Creative Brief: Birmingham Economic Justice Alliance Branding and Communications

24 July 2024

Introduction:

The Economic Justice Alliance (EJA) is a catalyst for realising economic justice in Birmingham. Formed of campaigners, community groups, civil society organisations, and communities impacted by economic injustice, the Alliance supports shared visioning and analysis while celebrating and bolstering the diverse strategies, actions, and tactics we need to win real change.

Birmingham’s economy touches its citizens’ lives in dozens of ways each day. From access to safe, affordable housing, nourishing food, to good jobs, sustainable healthcare and other public infrastructures, economic change is possible on many fronts. It needs to transform to meet the needs of Birmingham’s communities – and we need strong relationships and a shared vision of the future to meet the scale of the challenge ahead of us. By working, imagining, strategising, and acting together, we’re accelerating the pace of economic change in Birmingham.

The EJA is a growing and evolving ecosystem of groups connected by a shared commitment to economic justice. While the groups and participants vary in size, focus area, and strategies, we come together to support a shared vision to improve the lives of people in Birmingham.

The Alliance has recently developed a communications strategy and following on from this it will be launching a new website and other external communications. Ahead of this it is commissioning a creative design project to develop its brand identity and create supporting assets.

Objective:

Develop the creative tools to enable the communication and implementation of the EJA’s strategy in Birmingham.

Create a distinctive brand identity with supporting assets, gaining audience understanding of the mission and theory of change and attracting their engagement.

What is a key thing our audience(s) will believe after seeing this work?

The Economic Justice Alliance gives us a place to build the skills, relationships, and strategies we need to make Birmingham a better, fairer place to live.

Scope of work

We are looking for a branding and communications agency or individual designer that can take a broad and collaborative approach to the project. This involves working with key players at the Barrow Cadbury Trust, People’s Economy (the Alliance’s appointed communications partner) and the Alliance’s steering group to develop a suite of brand and communications assets including:

• Creative brand assets such as a logo, fonts, colour palette, social media branding, creative brand templates (including newsletter assets, documents and powerpoints), website architecture and wireframes, brand guidelines guidelines, illustration, digital assets and iconography.

We have already developed a communications strategy including defined audiences, audience value propositions, tone of voice and a storytelling model that will support this work and be provided to whoever is appointed upon project initiation.

Applications

We welcome applications from freelance designers and brand and communication agencies, ideally based in or with a strong, demonstrable connection to Birmingham and communities experiencing economic injustice. We are looking for applications from people or organisations with experience and track record of working within social impact and social movement contexts.

Timeline

The deadline for expressions of interest is 11:59pm Sunday 18th August.

We will shortlist 3-5 expressions of interest to take forward and reach out to request any further details we require and schedule an interview on w/c 26th August. A decision will be made shortly after with the intention for work to begin in early September.

Submitting a proposal

We are looking for proposals from agencies or individuals explaining:

• Why you are well-placed to carry out the work
• A description of how you would approach the project, including approaches to consulting relevant stakeholders and the number of feedback rounds
• A description of key deliverables that would be provided upon completion (see ‘Scope of Work’ for what we would like to see delivered)
• The resources you have to give to the project (ie staff or freelancers)
• Details about the staff or freelancers on the project including your links to Birmingham and/or communities experiencing economic injustice
• What you need from the Alliance and relevant stakeholders to complete the project
• Timescales – i.e. how soon you could carry out the work if a tender was awarded
• Links to and/or details of relevant recent examples of other similar work you have carried out, in particular in social impact and social movements contexts
• Details of any experience and relevant skills in designing for accessibility
• A detailed quote for the work you propose to carry out

The deadline for expressions of interest is 11:59pm Sunday 18th August. Email to Fatima Iftikhar [email protected].

Budget

 £10,000 (inclusive of VAT)

This blog by Anna Garlands at Huddlecraft, was originally posted on Medium in May 2024.

In Spring 2023, Birmingham’s Economic Justice Action (EJA) Network was initiated, with the core aim of bringing folks in the city together to tackle the root causes of economic injustice. In its pilot phase, the Network organisers — Barrow Cadbury Trust, the EJA Advisory Group and Huddlecraft — gathered individuals from impacted communities, community and campaign groups, and civil society organisations to pull focus on the economic systems that perpetuate and amplify inequality in the city.

