Jo Cox Foundation: Great Get Together 2019
An evaluation report from the 2019 edition of the The Great Get Together – a series of community events which brought about cohesion and wellbeing around the UK.
The Great Get Together is at the heart of The Jo Cox Foundation’s vision for a nation of strong compassionate communities in a country which is both proud of its diversity and celebrates the things we have in common. It takes place every year on the weekend of Jo Cox’s birthday in June and grew out of an outpouring of goodwill that followed her murder in 2016. Great Get Together events are as diverse as the people who make them happen. There is no ‘one size fits all’. Anyone can take part and events can be large or small, based around food, sport, music or anything else, with people you
know or those you don’t.
This was the third year for The Great Get Together and it signalled an important shift from an annual event to a year-round movement powered by thousands of community champions nationwide who believe – as Jo did – that we have more in common than that which divides us. This nationwide community of groups and individuals are forging meaningful
connections through The Great Get Together as a vehicle to tackle local issues from knife-crime, to loneliness, to inter-faith projects.
KEY FINDINGS
- One quarter of Great Get Together attendees said they felt inspired to host their own event.
- More than three quarters of Great Get Together organisers told us they plan to do so again.
- 71% of those surveyed said The Great Get Together helped unite their community
- 51% of attendees said that they met someone new
- 71% told us that The Great Get Together helped them feel less lonely
- 66% felt more hopeful about the future
