What we do

Building community-centred public services

Real prevention and resilience start when communities are involved and have the power to lead.  

Many public services – from homelessness to mental health and employment support – continue to be delivered without the involvement of those they are there to support.​ Community businesses can help change that. They are run by, and directly accountable to, local communities. 

How we will build community-centred public services:

  • Making the case: We will make the case for community business to be recognised as meaningful partners in public service reform through research, evidence and practical demonstrators. 
  • Testing models of governance and community-powered services: We will continue to test and learn from community covenant partnerships, enabling the conditions for neighbourhood governance to thrive, and influence local spend and public services. We will explore community-powered impact labs to test and demonstrate how community business can help tackle major public service challenges, and build the evidence needed to expand what works. 
  • Growing a movement for change: We will work alongside public sector reform advocates and partners, and with community businesses who are already delivering neighbourhood-level services. Through this work, we will strengthen trust, local relationships, and innovation to improve outcomes for everyone. 

Our aim is for all communities to play a bigger role in designing and delivering the services they use, with local services more responsive to their needs. 

To find out more and to talk about working together, contact Catriona Maclay, Associate Director, Practice and Innovation.

Email Catriona

Spotlight: Haven Community Hub, Westcliff-on-Sea

After the closure of Havens, a historic department store, local community leaders reimagined the building as a community‑centred hub designed around local need.

Opened in 2019, the Hub brings together wellbeing activities, community groups, and key services delivered with the local council and NHS. This includes counselling and monthly drop‑ins from the council’s Dementia Navigator team and the NHS Carers Intensive Support Team. The Hub also hosts diabetic and pre‑diabetic clinics run by NHS‑commissioned organisations, providing accessible health support in a community setting.

Rather than separating support into different systems, the Hub creates a single, welcoming space grounded in relationships and trust. Thousands of people visit each month. Residents report reduced isolation, renewed confidence and easier access to practical support. The café, run by a local business, adds to both social connection in the hub and vitality on the high street.

Haven demonstrates that when community businesses are trusted partners in design and delivery, public services are more responsive and effective.

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Current projects

a man in blue dungarees watering some plants at the farm

Community Covenant Test and Learn Partnerships

We’re testing a bold approach to local democracy and decision-making alongside our community business partners, learning how communities can work directly with local agencies to share power.

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Research and reports

Exploring what works to give communities the power to change what matters to them.

From the ground up: Community business and Britain’s next decade 

From the ground up: Community business and Britain’s next decade 

For the past decade, Power to Change has seen community business grow steadily into a movement that spans the country. This essay collection advances a vision of Britain’s future where power and resources are in local hands and community business at the heart of facing down the nation’s challenges.
Returning power to the people: What community empowerment can do for the public and for politics

Returning power to the people: What community empowerment can do for the public and for politics

At a time when the government faces enormous pressure to mount a response to the sense of discontent and decline that the public is feeling, giving communities more local control is emerging as a solution that is both effective and popular. This research demonstrates the need to put communities at the heart of the political debate to unlock a path to national renewal.
Closing the void: Can we reconnect politics with associational life?

Closing the void: Can we reconnect politics with associational life?

This research shows that our democracy is in poor health but people who are involved in associational organisations – from book clubs to community businesses to working men’s clubs – are more likely to have trust in democratic institutions than those who are not. This report sets out concrete recommendations to government and political parties to renew our democracy through grassroots civil society, closing the void between citizens and democratic institutions.
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Our reports

Be inspired

Stories of communities running community-centred services.

One Voice Blackburn

One Voice Blackburn

Growing the aspirations of young people in one of the most diverse and disadvantaged places in the country
Real Ideas: Connected Schools

Real Ideas: Connected Schools

Harnessing underused school facilities to catalyse community activity
Repowering London

Repowering London

Empowering young Londoners through renewable energy projects, Repowering London puts all generations and communities at the heart of our energy system.
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More community business stories

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With the right conditions, community businesses can shape their places to truly meet community need.

What we do