We inherited the old website from the earlier Community Organisers programme and, although we patched up what we could over the years, the site had become outdated with difficult navigation, hard-to-find content and an old-fashioned and unattractive design.  Overall, the old website just wasn’t fit for purpose any longer.

The website is still (and always will be) a work in progress as we review and expand content, and act on the feedback we receive from members and stakeholders to introduce new features and make further improvements.

Another small but significant point on the redesign is that we have made a slight change to our organisation’s name.  We decided to stick with ‘Community Organisers’ but have dropped the ‘Ltd’ element of the name as the research showed it didn’t fit with our status as a non-profit, third sector organisation and made us sound too ‘corporate’.

This week we also officially launched the National Academy of Community Organising (NACO), which is the new identity for the collective of locally-rooted organisations and independent trainers who are affiliated to Community Organisers and provide our quality assured training and support for all those interested in community organising.

Giving our training arm its own distinctive and cohesive identity will help to promote the training and development of people in the principles and practice of community organising.  Training, supporting, and building the capacity of local people to develop their understanding of community organising will be key to the success of our movement in the future.

This has been a momentous week for all of us here at Community Organisers.  The fresh look isn’t just a cosmetic change, it underpins what we stand for and what we want to achieve – which is to engage, inspire and excite people across the country to build a strong, democratic society where people engage in collective community action and drive social change.