ABSTRACT
Another aspect of risk, which is infused throughout everyday community practice, is connected closely to innovation. Thinking creatively about how to work together on issues, ideas and problems is an area in which everyone who has been involved in any community activity has some experience. New ideas and new ways of working on issues are highly valued, but balancing the tension between support for potentially risky community-led innovations and increasingly risk-averse policies in local communities, funding regimes that favour certainty in outcomes, and increasing insurance and risk management requirements for community groups is no easy task. Risk-taking here was a core element of the success of and subsequent support for the network and its everyday community practice. Members weighed up the risks to communities and themselves of carrying on as usual and made the decision to try something different. To make enough space and flexibility for this to happen, network members worked in a subversive way.
