Resource Centre AGM 2024

  • Group photo from the Resource Centre AGM 2024

Our Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday October 23rd.

We were happy to welcome 29 representatives of 21 different member groups.

The meeting approved our 2023-24 Accounts and elected our Management Committee for the coming year:

  • Ahmad Yabroudi (Sussex Syrian Community CIO)
  • Aisha El-Turki (Alnoure Academy)
  • Awel Harun Abdo (Oromo Community in Brighton and Hove)
  • Christine El-Shabba (Robert Lodge Community Space)
  • Emma Salcombe (Essex Place Residents’ Association)
  • Jonathan White (On Your Way Job Club and Digital Inclusion)
  • Kaddy Jammeh (Brighton & Hove First Ladies)
  • Muriel Briault (North Portslade Residents’ Association)
  • Robin Berry (Coldean Residents’ Association)

The Resource Centre staff team presented a report, reflecting on the work of the Centre and our user groups in 2023-24:

Community groups – a place of purpose and belonging

2023 was a tough year for many of the groups and people we met at the Centre. The cost of living crisis was really biting and everyone was struggling to cover the cost of food, fuel and housing.

The amount of funding available for community groups on the front line was not keeping pace with the continuing need for the work you do.

Nevertheless, hundreds of small community groups kept going, and kept their members going, with practical and emotional connections and help.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, 584 different groups used the Resource Centre.

We looked through the list of user groups for the year, and found that:

  • 36 were directly providing people with the things they need to stay alive: food or housing—that includes 24 food and homelessness projects all across the city
  • 56 groups were about keeping our shared spaces up and running—15 community buildings, 13 environmental projects and 28 groups enabling access to green space in parks and nature
  • 90 were focused on activities for children, including 55 of the city’s schools
  • 104 groups were about giving people a voice and a space to reflect their shared beliefs—26 faith organisations and 78 campaigning and advocacy groups
  • 123 groups were about nurturing wellbeing in all its forms—sport, health services, arts and culture
  • The biggest section, though, was the 142 groups that just exist to bring people together—whether that’s in the form of a neighbourhood residents’ association, a support group for people with a shared experience, or a street party, Resource Centre user groups make it possible for all kinds of people to find each other and offer some mutual support.

One of the themes that comes up again and again when we are doing fundraising work with groups of people who are migrants to the UK is the idea that the group acts like an extended family for its members.

For people who have been forced to leave their home country and settle in the UK, without family members nearby, community groups can be a way of meeting that important human need for connection and help when the inevitable troubles of life turn up.

In fact, we think that is true for all community groups. People working together in food banks, school PTAs, friends of parks groups, football teams and theatre companies are all creating the sense of connection and shared purpose that we all need.

Some of you might remember Rose, who used to work with us at the Resource Centre. In 2023 she finished her PhD, which was about how grassroots community groups responded to the Covid pandemic.

Her research found that small community groups were better than larger organisations at understanding what people needed and acting quickly to meet those needs. Not a big surprise to any of us!

Rose found that when groups had enough resources, they were able to use their knowledge and skills to meet the needs of their communities, but when funding was tied to the priorities of funders or local authorities, this could sometimes get in the way.

Finally, she found that being in a community group helped to meet the needs of the group volunteers, as well as the people they were helping. It gave them a sense of purpose and belonging.

But—again, as we all know—being in a community group can be exhausting if there is not enough backup and support for you.

That’s where the Resource Centre comes in! We know how vital the work you are doing is, both for you and for the members of your communities. And we know how draining it can be when the resources and support are not there to back you up.

As long as we can continue to get the funding we need to keep going, we will continue to be there to support you, and the hundreds of other community groups in the city.

Thank you for everything you’re doing, and do call on us when you need a hand.