Repository
A curated and searchable collection of community-related research reports, case studies and publications
We can’t actually be a pub we can only be ‘more than’ a pub: The Bevy in lockdown
Published: 2020
‘We can’t actually be a pub, we can only be ‘more than’ a pub: The Bevy in lockdown’ tells the story the experiences of members of the team at The Bevy, a community pub in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean in Brighton, as they dealt with the emotional and practical challenges during eight weeks of the Covid-19 lockdown between April and June …
Working with your MP
Published: 2020
Across the country, Big Local partnerships offer insight into how communities can engage with their MPs.We know many have a good relationship with their local MP, but nearly half haven’t engaged with theirs at all.
This toolkit gives an overview of some of the ways that you can engage with your local MP and provides real life examples of how…
Community Pubs: A better form of business – 2020
Published: 2020
This state of the sector report from the Plunkett Foundation, funded by Power to Change, shows community pubs thriving and making a significant contribution to community development. In 2019: The community pub sector grew by 19% with 19 new pubs opening during the year 119 known community pubs in total were trading across the UK at the end of 2…
Community Shops: A better form of business – 2020
Published: 2020
This state of the sector report from the Plunkett Foundation, funded by Power to Change, shows community shops thriving and making a significant contribution to community development. In 2019: 12 new shops opened 372 community shops were trading in the UK by the end of the year The total share capital raised from their communities by newly open…
Community-managed libraries as community hubs
Published: 2020
The Community Managed Libraries National Peer Network conducted a small study into community managed libraries (CMLs) as community hubs. This report considers the wide range of services and activities currently offered by CMLs and looks at how well positioned CMLs are to turn themselves into community hubs. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and res…
Growing Community Businesses – An interim evaluation of Bright Ideas, the Community Business Fund and Trade Up
Published: 2020
Power to Change commissioned Renaisi in April 2019 to evaluate three programmes: Bright Ideas, Trade Up and the Community Business Fund. The overall aim of the evaluation is to help Power to Change draw lessons about the impact of the funding, and to measure whether the three funds have met their aims to: (i) understand the impact of Power to C…
Measuring the impact of community businesses at neighbourhood level
Published: 2020
Power to Change commissioned Kantar in 2019 to conduct a ‘hyperlocal’ version of the national Community Life Survey (CLS) in six operational areas centred around community businesses supported by Power to Change. Each area has a mean average population 1,500 people. The ‘hyperlocal’ design builds on studies conducted in 2017 and 2018 wh…
National CLT Network – State of the Sector 2020
Published: 2020
A summary of current state of the community land trust sector in England and Wales. The data used to compile this report is taken from the Community Led Homes database, the most comprehensive dataset on the sector, and is sourced from community-led housing groups, enabler hubs and funders.
Peer Research in the UK
Published: 2020
This report takes an in-depth look at the use of peer research in the UK today, providing a comprehensive introduction to the methodology and advocating for its value as a legitimate and insightful research approach. The report covers:
The definition of peer research as a methodology and a discussion of its many advantages.
A…
Rapid research COVID-19 Briefing #6: Stepping up and helping out: grassroots volunteering in response to COVID-19
Published: 2020
In Briefing 5, Volunteering through crisis and beyond: starting, stopping and shifting, we provided an overview of literature on volunteering. It ended with a question: would all those who have stepped up in their communities call themselves volunteers?
Our current research into community responses to COVID-19 across 26 areas of England offers…
Researching community responses to COVID-19: a methodological note
Published: 2020
Local Trust commissioned a team of researchers, led by the Third Sector Research Centre, to undertake a study exploring how communities react to, cope with and recover from COVID-19. The aim of the study is to learn, in real time, how different communities have and are responding to the impact of COVID-19, how they make this happen and how they…
Think Big, Act Small: Elinor Ostrom’s Radical Vision for Community Power
Published: 2020
Elinor Ostrom is the intellectual hero of the community power movement. She humanised the study of economics and politics and discovered what is possible, and the problems that can be solved, when we trust each other. In this new piece of work, New Local’s Dr Simon Kaye explores her ideas, and presents their lessons for the UK today.