Groundwork Community Enablers

Community Enablers create projects that respond to local need, so the projects they manage can be a diverse as the Volunteer Mick and Groundwork Community Enabler Jamie at the Fancy a Brew project communities they serve. Our Enablers are running community food growing projects, providing environmental education in schools, running projects to protect local biodiversity and green spaces, setting up friends of groups to develop parks and playgrounds, tackling loneliness with projects that cross generational gaps and much more besides. Wherever possible, the common thread is that they work to ensure these projects give local people the skills and confidence to sustain the project themselves in the long term.

Enablers help groups to access funding, such as grant schemes, to make their projects a reality. Many of the people we work with are new to making funding applications, so our teams are skilled at giving them the support they need. This also means they play a key role in the success of grant schemes that Groundwork manages, ensuring that the money reaches groups that other schemes can’t.

Featured projects

Silver Linings

Silver Linings uses a craft club to reduce social isolation in the over 50s. The material they create are donated to support local charities.

Grow @theGrange

Groundwork manages the @theGrange centre in Blackpool. It's a vital hub in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK.

IMPACT Bristol

IMPACT helps refugees and non-EU migrants connect with and thrive in their communities. Activities focus on language, preparation for work and cultural understanding.

Why it matters

Locally led community organisations play a vital part role in creating thriving communities. Their local knowledge and connections can be the deciding factor in whether project succeeds or vital resources reach the correct people.

Areas that lack grassroots community groups have worse outcomes for health, higher levels of social isolation, lower quality of life and fewer employment opportunities and skills – even when compared to other deprived neighbourhoods. These areas also have fewer people with the right tools and skills or social connections needed to create these groups. Many places also lack the decent physical infrastructure, like community buildings and green spaces, to sustain them.

The challenge in numbers

We were told by
89%
of community groups that their services have never been more needed.

But more than
50%
say it's got harder to operate in the last 10 years

More than
75%
of people feel like they can have no influence on what happens in their local area.

Partner with us to create strong and sustainable communities

A track record of success
Groundwork had been supporting communities since 1981, so we have extensive experience in developing effective partnerships, networks, organisations and local leadership and engaging and communicating with a wide cross-section of the community.

Local knowledge and national reach
Our teams are on the ground across the UK, giving them valuable local insights with the ability to deliver at a national scale.

Established experts
Our staff are established in communities as trusted hubs for networks and local partners allowing them to quickly create projects that reach the right people and have more impact.

An investment that is more than the sum of its parts
Groundwork’s holistic approach means that projects almost always have multiple social and environmental benefits. Our projects tackle climate change at the same time as building community spirit, we help young people into work while creating greener communities and tackle social isolation with projects that recycle unwanted goods to help those in poverty.

Partner with us