Good Organisation has developed a number of creative and experimental approaches to participation across tourism, hospitality, culture and heritage.
Current Projects
Our current projects have been collaboratively produced by people with personal experience of homelessness, substance addiction and the criminal justice system within York.
All of these initiatives have emerged organically in response to self-identified need, and occupy a unique position by offering employment, training opportunities, and ongoing personal development, which moves beyond the provision of short term crisis management support. The majority of those we work with come through self-referrals or peer recommendations, which is indicative of a clear need for this type of approach.
Digital Inclusion Lab Digital Inclusion
Our ‘Digital Inclusion Lab’ offers a supportive environment where individuals affected by homelessness can acquire a variety of skills and knowledge related to technology from within the tourism sector.
It provides everything from basic foundation computer literacy through to web design, app development, heuristic programming, and the practical application of proximity based technology, including the use of RFID beacons.
T-shirts, bags and badges York Printworks
‘York Printworks' brings artists and designers together with people affected by homelessness in York to co-produce a range of distinctive t-shirts.
The collection celebrates the city's unique heritage and architecture, and seeks to maximise an ethical supply chain where organic fair-trade garments are printed and sold locally. It’s based on a fair-shares model, allowing the artists to retain a small royalty for their contribution, whilst also providing employment at Living Wage Foundation rates for the printers.
Invisible Cities York Walking Tours
Invisible York is part of the Invisible Cities network, and all of our guides have been affected by homelessness.
The tours we offer cover a broad range of themes, encompassing York’s Railway Heritage, a Family Friendly Fun Tour, the Story of Guy Fawkes, and an excursion through time to uncover the Health and Wealth of York.
All of the tours have attained a five-star rating on Trip Advisor.
Postcards and Guidebooks Publications
We have developed a broad range of collaborative publications, including ‘Hidden Tracks' - a self-guided tour of York, created by those with lived experience of homelessness. The book uncovers lesser known heritage sites through a mixture of creative writing, archival research, photography and design.
The organisation also runs an ongoing project called ‘Postcards From The Edge’, which provides high-quality cameras to rough sleepers, enabling the participants to capture images of heritage locations outside of the city centre, which are distributed as a unique collection of postcards.
exhibitions and public art Exhibitions
Good Organisation curates powerful exhibitions that amplify unheard voices and uncover overlooked histories.
Our first project, ‘Space Invaders’, brought together a small group of people experiencing homelessness to create a pop-up art exhibition inside a disused building in central York. This creative collaboration set the tone for future work, using art to challenge preconceptions of homelessness and who it affects
Since then, we have co-created public sculptures with York Civic Trust and Make It York, and developed a museum exhibition at York Castle Museum entitled 'Historical Perspectives of Homelessness', exploring changing social attitudes and legislative responses to the issue from the Medieval period to the present day.
Our Impact
In addition to skill development, the confidence and communication skills acquired by those we support has led to a strong culture of self advocacy within the organisation since its inception.
That approach has been instrumental in shaping the early stage relationships to establish a local Poverty Truth Commission within York, bringing key decision makers and civic leaders together with those living at the sharp end of poverty to effect positive social change.
Good Organisation has also served as an incubator for Lived Insights CIC, which seeks to enhance the voice and representation of those facing a wide range of social and economic challenges. Now an independent social enterprise, it places those closet to the problems at the heart of the solutions, and works to ensure that corresponding support services across the city are actively shaped and improved by those that use them.
www.livedinsights.org
More broadly, our work has facilited the development of another independent peer-led Community Interest Company that offers employment advice and practical support to some of York’s most marginalised residents, helping them to secure meaningful employment, establish micro-enterprise initiatives or access further education and training opportunities.
www.coterminous.co.uk