When we talk about the economy we are referring to complex and interdependent systems related to resources; money, buildings, land, food, energy, people’s time. The economy is about how these resources are used for different purposes, and how decisions about distribution of those resources are made.

The economy is for everyone. We are all part of the economy, and therefore we have a right to input into how it works. Furthermore, we should be able to challenge those in power on their economic choices and values.

“Now I feel a lot more clear on the link between the economy and justice. Seeing how it all interacts has been so helpful. These meetings have taken away some of the fear around the word economics.” Network member

The story so far

The Network meetings began in August 2023, and the Network membership has been steadily growing and gathering on a bi-monthly basis. The key objectives of the Network meetings have been to:

• connect with and relate to one another as learners and change-makers, reducing isolation and creating a sense of community in what are increasingly challenging times;
• learn about economic justice through various angles of approach, including gender equality, racial justice and alternative economic models;
• plot and showcase where positive momentum currently exists in Birmingham, and the organisations, projects and campaigns that are driving change;
• share opportunities to engage with local action, campaigns, training and events that seek to build a more economically just city.

“The training opportunities that have arisen through being here are amazing. The Network has given me confidence to have an opinion and a platform. I don’t come from an organisation, I’m just here and I feel valued in this space.” Network member

Over the course of eight months a total of 96 people have engaged with the Network, and we have gathered together six times.

Each meeting has adopted a lens with which to examine the different intersections of economic justice. We are grateful to the speakers who have presented research, reports and data related to the various lenses, workshopping key themes, and inviting the group to apply ideas and learning to the Birmingham context. Each meeting has felt unique in its own right, and yet there have been common threads woven throughout the series: the opportunity to meet with and learn alongside new and existing connections; the development of a shared definition of economic justice; and the plotting and synthesising of projects and people pushing for progress in the city and beyond.

“It’s not just about the work that we’re doing but actually how we connect with one another, because what we’ve got to build is an ecosystem. We’re not looking for one solution to this, we’re looking for thousands of different solutions that all fit together in a slightly imperfect way. Even here, we’ve got a critical mass of knowledge and relationships and skills that could be a tipping point, that’s the hopeful thing.” Network member

The pilot phase journey

We began our journey with two events — a Taster session and the Kick Off — inviting people living and working in Birmingham to join us to learn about economic systems, to input on what economic justice means to them and to share ideas on the areas or themes that could be focused on in the ongoing meetings. Read more about these events.

Session 1… As we journeyed beyond the Kick Off, we looked at economic justice through the first lens of Community Wealth Building. We heard from Conrad Parke from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), who presented the potential of Community Wealth Building to re-model the economy in Birmingham. Read more about what happened in the session here.

Session 2… The lens shifted to racial justice and the economy in our next meeting. Asif Afridi from brap and Tanita Lewis from People’s Economy presented on this topic, shining a light on the capitalist economic system and its roots in and reliance on the subjugation, enslavement, colonisation and oppression of minoritised groups. Tanita and Asif proposed that anti-racism and reparations equate to racial and economic justice, and with that sentiment in mind we explored what it would take and what it would look like to build a truly anti-racist Birmingham. The importance of holding city leaders and their anti-racist credentials to account emerged as a clear need, amongst others.

We moved from surfacing the learning around this crucial intersection of economic justice, to a dynamic workshop on Movement Ecology, delivered by NEON. NEON offers training for campaigners, organisers, communications and operations teams working across social movements, and their session with us examined the alchemy and ingredients of movement building. NEON presented their three approaches to social change:

1. Personal empowerment: empowering, developing and healing individuals, so that we can move towards a more holistic and compassionate society that will in turn create the foundations for wider systemic change.
2. Building alternatives: alternative institutions and cultures creating change by experimenting with alternative ways of doing and being in the world.
3. Challenging dominant institutions: challenging governments and corporations so we can change life more significantly and for more people than by other means.

The group split up to represent these three approaches, expanding on the merits of each, and driving home the point that we need people attending to all three areas in order to enable effective movement building.

