Sacha Bedding
The Wharton Trust, Hartlepool
Inayat Omarji
All Souls Bolton
When the place you live ends up in the news it is usually either because the local football team has won something, or because there is bad news. Sadly, it is too often the latter.
In the summer of 2024 in towns and cities across England we saw violence on our streets, hatred directed towards ethnic minorities, and anger towards authorities. It was rightly condemned and the perpetrators punished.
But it didn’t come as too much of a surprise. Because when you work closely with a community, you pick up on anger and alienation that can’t be noticed by policymakers in London.
In Bolton and in Hartlepool, we work hard to make our places better, opening up space to all of the community, working with people to tackle local issues, and listening to them without judgement or money changing hands.
We know we have an impact because we see it and feel it in our neighbourhoods, and research from organisations like Power to Change backs it up. So it is hard when another crisis puts that under strain. We don’t let that set us back.
In Hartlepool, we listened without judgement to what people were thinking and feeling in our community, focusing on love and understanding, not hatred and division. Outside of crisis, in our everyday work, we build agency through community organising, seeing it as a form of learning that helps people become more confident in themselves and more trusting in other people too.
10 years ago in Bolton, we worked with the local authority and public bodies to diffuse tensions when the British National Party and English Defence League came to town. When trouble started this summer, we were less well placed to deal with it, as infrastructure has dwindled and community development has been cut from council budgets, so organisations like ours were contacted too late. This work needs to be ongoing – we’re still working to rebuild meaningful relationships across divides in our communities.
We know there will be more difficult moments to come. We want to be as well prepared to deal with them as possible, but also to grasp new opportunities too.
The steps in Power to Change’s latest report, Fixing the foundations: A communities strategy for Britain, will help to bring together two parts of communities policy – cohesion and empowerment – and link them to economic growth. The recommendations set out put communities in the lead and reflect the importance of places to meet and of support from all levels of government.
A communities strategy should take this on board to build social capital and draw on the power that exists in communities, by backing community-led institutions that can once again form the backbone of national associational life. Community businesses, like the organisations we lead, are one such institution.
About Sacha and the Wharton Trust: For over 30 years, the Wharton Trust has supported people in the Dyke House area of Hartlepool – one of the most deprived wards in the UK. From access to employment and training advice to youth engagement and skill development, the organisation is having a tangible impact on local challenges. At the core of its ethos is social action and community organising, providing people with the tools to change things for themselves
About Inayat and All Souls Bolton: Inayat has dedicated over 10 years and 5,000 hours to spearheading the renovation of a redundant church building in the community where he lives. What was once an abandoned and vandalised space has been transformed into All Souls Bolton—a vibrant and welcoming hub for community life. Inayat is a connector, bringing together people from diverse backgrounds to tackle challenges in engaging with communities and fostering understanding. His work emphasises building pathways for leadership, ensuring that new leaders emerge who are equipped to make a meaningful difference in their communities. By bridging divides and nurturing talent, Inayat has created a legacy of collaboration and empowerment that continues to inspire others.
