‘We have built before. We can do it again’
Communities of colour have always organised, built assets and created solutions to economic injustice, yet too often these histories are overlooked or forgotten. The latest report from Power to Prosper (P2P) – a three-year Runnymede Trust and New Economics Foundation project – aims to redress the balance. It uncovers stories of community organising, collective action and community wealth-building across P2P’s four hubs in Lambeth, Greater Manchester, Newham and Nottingham, writes report author Serena Robinson.
Since 2023, the nationwide Power to Prosper programme (P2P) has focused on rebalancing the power within political and economic systems, creating the conditions for everyone to thrive. Problem debt and poverty are interconnected symptoms of deeper systemic flaws: an economy curated for corporate power and wealthy elites, which entrenches profound inequalities that disproportionately harm certain groups.
The root causes of the cost-of-living crisis are embedded in these structures, demanding urgent, fundamental reform. The programme unites community organisers, researchers, campaigners and funders from Lambeth, Newham, Nottingham and Greater Manchester to redistribute power, reframe dominant narratives and co-create solutions grounded in lived experience.
The aim of our new report is to document the historic power-building, community organising and asset-owning activities in each of the areas. Through documenting past efforts, it will equip communities with knowledge of past successes to strengthen their understanding of power and asset-building. Furthermore, it reinforces the narrative of ‘we have built before, we can do it again’.
‘The economic system is designed to negatively impact communities of colour’
The new report answers the following questions:
- What are the successful avenues of community organising/other activities that have been successful in the past?
- How can we learn from them in our current and future endeavours?
It is worth noting what we mean by economic justice. The economic system is designed to negatively impact communities of colour and not consider the disproportionate harm it causes these communities. With the intersection of class, not all communities of colour are impacted equally – those who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are harder hit.
Therefore, economic justice is about power and resources being shifted back to the community. It is about systemic reform: targeting the root causes in an economy curated for the wealthy and demanding fundamental changes beyond surface fixes.
Community hubs
The historical research in the report was made possible through interviews with four hub organisations in Manchester, Lambeth, Newham and Nottingham. They are spaces where communities of colour are tackling the root causes of poverty and debt through ‘organising, leadership growth and advocacy’:
- Mama Health and Poverty, Manchester. This community organisation led by Black African women focuses on intersecting gender, race and economic justice for women and girls living in Greater Manchester.
- Loughborough Community Centre (LCC) at Max Roach, Lambeth. This community centre puts local residents at the heart of everything they do, particularly those affected by poverty.
- Money A+E, Newham. Money A+E provides money advice and education to strengthen financial resilience among Black and Brown communities.
- Himmah, Nottingham. Himmah is a grassroots organisation that combats poverty, racism and educational inequality. It also serves as a food bank for the community
P2P’s historical research across Lambeth, Greater Manchester, Newham and Nottingham uncovers a unified vision of economic justice: shifting power and resources from elite systems back to communities of colour who have long been sidelined by gentrification, unrecognised qualifications, poverty traps and low-wage economies.
Each hub’s narratives – Lambeth’s 198 Gallery asset transfer, Newham’s Money Mentors and Citizens UK Living Wage campaign, Nottingham’s cross-racial legal funds, Manchester’s Pan-African Congress – demonstrate resilient asset-building that has historically defied structural racism through coalitions, lived-experience innovation and strategic defiance.
‘A living toolkit rather than a closed chapter’
Crucially, these stories show that community wealth-building is about anti-racist and working-class organising. From Dora Boatemah’s fight for community-controlled redevelopment in Lambeth’s Angell Town to Abasindi’s Black-women-led co-operative work in Moss Side, from Newham residents shaping the Living Wage campaign to Nottingham’s legal funds and workers’ associations, the pattern is clear: when communities control space, pool resources and use their lived experience to shape demands, they can shift both material conditions and the terms of public debate.
The task now is to treat this history as a living toolkit rather than a closed chapter, investing in intergenerational knowledge transfer, protecting and expanding community assets, and creating the conditions for today’s organisers to move from survival to strategy. If policymakers, funders and institutions are serious about economic justice, they must start from this existing ecosystem of community power, work with it rather than around it and recognise that those closest to the harm have always been closest to the solutions.
The Power to Prosper: Historical Lessons from Community Organising report is out now.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Runnymede Trust.
Join the fight for racial justice: support the Runnymede Trust’s work by making a donation.
Photo: A Money A+E session © Money A+E
