Building Strong Communities

What is this mission about?

By 2025 all Londoners will have access to a community hub ensuring they can volunteer, get support and build strong networks.

We will develop the idea of community hubs through engagement with London’s communities. At their core, ‘hubs’ go beyond physical spaces and are about providing Londoners with access to support, knowledge and the ability to participate confidently in community life.

This mission is about ensuring all Londoners can play an active role in their communities, making London a more equal and inclusive city post-COVID-19.

Why are we doing this?

The pandemic has shown the crucial role that communities play in supporting each other, acting as the first line of response in a crisis.

It also revealed the deep-seated inequalities within our city, demonstrated by the starkly disproportionate health, social and economic impacts the crisis has had on groups including Black and minority ethnic (BAME) Londoners, LGBTQ+ Londoners, older Londoners, Deaf and disabled Londoners, and women. Too many Londoners have for too long faced barriers that limit their ability to participate in and shape their city equally.

This mission aims to address these structural inequalities and develop stronger foundations for communities to thrive, which is critical London’s recovery and health.

The evidence shows both positive and negative impacts of the pandemic felt by communities, and highlights both challenges and opportunities.

• 750,000 people registered to volunteer via the NHS volunteering scheme. Over 90,000 of those volunteers were from London.
• More than 700 new mutual aid groups were set up in London by the end of March 2020.
• Over 60 funders worked together to distribute £40m through the London Community Response.
• 61% of charities have used the government’s furlough scheme.
• 87% of BAME-led micro and small organisations have reported that they do not have reserves to last more than three months.
• Pro Bono Economics predicts that in monetary terms, this means UK charities face a £10.1 billion funding gap over the next six months, with incomes expected to drop by £6.7 billion at the same time as demand for their support rises by the equivalent of £3.4 billion.

To recover from the economic, social and health impacts of the pandemic, City Hall has set out a missions-based approach. This will bring together the public, private and voluntary sectors, and involves working with all Londoners to make it a success.

We propose to achieve this mission by:

• identifying and convening communities and groups most impacted by the virus (e.g. BAME groups, LGBTQ+ Londoners, Deaf and disabled Londoners) for conversations about needs and ambitions, to begin the plan and design activities together
• supporting local networks and knowledge by sharing good practice and working with local and regional partners to amplify what is working well in communities
• supporting community-led activity (through funding, convening, providing expertise, etc) to develop and strengthen local groups and spaces.

This will focus on three areas:

• ensuring London Civil Society can meet the needs of diverse Londoners
• listening and responding to Londoners’ voices
• developing hyperlocal opportunities for Londoners to support and connect with each other.

Short-term actions:

• Civil Society Strength Index – create a picture of London civil society and its strength to determine and measure elements of strong communities.
• Support for mutual aid groups – work with community-based partners to develop a pan-London peer support network for mutual aid groups that is led by their needs and provides information and support relevant to them.
• Civil Society Roots Incubator – small grants to support partnerships that tackle gaps in support for Londoners.
• Community Spaces at Risk Fund – funding and one-to-one support, working with communities to protect grassroots cultural centres, social clubs and youth, education and other spaces.

Mission co-leads:

• Yolande Burgess
• Fiona Rawes

Lead organisations and partners:

London Plus, London Funders, Equality Infrastructure, CVSs, volunteering bodies.