“There is a real sense of how there is absolutely a role for every single person in every single experience and single way of working to change these systemic realities that we all try to survive within, because this economic system just fundamentally isn’t fit for people or planet.” Network member

Session 3… The next meeting adopted the lens of gender inequality and economic justice. We were joined by Mary-Ann Stephenson from the Women’s Budget Group, who offered compelling data that opened our eyes to the glaring economic disparity between genders.

The data shared by the Women’s Budget Group was complemented by a session with Emma Marks from The Equality Trust, and specifically the Community Reporting project. Community Reporting is a storytelling movement that supports people to tell their own stories, in their own ways and, furthermore, to weave these stories together to create a shared tapestry of care and community. We heard from Community Reporters who are trained to gather the stories of people living on the hard edge of economic injustice, and we tried using some of the tools and methods ourselves. At the end of the session we were treated to a moving performance from the Choir with No Name, a national initiative bringing people affected by homelessness together to sing and connect.

Session 4… In our final session of the pilot phase we were joined by Kavita Purohit, who shared the work that CIVIC SQUARE have been doing in Birmingham around demonstrating alternative economic systems. Kavita deftly explained that this demonstration is a critical part of the story when we are looking to influence emerging economic strategy. Economic systems are in obvious decline and when they fail, we will need alternatives to come into play. This is the work that CIVIC SQUARE is driving forward in Birmingham and beyond, with mutual care and community at the core.

In the latter part of the meeting we took some time to evaluate the journey of the Network in its pilot phase, asking the group how the space has impacted them, what they would like to see more and less of, and the actions that have arisen for them personally, as a result of attending the Network. Some feedback from our Network members can be found below.

• “I’ve appreciated the different themes in each meeting, I’ve learnt so much each time. Sometimes I come into the meetings thinking ‘I’m not sure how this fits with what I do’, but there is always so much to explore. It has really shifted my thinking.”
• “There aren’t many spaces in Birmingham where people can come together and have a shared value system. Everyone here is passionate about justice.”
• What has emerged is opportunity. Opportunity to implement change and have a positive impact in Birmingham as a collective unit. I have been to two sessions and I can see how it could all come together. I can see the vision.”

What does the future hold?

We understand that these spaces for community, learning and action are desperately needed in these times, and so we will continue to meet, building the movement towards a more economically just Birmingham.

We have seen impressive turnouts at each meeting, with a steady growth of interest and engagement. Feedback from members shows that people feel empowered by the knowledge they have gained in the meetings, and that a crucial sense of belonging has been cultivated through the development of strong relationships.

Many questions have emerged through the pilot phase, and we are holding the following enquiries (and more!) with curiosity as we move forward…

• Who is missing from the conversation, and how do we engage a Network that is representative of the city?
• How can we influence change outside of the Network space?
• How do we build a truly co-developed and co-led Network?
• Where are the gaps in our knowledge about the economic systems that we live within, and who can help us to plug those gaps?
• What alternative economic models do we want to learn about and test within Birmingham and beyond?

Email [email protected] to receive details and registration instructions. We look forward to welcoming you.

We have recruited Huddlecraft as a facilitator of a growing action network and are in the process of recruiting a learning partner.

We are now looking to recruit a Communications Partner to work with us for the remainder of our current five-year strategic period (to end March 2027) to support participation and engagement, and share learning from the programme.

The programme is at an early stage but we have identified the need for a dedicated website and a communications strategy and plan detailing how to keep participants and others informed about and engaged with the work.

Communications Partner connection to Birmingham

We consider that an understanding of Birmingham and local connections is essential to the delivery of the brief. In addition, we want wherever possible for our programme spend to benefit Birmingham’s economy. We will therefore only consider applications from individuals or organisations based in Birmingham or the very immediate surrounds.

Application deadline: 17.00 on Monday 30 October
Shortlisting Monday 6 November
Interviews: Wednesday 15 November in Birmingham

Find out more about the Economic Justice programme and the Communications Partner role.

Individuals and communities in Birmingham are coalescing around the theme of economic justice and seeking to build a local economy that truly serves the people says Anna Garlands of Huddlecraft – the Network’s facilitator – in this cross-posted blog.

