Hattie Clark

Hattie grew up in a small rural village in Wiltshire where community was at the very heart of her up-bringing. From a leader in Brownies to chair of the school council, Hattie was involved in all aspects of her local area from a young age which kick-started her community-inspired journey.

 

With a passion for exploring new things, Hattie volunteered for a local community project in Thailand, helping in a school and assisting in the build of a new community centre. This experience inspired her to choose the Environment and Media course at the University of Brighton which led to Hattie becoming a volunteer community organiser for the Students Union. Listening to 100 people in just 6 months, passing the national CO accreditation and supporting the start-up of an environmental network, Hattie developed her skills in project planning, active listening and project management as well as finding a new found passion for community work.

 

In the summer of that year, Hattie lived and worked in Nicaragua for 3 months where she volunteered for a community development project focused on water. Hattie planned and ran workshops with the young children of the community which enabled the capacities and knowledge of the children in caring for their local environment.

 

Hattie returned for her third year where she became employed by the SU as a part-time community organiser. Over her first year she created a listening surgery for students, supported and co-planned a Community Rights project, helped with the set-up of a well-being society, trained candidates in pitching, created a collaboration between a community media module and a community group and mentored a volunteer community organiser with door-knocking a whole street and creating a local newsletter.

 

The next part of her journey takes her to Calais working on an informal education project and then on to Bristol to further her work in the community.

 

Hattie loves music from all over the world, cooking and eating, exploring, being in the sea and meeting new people.