The State of Us, based out of Plymouth (UK), drew inspiration from new municipalist movements across the world. Over a series of three events in April and May 2021 featuring grassroots, national and international speakers, we explored how people are building power and economic democracy in different contexts: our work, in our public spaces and in environmental action. In the fourth and final session, we asked what is next for The State of Us. 

Working with our partners and compiled by Stonehouse Voice, a full event summary and report has been created to capture the themes and stories presented across all four events of the conference. 

Each event explored a specific theme and featured talks delivered by speakers from various local, national, and international grassroots groups. The case studies, examples and stories shared by inspiring speakers have had a profound influence on our delivery of other projects and programmes, such as Empowering Places, Future Parks Accelerator, Green Minds, and Fab City Plymouth. 

The opportunity to learn about different ways of building local-level power, community organising, and collaboration between differing groups has opened doors to strengthening our practices around these values. We are actively seeking out opportunities to network and partner with other organisations, using our platforms to highlight and contribute towards grassroots activity.  

To find out more, visit The State of Us webpage containing brief summaries of each session topic, information about our speakers, links to full recordings and individual speaker segments, a free download of the full event report, and ways to get involved in the future.