As summer drew to a close this year, a group of bold and curious individuals came together in a room in Birmingham to participate in a “Kick Off” session for the Economic Justice Action Network. This Network, initiated and curated by Barrow Cadbury Trust and facilitated by Huddlecraft, seeks to tackle the root causes of economic injustice in Birmingham and beyond, pulling focus on the systems that perpetuate and amplify inequality within the city. The room was packed out with folks with varying associations with the theme of economic justice, all eager for meaningful change, all ready for action and all keen to learn more about how the Action Network could facilitate the systemic shifts we want and need to see.

When we talk about economic justice within this space, we are referring to a sense of economic fairness. Everyone having enough money to live. Everyone having access to the essentials of life: clean air, good public services, suitable housing, positive health care experiences, access to green spaces and, ultimately, equal life chances. Economic justice is about changing our social and economic structures so that people aren’t disadvantaged by their position in society, for example gender, ethnicity, class or disability. Economic justice is ensuring that the decisions that are made by those with power and the money that is generated in Birmingham, benefit everyone, not just those with power. It is about protecting the environment for future generations and it is halting the trend of the growing gap between rich and poor.

The Action Network has emerged because we recognise that the way Birmingham’s economy is structured does not deliver economic justice. There are areas of persistent poverty, wide disparities between the most and least affluent sections of the population and, as in other areas, structural racism, sexism and other–isms prevent many people attaining a decent standard of living and others being ill-rewarded for the work they do. Statutory agencies recognise the long-standing problems of economic exclusion and their strategies reflect a desire for change. However, things are not moving far or fast enough, and new solutions are needed.

Because we are all part of the economy, we should have a say in how it works and be able to challenge those in power on their economic choices and values. But what do we actually mean when we talk about ‘the economy’?

In his presentation at the Kick Off event, Joe Earle from People’s Economy shared that the economy is a relatively modern invention. It gives value to items that fit into the gross domestic product (GDP) framework — a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced in a specific time period by a country or countries. Within this GDP framework, much essential work is ignored, for example unpaid care work, key workers and ‘low skilled’ workers. GDP also fails to provide a good measure of health, wellbeing or justice. It is crucial that we broaden our view and consider the economy as a system. It is about resources; money, buildings, land, food, energy, people’s time, it is about how they are used for different purposes, and how decisions about distribution of those resources are made.

It is also crucial for us to consider interconnected economic systems at different scales. How and where is the Birmingham economy impacted by broader UK economic systems? How do global economic systems affect the UK? We need to understand and examine how Birmingham’s economic system is shaped by government and corporate decisions, as well as by cultures and behaviours formed and developed outside of the city.

Birmingham’s economic system is like an iceberg. The unjust outcomes are visible but much of how the system operates and the conditions that uphold it, are hidden below the surface. In order to create the change we want to see, we first need to understand the system to explain why the system operates in a particular way and then develop interventions which can bring about change.

When thinking about the entrenched power and ideas which uphold Birmingham’s economic system, working for change can feel like a daunting and unlikely prospect. The good news is that systems are not static, they are changing all the time, and there are already many people doing important work to change our economic systems in all sorts of ways. We want to amplify and build upon this work.

The Action Network is a place for alliance-building, learning, developing ideas for change and action.

The Action Network is folk coming together to build a shared, working understanding of the economy - learning about how the current system perpetuates inequality; how adopting an intersectionality lens can widen our approach; how alternative economic models and systems can be imagined and implemented in Birmingham. The Action Network is people coming together to dissect, examine and map out the existing economic landscape in the city, identifying and engaging levers of change. The Action Network is seeding and cultivating an interconnected web of citizens, grassroots activists, change-makers and disruptors from across the city, all sharing a common view that change is possible and the need is urgent.

We recognise that no single sector  -  the public sector, private business or civil society  –  can change things alone, but that we need to work together, harnessing the ideas, experience and energy of individuals and organisations to make Birmingham a city that works for everyone.

The Action Network is open to anyone with an interest in making our economy work better for local people. What you will have in common is:

• a willingness to have conversations and work with a variety of people who you otherwise may never encounter;
• an energy and excitement for learning about the economy and how we can imagine design fairer, regenerative and distributive economic systems;
• an appetite for action and creating change within the spheres you are affiliated with;
• the ability to attend Action Network meetings every other month, where possible.

