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© Made In Hackney
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© Made In Hackney
Do all need to be vegan?
At Made In Hackney, we decided ‘no they didn’t’ BUT people did need to feel passionate about the world evolving to a more plant-centred diet and to be committed to the organisation’s 100% vegan ethos.
This includes all food eaten on site, at away events, in classes, meetings and anything else Made In Hackney-related to be totally plant-based. By being inclusive we have brought many people on a plant-based journey, with staff members, trustees and teachers who weren’t vegan when they joined us, now making the transition – which is what it’s all about after all.
ACTION
Use the Who is in your tribe document in the Toolkit to plot out who your current connections are – you can see this as your ‘tribe’, as they are people that are already on board with your message.
This will help you identify all the different people that might be able to support your project – from personal networks to professional contacts between your core team, you will have many of the connections you already need to get going.
ACTION
Look at the skills and experience you need. Add to this anything else important in your setup and create a list of who you already know you could get involved. Then develop a list of where you could look for people to fit the other areas.
Remember, these roles can be temporary, part-time or ad hoc to get you going. Reassure people that they don’t need to be committed to this for life!
In the beginning
We called the first group of people assembled to talk about Made In Hackney a Steering Committee. We met in a local nursery in 2011 and were a mixture of local business owners, school teachers, residents, charity workers, a council staff member, a trainee doctor, and a respected community elder and activist.
We created this group whilst writing our debut funding application and used it as feedback and a sounding board during the project’s development stage. The people who sat on the floor and on tiny kids’ chairs in those initial meetings could never have imagined the impact Made In Hackney was to have over the next decade.
Flying solo
If all this talk of building a team is overwhelming, some people do amazing things as solo players. If you’re a vegan chef or home cook you could offer to teach vegan cooking classes to a local school, at a community centre or at a hostel or refuge. This will still be an incredibly impactful thing to do while keeping things simple at the same time.
After being a proof-reader for this course, vegan chef, caterer and workshop coordinator Yvonne Welzen of Veganza in the Netherlands was so inspired that she contacted her local council to offer her skills as a vegan cookery class leader. This led to her being booked to deliver sessions for young people via the youth services department at the council. As she was an individual and not an organisation, the council agreed to pay for her services as a contractor. How brilliant and inspiring!
