Our mission
By 2025, all Londoners will have access to community resources ensuring they can volunteer, get support and build strong community networks.
The aim of the mission is to ensure:
- All communities - particularly the most disadvantaged with the greatest health inequalities - can get the support and services they need. They should also have more control and choice over those services
- Londoners can build and maintain relationships and be active citizens
- London’s civil society is strong and resilient. It reflects and champions London's communities and can meet future shocks. Organisations can access resources and support to meet new/changed demand and provide essential services
- Sustainable and strong partnerships between funders and civil society organisations, improving access to appropriate funding to resource/sustain community activity in line with the mission
- Continuing risks that arose during the crisis are addressed
- Public service partnerships proactively include the voice of older Londoners in future planning.
Why "Building Strong Communities"?
The COVID-19 pandemic had a bigger impact on certain communities in London. It highlighted the need to urgently address the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 in London and tackle the entrenched inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic.
Health data showed that Black and Minority Ethnic groups were more at risk of the virus, while community surveys highlighted the mental health impact on LGBTQ+ communities.
Data also showed more demand for services supporting women experiencing violence and abuse.
In addition, Deaf and disabled people faced threats to their rights and the services they vitally need.
Research undertaken has shown evidence that the pandemic has had both positive and negative impacts upon the civil society sector. The importance and value of volunteering has been and continues to be underlined during the pandemic making it essential that we ensure volunteering is well-supported and meaningful. Consequently, it was clear that the Building Strong Communities mission must pay attention to two distinct issues:
- Enhancing how Londoners work together, outside of state delivered services, to overcome inequalities and other societal problems, particularly those exacerbated by the recent cost of living crisis.
- Enhancing the ability of Londoners to influence the state to ensure that public policies and services meet their needs.
Key achievements
- The Festival of Ideas (2021); a series of events across London bringing Londoners together to talk about their visions for strong communities. 104 events took place across London boroughs with almost 4500 Londoners taking part.
- The Festival of Learning developed by London Funders, which has now run for a second year, starting in 2021 with over 900 attendees and 40 events, and continuing into 2022. This was and continues to be an opportunity for funders to share insights and best practice on a wide range of topics that include collaboration, community, equity, leadership and process.
- The creation of Propel, in partnership with pan-London funders. Which is a partnership that will enable organisations to explore, develop and lead collaborative approaches to tackle some of London’s biggest challenges. The team hopes to collectively invest £100m in the next 10 years. , in partnership with pan-London funders. Which is a partnership that will enable organisations to explore, develop and lead collaborative approaches to tackle some of London’s biggest challenges. The team hopes to collectively invest £100m in the next 10 years.
- Championing the voices of young people through collaboration with the Youth Recovery Board.
Progress so far
Rescoping
In October 2022, the Mission agreed that the mission goal would replace the word ‘hub’ with ‘resources’ so that it now reads as: ‘All Londoners will have access to community resources, ensuring they can volunteer, get support and build strong community networks.’
This was because the mission needed to focus more broadly on the enabling factors for a stronger and more resilient London, and the actions that the mission team would be able to facilitate to achieve this. Additionally, the idea of community hubs was always meant to include online hubs, reinforcing the need to have virtual spaces where resources, case studies and good practice on building strong communities could be shared.
Focus in the sector has also shifted away from pandemic recovery to other significant areas of work such as the cost-of-living crisis. There is a need for the mission to be flexible to react to the ever-changing issues that Londoners face, and which civil society plays a lead role in supporting.
Goal
- Understand how sturdy the building blocks, for strong communities, are within different parts of London.
Action
- Boroughs and VCS funders have been provided with a tool for understanding the strength of civil activity within London through the London Civic Strength Index.
Progress
- The Civic Strength Index was developed by the Young Foundation and funded by the GLA to start to measure what makes a strong community. This is now in its first iteration and work is underway to further develop this tool.
Goal
- Enable those delivering community work to connect and share practice (online resources to support people connect and share practice.
Action
- Work alongside partners to launch an online hub for practice sharing and collaboration.
- Support given to regional networks to bring together learning and support spaces for collaboration.
Progress
- Developing online resources that enable and support community groups to explore and develop ways of working in collaboration. This has had a particular focus on Food aid and supporting food aid volunteering in London as part of the response to the cost-of-living crisis.
Goal
- Enhance opportunities for Londoners to volunteer
Action
- Support the London Regional Volunteering Network’s campaign to increase volunteers
- Accessible volunteering opportunities to Londoners.
- Create best practice in volunteer management guidance
Progress
- A Volunteering summit held in January 2021 resulted in the founding of the London Volunteering Strategy group.
- Establishment of the London Volunteering Strategy Group, consisting of pan-London volunteer involving organisations and leading London infrastructure organisations. This has resulted in the Launch of the London's Lifelines reward and recognition website.
- Established an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Volunteer Advisory Group to collate volunteer views and voices on how to make our volunteer programmes and roles more accessible and inclusive, focussing specifically on disability, race and neurodiversity.
Goal
- Improve opportunities for Londoners to influence local, regional and national decision-making.
Action
- Awareness campaigns launched through the London Voter Registration Strategic Partnership.
- Grants provided to 33 London boroughs in order to improve their ability to engage with seldom heard groups.
Progress
- During London Voter Registration Week 2020 and 2021, the GLA and its partners have contributed to the voter registration of more than 75,000 under-represented Londoners and a reach of more than 1.4 million Londoners.
Goal
- Ensure that inclusive community spaces and activities are available in most parts of London.
Action
- Targeted support provided for creative businesses, cultural organisations and community spaces at risk of closure through the Community and Cultural Spaces at Risk Office.
Progress
- Since March 2020 the Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme has supported over 1250 spaces.
Goal
- Sustain community organisations that tackle inequalities and other social issues.
Action
- Sustainable funding plan developed through Collaborative Action for Recovery.
- Work with match-funding partners to support civil society organisations to grow and develop.
Progress
- The London Community Response funder partnership selected BSC as one of three missions of focus, helping the mission provide London’s communities with the long-term support needed to drive change in the capital. The Propel fund formally launched in Autumn 2022 and has completed its first round of funding. Propel (londonpropel.org.uk).
- Civil Society Roots 3 is a £1million fund delivered in partnership with the City Bridge Trust. 31 organisations were funded a total of £587k in round 1.
- Developed a sports partnership fund with Sport England and London marathon that will distribute at least £17m funding over the next 5 years.
Read what Londoners have been saying about Building Strong Communities for London
Visit Talk LondonProposed timeline for the future of the mission (2023- 2025)
Finalise phase two grant awards and release an additional £350,000 of funding for BSC microgrants .
Launch phase three of BSC grants with applications open for a further £200,000 funding.
Sports partnership grants fund launched.
First round of Propel grants awarded .
Civic Data Innovation challenge scale up opportunity opens.
Removing barriers to volunteering work (EDI focused) being launched.
Further workstreams to be established collaboratively with partners.
Our key partners
- London Plus (London VSC infrastructure organisation)
- London Funders (Pan-London cross sector funders network)
- Corporation of London and City Bridge Trust
- London Councils
- Other civil society organisations such as the London Boroughs Faiths Network, as required
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