We have been delighted to see so many people from a broad range of sectors and backgrounds attend the Taster event (July) and the Kick Off meeting (August). There is clearly an appetite for spaces to connect, learn and explore these issues and we will be welcoming new members throughout the coming six months.

The next meeting will be taking place on Wednesday 4 October and we would be delighted to see you there. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. Please sign up via this link if you would like to join.

• Manufacturing is a traditional strength of the Black Country’s local economy, where 14% of jobs are in the industry, compared to a national average of 8%.
• Net Zero to Level Up comes in the wake of the government’s ‘trailblazer devolution deal’ which gave the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) enhanced powers to influence the region’s economy
• The report predicts that if the new powers are used correctly, up to 20,000 net zero jobs could be created by 2032 in the Black Country, opening up new employment opportunities for residents, and that the 12,000 manufacturing jobs could be saved
• The report sets out recommendations for how local and regional institutions should use their powers to secure a just transition, defending existing jobs and maximising the new opportunities of net zero
• Recommendations include targeted support for vulnerable SMEs in manufacturing, and creating pathways for local residents to get the training they need to access new net zero jobs.

Demos has urged West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Mayor Andy Street to use the new powers in the recently-announced ‘trailblazer devolution deal’ to secure a just transition to net zero in the Black Country – defending existing jobs in manufacturing and maximising new employment opportunities connected to net zero.
According to Demos’s research, a significant number of small businesses in manufacturing will face enormous challenges as a result of the transition to net zero. The think tank has sought to define a framework for achieving a just transition – one that increases opportunity while reducing deprivation – that can be replicated across the UK. The Black Country is a key geographical area for the government’s levelling up agenda, with all four local authorities identified as ‘priority 1’ for the Levelling Up Fund.

The report, Net Zero to Level Up, highlights the high number of energy-intensive businesses selling into threatened supply chains such as internal combustion engine markets, despite the transition to electric vehicles already being well under way, with 20% of UK car sales in 2022 either battery electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles. It also points to an existing business support system which fails to reach many small companies as another leading cause for concern.

Net Zero to Level Up also references age demographics, outlining that future investors are unlikely to employ a large number of older workers, even if they replace some of the jobs lost. With two thirds of the manufacturing workforce in the Black Country already over 40, they may struggle to find jobs of comparable quality if made redundant, the report warns.

Despite the risk of job losses, the report finds that a just transition is achievable: the 12,000 manufacturing jobs could be saved and up to 20,000 new jobs in industries such as housing and transport could be created, provided the necessary action is taken and that pathways are set up to enable people from disadvantaged backgrounds to access some of the new jobs.

To support a just transition in the Black Country, Net Zero to Level Up has produced a number of policy recommendations for regional institutions to implement, including the WMCA, the Black Country local authorities and the Black Country Chamber of Commerce. These include, but are not limited to:
1. Distributing government funded business support products through the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, alongside the banks, solicitors, accountancy firms and brokers that businesses have existing relationships with
2. A regional mergers and acquisitions service to facilitate purchase of firms which are too small to respond effectively to the challenge of net zero by larger firms with greater human and financial resources
3. Communication to businesses of the likely future demand for low-carbon infrastructure, including what any development of central government policy will mean for the West Midlands
4. Active co-ordination of public and private sector investment

The second ‘State of Economic Justice in Birmingham and the Black Country’, authored by the New Policy Institute and supported by the Trust, revisits themes and data from the first report, whilst incorporating current concerns and interests of local stakeholders.

The majority of data analysis took place pre COVID-19, but figures which were already worrying took on increased weightiness in the context of the pandemic.  Over recent years, levels of deprivation across Birmingham and the Black Country have, at least in relative terms, worsened, with some populations faring much worse than others.

The deep and chronic disadvantage described in the report can, however, be alleviated if those with their hands on the economic levers – regional and local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and large employers – explicitly address the question of how economic benefits are distributed.

According to Sara Llewellin, CEO at Barrow Cadbury Trust:

“Many people were already struggling to manage on low incomes, but job loss, reduced savings and high unemployment, mean that many who just about got by before will now find themselves in need in a way they never imagined.

