Steve is a Senior Community Organiser. Over the past 14 years he has engaged with thousands of people and supported residents to form over 150 action groups. He is the Chairperson and Community Programme Director at Sneinton Alchemy CIC, a local organising and enterprise hub. Steve also works with Nottinghamshire County Council on the Community Friendly Nottinghamshire (CFN) Programme. CFN’s focus is on helping communities come together to act on shared visions, enhancing neighbourhoods, and overcoming concerns.
Siân is a community organiser at Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire. She works across Connecting For Good: a movement to combat isolation and marginalisation in Coventry. This includes work to combat air pollution and creating spaces of belonging in city centre businesses. Her favourite thing about the work is seeing first-hand the power of community organising: the strength of building communities to win long-lasting and sustainable change from the ground up.
Rakesh started out volunteering with Greenpeace and co-ordinating the Newcastle Greenpeace group. As local campaigns against fossil fuel exploration became more prominent, he got involved leaving behind his Greenpeace role. He continues to organise in the North East supporting local groups to campaign on issues that they care about.
Jess is a community development worker for a resident-led group in Wales' third largest estate. She organises voluntary groups, clubs, and residents to bring their visions for their community to life. This includes an asset-based community development approach to challenge systemic inequalities around poverty, education, and access to services. She also volunteers as a trustee for Caban Pentra (community-school project) and as a director for Ynni Padarn Peris community hydro scheme. Jess cares about making a future where we live in balance with each other and the planet
Jamie has been a community worker for over 20 years. His passion is promoting the power of lived experience within social change. With over 20 years in recovery from his own journey through addiction, homelessness, and challenging mental health he founded Staywell Derby in 2020. This is a lived-experience-led community wellbeing group in Derby City.
Faiza's background is in community organising. She began working in her late teens on local campaigns around access to education for marginalised communities, housing, gender and racial equity. Since then, Faiza has worked for Barnardo's, Oxfam and the Anti-Tribalism Movement, where she delivered youth leadership and innovation programmes. Faiza currently works at Comic Relief. Here she works with partners who are supporting young people at risk of violence, increasing access to funding for marginalised social entrepreneurs, and leveraging the power of popular culture for social change around racial justice and migration.
Emily began her career working as a project manager in international development, but moved back to the UK to work closer to home (both geographically and personally) at working class youth leadership organisation RECLAIM where she led on fundraising, strategy and evaluation. Following some time spent freelancing, she is now a Relationship Manager at a small grant making philanthropy, supporting organisations across Greater Manchester with a particular focus on social justice, migration and the environment.
Alex is the Employability Programme Manager at the Sutton Trust; an educational charity aiming to improve social mobility and address educational disadvantage. She was named one of the Top 150 Future Leaders in the United Kingdom of African and Caribbean descent for 2019/2020, recognised for her work in Widening Participation and youth mentorship. Alex is also a spoken word poet and has performed at places including the British Museum and Chatham House.
