Community Development Practice Hub

The Community Development Practice Hub is a resource for people and organisations who ‘work with’ people in Birmingham, supporting them to take collective action to make changes to things that are important to them and their communities. It aims to connect, inspire and upskill community development practitioners across Birmingham.

The hub is funded by Birmingham City Council, led by BVSC and supported by Thrive Together Birmingham.

Come join us on this exciting journey, as we collaborate with the sector to offer a tailored approach with a focus on Birmingham-specific learning, challenges, and achievements.

Community based responses to Covid-19 in Birmingham: Insights and experiences

BVSC Research & Birmingham City University, School of Social Sciences

Authors: Sophie Wilson, André Castro Bilbrough and Kusminder Chahal

Published 2021

Summary

Covid-19 has been described as “a significant macro event which destabilises and creates a sense of generalised crisis in all fields across whole societies” (Macmillan, 2020). A year in, it has demonstrated the importance of viewing society as a highly interdependent and connected ‘eco-system’ (Goss, July 2020). A Local Government Survey (cited in Locality, June 2020a) found that 95% of Council Chief Executive Officers believed the contribution of voluntary and community groups was ‘very significant’ or ‘significant’. The response of individuals and communities operating at a hyper-local level, stepping into the spaces where immediate needs have been left un-met by statutory providers (Locality, July 2020b) was organised with remarkable speed and agility.

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the landscape and space across which the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector works. This was a sector already under strain, facing its own fight for survival, with 93% of respondents to one survey predicting a reduction in income and 25% fearing that they will not go beyond 2020 (Pro-Bono Economics, Civil Society weekly tracking survey, 16-17 June, 2020).

The contributions made by the VCFSE sector were immediate in the pandemic but there was recognition of the precarious situation the sector operates in. There are currently 2,648 registered charities (Charity Commission, 2017-2018 figures) in Birmingham, with countless more national and regional charities operating within the city.

This research wanted to evidence how some of the community-based charities responded to the crisis in the early part of the pandemic in Birmingham.

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