Welcome to Community Network (NI)

About us

We created Community Network to bring together equally passionate people so that we may collectively tackle the challenges faced by our local communities in Northern Ireland.

Community Network has been developed by Community Calling and is part-funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and The Community Foundation Northern Ireland.

We're a community of volunteers, community organisations and private sector companies with a shared goal - to get the right support to the right people at the right time, without duplication.

Why join

🔗 Connect with like-minded members who are based near you, who may be facing similar challenges and explore opportunities for collaboration.

ℹ️ Make better-informed decisions about the work you do and the things that are most important to you so that valuable resources are not duplicated.

💡 Swap stories, experiences, and ideas (not necessarily advice) around our shared mission of supporting local communities throughout Northern Ireland.

🙌 Find inspiration and perspective through an active network that embraces the opportunity to learn and adapt to the challenges we face.

⚠️ Respond better to changing needs of the community and where the ongoing restrictions mean finding new ways of meeting existing needs.

How it works

🚦 Getting started is simple. We hope you will enjoy using this platform which is available as a mobile app as well as the web version. We've included a few points to get you started and some guidelines over 👉 here.

👋 Joining groups is the first step to respond to support requests AND to connect with people who are providing support in your area. We've started with groups for the 11 council districts of NI as well as key impact themes and areas of focus over 👉 here.

🔗 Connect with like-minded members who are based near you and who may be facing similar challenges. Explore opportunities for collaboration, find inspiration and perspective, and be sure to introduce yourself! You can follow specific members to see everything they post and visit profiles 👉 here.

🎟 Attend or host events - The events feature available within Community Network NI offers members the ability to create virtual or in-person events that we can share with other members and/or beneficiaries. It is possible to list events yourself or we can help you. Find out more about this feature 👉 here.

🎓 Access or offer resources - We have the option to create online resources directly within Community Network. Resources can be anything from guidance to courses, workshops and training. Find out more about this feature 👉 here.

💪 Connect with members based on expertise - when setting up your profile, you can select one area of expertise (this is new so please review profile to complete). This helps to identify possible collaborations and networking opportunities as well as needs-based skills matching. Check out our members based on expertise 👉 here.

💬 Follow posts based on topics - The activity feed is personalised for you. Home is your activity feed. By default, it will show you the latest activity from us and other members. You can opt-out of topics that don’t interest you 👉 here.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions... about how to respond to support requests, how referrals work and links to policies and guidelines can be found 👉 here.

🆘 For help and guidance...

If you are unsure about anything at all please pop a message on your local council/impact theme group OR contact one of the regional admins.

Finally, on behalf of our team and all the beneficiaries, THANK YOU for your willingness to get involved and collaborate, especially during this time of uncertainty. It really means a lot. If you have any feedback or suggestions based on your experience so far, please contact us.