A Community Map for Leighton Buzzard

An open letter about a voluntary project for my home community

One of the things I love about Leighton Buzzard is the sense of community, there are so many community led initiatives, so many activities, clubs and causes that people can get involved in. Yet all too often I hear people saying they don’t know about what is available in the area or where to go for support when they need it or that they would love to be part of something but don’t know how they can get involved. This really frustrates me, so when this opportunity to do something about it came along, I jumped at it.

Let’s put all those wonderful community groups and charities that exist in Leighton Buzzard on the map – literally!

Create a Community Map for Leighton Buzzard

The Leighton Buzzard Community Map will be a living directory of our local charities, community organisations and volunteer led groups. It will allow people to search for support when they need it, find community led activities and offer their help if they want to.

It will be totally free for groups and organisations to join, they just sign up, create a profile (which can act like a mini web site and/or link to an existing website), then pinpoint where they are on the map.

When someone goes to the map they will be able to search for sports clubs, people who share their hobby, social clubs, groups offering support with health conditions or other challenges and so much more. It is also totally free to people who are searching. Their search will also be private showing only that they visited the community map in their search history, not what they have searched for, something that other areas have found to be important.

Most of the organisations I know locally are also often looking for volunteers to help them do the wonderful things they do. Visitors will also be able to search for volunteering opportunities that match their skills and interests.

Once we have some organisations on the map, it will be available on various community websites such as Leighon Buzz Radio, The Bee’s Knees and Totally Leighon Buzzard. If there is somewhere you would like to see the map made available, please let me know.

Being on the community map offers the following benefits

Increased visibility and discoverability. It will be another way for people to find out about the amazing things you do
Connection. You will be part of a nationwide ecosystem of great organisations which will help connect you with people in need of what you do and those who can help you do it
Collaboration opportunities with other local organisations. By knowing who each other are we will have a greater opportunity to support each other’s work

All this should support us in building a stronger, more resilient community here in Leighon Buzzard.

What are you asking me to do?

If you look at the map now – there is something missing – you and your group! Let’s fix that and make sure as many groups as possible are on the map.

So here are the two things I would love for you to do:

Go to https://leighton-buzzard.adoddle.org/ and create a profile and put your organisation on the map. There are full instructions available to help you with this on the website. It is quick and easy to do.
Share this with everyone you know who is involved in a community group or charity and encourage them to join the map.

We are stronger together so let’s get as many organisations on the map as quickly as we can!

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further please drop me a line and let’s chat.

Thank you and I look forward to finding even more wonderful local organisations through this map!

Bekka Prideaux

PS – If you and your organisation are not based in Leighton Buzzard please join the map as you will show up in searches in the area you operate.

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