• 60 workshops facilitated  
• 50 organisations worked with and supported 
• 20 boroughs worked in 
• 17 new community researchers recruited and trained 
• 6 young people employed as community researchers.
• 3 young people and one adult successfully gained employment 

Community Regen supported seven community led neighbourhood teams in Greenwich to come together, develop a shared vision and strengthen ways to work together and respond to community needs.

Paul engaged the teams in a programme of workshops and one to one support to develop long term plans, enabling them to become more self-sustaining and resilient. This included providing facilitation support, training, advice, practical help and tools for neighbourhood teams in strengthening how they work, building their organisational, financial capacity and supporting them to access other opportunities for funding and support.

Working as part of a team from Campbell Tickell Paul worked on a strategic review of Peabody & Catalysts community investment programmes to assist them to create a joint strategy effective from Summer of 2022.

The work involved undertaking an evidence and insight- based approach strategic review of community activities, building on existing internal research and feedback. This included:

• A Desk based review of community activities, research, and evaluation feedback 
• Discussions with key staff and relevant Heads of Services
• Discussion with community development stakeholders including residents, voluntary/statutory, business and funding partners
• Analysis of information/discussions and identification of strategic areas of focus
• Drafting a report with recommendations and a 12-month delivery plan

This work informed a strategy and framework that built on existing approaches in both organisations in developing a local approach to community investment.

The lifting of Covid restrictions has allowed us to resume a full programme of activities at the  CB1 Estate in Cambridge. 

In addition to the regular meetings with residents and management, a fresh series of community events has been successfully launched.
 
Drawing on the strengths and capabilities of the wider community in Cambridge we managed to restore a programme of regular activities for parents with children and for health and wellbeing. We also hosted regular pop-up stalls during the summer.
 
Major events during the year or planned before Christmas include: 

• A picnic in the park with a Klezmer band
• A lunch in the local community allotment
• Business Forum talks and networking featuring local expert speakers
• Pop-ups alongside our Friday food park
• An outdoor film exhibition of Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’
• Wellbeing Sunday - a whole day of participatory events including Aikido, Yoga and Meditation as well as live music performances
• Relaunch of regular events in our community room
• A Christmas Party with a Santa and gifts for children

Paul worked in his Associate role for Campbell Tickell as a specialist resident engagement advisor providing strategic advice on the design of an extensive engagement exercise across the Borough.

A number of our projects this year involved carrying out community research and engagement. To ensure that Community Regen provided a high standard of research, we trained a group of 6 young community researchers who were paid to support the Earl's Court Regeneration project.
 
In Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire, a team of 14 Peer Researchers were trained to carry out surveys and facilitate focus groups to support the Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire Covid 19 Engagement project. This experience made a significant difference to the researchers who have gone on to support other research projects in the local area.
 
Community Regen delighted that some of our researchers have successfully been employed following their experience on our research projects.  To hear their stories, click on the images below.

         
 
For more information about working with Community Regen and our team of researchers email Paul at paul@communityregen.net 

Once again, this summer Community Regen in partnership with RealWorth were commissioned by the Earl’s Court Development Company (ECDC) to engage people attending the Underbelly festival over the summer.

The aim of the community research was to assess the social and economic impact that the Underbelly events had on local residents and people visiting the area. It was also an opportunity to find out people’s views, ideas and suggestions for the Earl’s Court regeneration site. 

Adding to our pool of already trained researchers, Community Regen trained and paid a group of 6 new young researchers, supporting them to successfully carry out the research. Once completed, the data was submitted to RealWorth who lead on writing the report that was submitted to ECDC.

       
         Montage of Community Regen Researchers - Training Day and at Earls Court Redevelopment Site     

Community Regen working in partnership with NatCen Social Research were commissioned by Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire Councils to carry out a piece of research to understand how people living in communities in parts of these boroughs felt and experienced the impacts of COVID-19 and establish what learning can be taken forward.

Community Regen led in recruiting, training and supporting a group of local peer researchers to carry out the survey and run a series of focus groups.

The peer research methods used when carrying out the research ensured the project was community led providing a platform for local people from minority communities to share their experience in depth.

A final report is currently being written by NatCen, which will be submitted to both Councils in the new year.

                    Montage of C19 Engagement Project - Peer Researchers  

At the start of 2022, Community Regen and Sian Penner from Community Collective were commissioned by the GLA, to provide support to equity-led organisations, through a series of pre-application workshops called ‘The Idea Camp’. This was to develop their project ideas and submissions to the Civil Society Roots 3.
 
The Civil Society Roots 3, is a grant programme for community led organisations impacted by structural inequalities, targeted at 10 London Boroughs: Bromley, Enfield, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Newham, Redbridge, Sutton, Wandsworth. 
 
Community Regen and Sian Penner from Community Collective delivered 4 workshops in each of the 10 Boroughs, each workshop was carefully designed to build connections between groups, explore how groups could work together, identify their strengths, develop their project ideas through defining their need/issue and gap, clarify priorities for the funding application and project idea and provide support on how to strengthen key aspects in their applications. 


       
         Civil Society Roots 3 Introduction Session