Phase 2: community momentum

Building wider community leadership and ownership

What is it?	In Phase 2, the Circle Founders take the lead on community engagement and relationship-building, while the Equal Care project team steps into a supporting role. This is when the Circle’s community starts to grow: finding the first independent care and support workers, and connecting with the first people likely to receive care and support through the Circle.
Why do it like this?	Our goal is to create a sustainable social ecology between Equal Care Co-op and local Circles. We want to avoid relationships based on dependency or permission-giving. Instead, we work toward relationships of equal partnership where agency and leadership are shared. Phase 1 establishes this foundation; Phase 2 builds it outward into the community.
Membership	New members join the original Circle Founders — including early potential users of the service, independent workers, family members, advocates, and local professionals (such as social workers and health professionals). The growing community includes a mix of Supported, Advocate, and Worker members.
Principles	- Grow networks and deepen ties - Work openly and tell stories as we go
Time period	- Minimum: 2 months - Maximum: 6 months before Phase 3 (noting that Phase 3 timing depends partly on external factors such as contracting and local capacity)
Evaluation and continuous learning	- A short survey measuring agency, ownership, voice and power - One-to-one interviews with at least one person from each key perspective (receiving, giving, and arranging support) and with all Circle Founders - Continued work on storytelling and archiving the Circle’s development
Outcomes	- Clear shift from Equal Care leading to Circle Founders leading their own Circle - The Circle becomes contract-ready - The Circle defines and expresses its own identity and values

A reflection on community cultures

The foundations of any Circle are deeply shaped by the social cultures its members live and work within.

Culture influences our ability to make decisions that are both effective and equivalent and it shapes how Circles grow a sense of belonging and connection with their wider community.

Building and nurturing culture is not a side project; it is central to the work of creating sustainable, relationship-based care and support.

We begin this process by working closely with Circle Founders, both individually and as a small group. The next stage is about opening this work outward: moving from the founding group into the wider community, and distributing power back to kith and kin.

Our goal is that these community sessions are co-facilitated with, or ideally led by, Circle Founders, with Equal Care stepping back to offer support only as needed.

By grounding leadership in the community we help build a living culture of mutual care, shared responsibility, and collective agency.