why kin?

Context

Origins: Kin is the result of 12+ years working with young adults, together with extensive action research to understand the emergent needs of young people in the UK.

Our hope was that we could locate a leverage point where we - as engaged practitioners in the fields of social and environmental justice, leadership, culture, transformation and community and place building - could meaningfully and skilfully translate our learning into an urban context to benefit more young people and the communities they’re embedded in.

Power

Measuring what Matters: Kin is concerned with the collective and connective dimensions of place, space and relationship to meet the needs of place based communities in the UK. Our research highlighted a worrying lack of attention to these dimensions, as most metrics continue to look through the lens of an individualistic frame of disconnected, atomised experience to measure outcomes of success in all areas of an individual’s life. Of course every individual must learn to stand on their own feet, yet none of us makes this journey of life alone. We need each other, and in that lies the seed of our power, both individually and collectively.

relationship

Change is Relational: In contrast to this atomised view, we recognise that human flourishing comes through:

• Connection — to self, nature, meaningful work, and purpose

• Community – a sense of belonging, of being wanted and needed, opportunity, access, respect, caring and engaged elders

• Creativity — the capacity to collaboratively imagine positive and healthy futures

• Context – the bigger picture rooted in place, and the interconnectedness of our world