Challenges will be deeper and local authorities, statutory bodies, private business, social enterprise, faith groups and the voluntary sector across Birmingham and the Black Country will have to be creative and collaborative in ways never seen before. There are enormous challenges ahead and we hope this report provides evidence to assist action, target resources and attract additional attention to the region from a range of audiences. We are well aware both of the challenges facing stakeholders in Birmingham and the Black Country, but also the assets and wonderful work that is already being delivered by so many of those we know and respect”.

Read the report.

Like many other local authorities, Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton have struggled in a period of cuts. These budget cuts have affected the delivery of services and child poverty has risen.  Working-age poverty rates have risen as well as in-work poverty – 33% of households in Birmingham and the Black Country are classed as ‘mixed’, with only one employed adult. And the level of working age residents aged over 25 in Birmingham (50 %) and the Black Country (58%) with low skills, militate against increasing labour productivity.

Peter Kenway, one of the report’s authors and NPI’s Director said: “Birmingham and the Black Country face problems around employment, deprivation and housing as bad as anywhere in England. Central government policies, for example on social security and local government funding, deepen these problems and hamper locally-led responses. Big inequalities within the West Midlands, notably between the weakness of the Black Country economy and the economic strength of Coventry and Solihull, should be a top priority for the elected Mayor”.

Whilst it’s hard to ignore the massive gaps between this region and other parts of the country such as the South East and Manchester, the information in this report will help local authority leaders and private, voluntary sector and social enterprise partners to better understand the gaps and where to focus energy and resources.

Opportunities presented by HS2, the 2022 Commonwealth Games and other enterprises and business – many relocating from the South – will bring economic growth and prosperity to the region but, the authors of the report argue, should be forged through a lens of fairer and more inclusive economic growth. This is already in the hearts and minds of city leaders – the Inclusive Growth Unit within the West Midlands Combined Authority offers opportunity for co-operation and partnership around skills development, industrial growth and employment matched to areas of need.

Read a summary of the report.
Read the full report.

I have lived and worked in Birmingham all my adult life, the last 10 years almost exclusively providing affordable credit as an alternative to high cost credit, firstly running a credit union and then Fair for You.

It’s a generalisation but on the whole our customers are women, in lower income households, with some caring obligation and in part-time work.  ‘Managing mums’ is a term that has been coined in recent months. I would say these women are sassy, switched on, entrepreneurial, hard working, and not really managing very well at all. Or at least they are until something goes wrong when they need access to fair, affordable and well- designed credit.

I have sat in rooms over the last 10 years, hearing my customers talk about the need for financial education, budgeting and debt advice.  I felt strongly throughout those years that they need better alternatives to the credit options that are currently available.

In 2014, a group of us spent hours listening to mums of younger children in Northfield, Birmingham tell us very frankly and openly about their experience with high cost credit. I went in there thinking I knew what Fair for You would look like, and I came out knowing what it had to look like.

Some amazing people and organisations have backed our work over the last three years, but we never lost sight of what we were told, and we delivered what those people needed.

High cost credit isn’t just expensive – all versions of high cost credit have that in common. But the other common trait is that it is designed for the benefit of the lender, and to take maximum extraction from the customers’ financial household.

The term the ‘poverty premium’ is used to describe  the additional costs  low income households – in other words those who have less consumer power – have when purchasing essential goods and services. Whilst the amount of that premium fluctuates in various situations, it is always consistent that the lion’s share is made up of high cost credit i.e. the additional cost of using credit when faced with emergencies.  And the same households need credit when hit by emergencies, as they have less insulation and resilience to what to other people would be relatively minor emergencies.  There seems little point in measures to address poverty in the UK, without removing the poverty premium.

On 22 March we release the third social impact report relating to the work of Fair for You, a national challenger to high cost credit that directly responds to all of the needs we identified in our research. Now I don’t just have the voices of the mums who came to all of the sessions we ran, I have thousands of voices of customers whose financial situation has been changed because they have access to an alternative.  They prove every day, that they don’t need education and advice, they need better alternatives.

Fair for You is on line, available seven days a week, customer focused and a modern solution that uses multi-media communications including social media. Put simply, credit delivered with dignity and respect, designed to meet the lives of mums – and anyone else – who juggles, struggles and are not really managing at all.

And our customers love it – we are so proud to be rated among the highest financial services in the UK according to Trustpilot.

Please check us out and if you can support our work and our drive to change the way we lend to lower income households, then we would love to talk to you.

