The Happy City team have seen time and time again that every community, every city has the people, ideas, resources and solutions to solve all their problems, but most of those things remain unseen, un-celebrated and the learning lost.  The Community Voices pilot aims to prove the case for a sustainable hub of citizens journalism to help the voices of change to be heard, the examples of replicable solutions to be shared, and the stories of inspiration and opportunity to be aired as widely as possible. 

This project plays an important part in the wider 'Happy City' picture, refuting as it does, the media obsession with the idea that “there’s no drama without conflict”.  This attitude colours our consumption of world events and ultimately provides the lens through which we assess ourselves in the world. It's this extraordinarily one sided depiction of what is worth reporting on that sticks our collective mindset so firmly in fear, problems, blame and consumerism.  Community Voices counteracts this by making visible the countless opportunities that already exist for finding real and lasting happiness.

Every community contains inspiring, supportive actions, which (no matter how small) make a positive difference day in, day out.  Our aim is to turn up the volume on these stories, so they can be heard through noise of negative spin.  Once audible, the lessons can be better shared and the positive influence of local ideas, actions and people can gather more support.  Community Voice brings the skills, equipment and experience to help people in small community groups tell others what they know, which helps multiply out solutions and spread the benefits.   

Mainstream media is wary of the work of ‘citizen journalists’, using their skill