What is change?

Here was my monthly column for the December edition of JLife (comments welcome):

“This is a great day, it's a beautiful morning, a new dawn, a new beginning.” Spike Lee's quote was just one, greeting Obama's presidency with an almost messianic fervour. But what though is real 'change'? This is an important question for a community that wants to fight the status quo and move forward. I, for one, want to register my dissent with the revolutionary view.

One of my less interesting habits is to read the Representative Council yearbooks from yesteryears. Much of what I read is exactly the same as today, giving new meaning to the phrase from Kohelet “There is nothing new under the sun”! Yet you can see that progress has been made. In 1986 Hazel Broch was calling for a community centre to be built in Leeds. Whilst there wasn't one when I first came to Leeds; today this dream is a reality.

But why does it take so long for change to happen? There is often a fit of enthusiasm to replace the 'old and stagnant' with the 'new and vibrant'. Yet rather than helping, this, with the inevitable 'doing down' of what we already have, is often the impediment to change. The ideas are rarely new, and after the initial enthusiasm has died, rarely seen through. Instead, we should recognise the wonderful facilities we already have. Only then can we ask how they can extend their reach, better meet the needs of the community and be improved.

This is where my job comes in. The strategic plan for the future of the community of 2006 was one of those 'big events' that can easily be forgotten- most of you have! Yet, as a result of it, I have been brought in to work with the community to build on what we have and fill the needs the report identified. Most of the work doesn't shout 'change' with much of it directed at building the infrastructure of the community. Other aims- such as different organisations working together- is something that should have happened all along. Yet this, rather than 'a new beginning', is what leads to real progress. After all, how can you build a large building without secure foundations?