Angela Clements is the CEO  of Fair for You

Read Centre for Responsible Credit’s Social Impact Report

www.fairforyou.org.uk

www.fairforyou.co.uk

The work of community organisations has always been underpinned by three key values. The first, and most obvious, is self-help: providing services when the state can’t or won’t, or when self-help is actually more effective or appropriate. Second is self-organisation. Community groups are often at their best when they’re movements for change in society, transforming attitudes about everything from homosexuality to disability to mental health. And finally, there’s independence: working strategically with local and national government to make life better by closing gaps in services and loopholes in the law.

That’s the history: what about today? In the current climate, community groups are facing unprecedented budgetary pressures. Making the Cut asked what impact is this having on frontline services and the people using them?

To get a better idea brap has been regularly speaking to community organisations in Birmingham for over a year. These organisations work with some of the most vulnerable in the city and cover a range of sectors, including housing, domestic violence, and youth employment.

What we’ve found is that cuts to spending and changes to public service design are forcing individuals to go to community organisations for the support they need. Whether it’s welfare changes, the closure of local housing advice offices, reductions in youth services, or countless other things, people are increasingly turning to local voluntary sector organisations for help and advice. Between November 2014 and July 2015, for example, 77% of community groups said they had faced a ‘significant’ increase in demand for their service.

But that’s not all: over the same period, 88% of project participants had to make changes to their work because of cuts to funding. For most this meant changes to admin and management support. A lot of organisations have also said there is less funding for overheads and the ‘softer’ activities that help create a fuller, more holistic support service.  At the same time funding has become more short-term, making it harder for organisations to invest in their sustainability and to plan long-term interventions. A youth service, for example, might find itself in the unhelpful position of spending a few weeks working with a troubled young person only to have them referred back to the organisation some months later. Having more time with the individual in the first place might have allowed the agency to really get to grips with the problems they faced, giving the young person the confidence and resilience to solve their problems independently.

What is more, community groups are finding it harder to lobby local and national government about the concerns they have. This is partly because with fewer resources and increased demand, most voluntary organisations just don’t have the time to challenge this cycle of diminishing returns. For most the time available to analyse policy, engage with decision-makers, and draw out the strategic implications of new policy, practice, or legislation on their day-to-day work has been massively reduced.

Additionally, the constraints on speaking out are also partly because contractual relationships can make it harder for community groups to say what they need to. Increasingly, commissioning contracts – not just locally but nationally too – are stipulating that organisations can’t speak out about the impact of funding cuts. And many organisations don’t want to risk the relationship they’ve built up with their commissioner because funding is so tight. The customer is always right.

Since the report was published a number of local councillors and council officials have expressed concern about its findings. As communities see the impact of funding cuts really start to hit vulnerable people, most decision makers have said they are keen to deepen their links with the voluntary sector (and, in fact, some community organisations have recently told us they’ve noticed a move toward greater partnership working). Some respondents have since promised to press for formal mechanisms with which the sector can talk to and engage new governing bodies (such as the West Midlands Combined Authority). Others have offered to explore how the contents of contracts between the council and community groups are communicated, as, they claim, the intention has never been to stifle the voice of the sector.

This is a crucial exercise.  For  we ignore the work, expertise, local intelligence, and advice of voluntary organisations at our peril. Many have a unique insight into the cumulative impact of welfare reforms and public service changes. There is a role for public authorities now, more than ever, to engage community organisations in discussion about how to ensure vulnerable and excluded groups aren’t being left behind. And there’s a role for us, too, as a society to think carefully about what kind of voluntary sector we want to see. Because at the moment there’s a danger we’ll lose the side of it that campaigns, and agitates, and demands. We can’t just be content for community groups to fulfil the first of the values we outlined at the start. Historically, community groups have built hospices, sheltered refugees, and made public transport accessible for the disabled. If we forget this role, we are forgetting its potential. We are forgetting its vitally important role of holding up a mirror to society and speaking truth to power.

Our new work supported by Barrow Cadbury Trust will feed into the ‘Making the Cut’ project by creating a series of voluntary sector “conversations” around social cohesion and inclusion in Birmingham.  Watch this space.

For more information about the Making the Cut project go to www.brap.org.uk/projects/making-the-cut