Repository
A curated and searchable collection of community-related research reports, case studies and publications
Stronger than anyone thought: Communities responding to COVID-19
Published: 2020
In the context of COVID-19 and public health-related lockdown measures, Local Trust commissioned a study examining how communities react to, cope with and recover from major crises. The study started in April 2020 and the first two phases are due to conclude in June 2021. It presents a unique opportunity to gain grounded insight into commu…
The Community Asset Transfer of Leisure Facilities in the UK: A Review and Research Agenda
Published: 2020
This paper reviews recent work on community asset transfers (CAT): a transfer of management of facilities from the public sector to the third sector, largely led by volunteers. The review focusses on leisure facilities due to their non-statutory nature, making them more vulnerable to public spending cuts. The experience of CATs is reviewed, inc…
The impact of community businesses on people
Published: 2020
As part of our commitment to evidencing the impact of Power to Change and the community businesses we support, we aim to regularly produce evidence reviews. Our latest research report brings together our evidence base about the impact of community businesses on the people they work with and support. This report is not just about the response to…
Below the radar: Exploring grants data for grassroots organisations
Published: 2020
This research focuses on a group of community organisations that often get overlooked, and yet play a crucial role in bringing people together in local communities, frequently providing activities and services that others don’t. Its principal aim is to explore how this knowledge and evidence gap can be reduced and how better data can provide …
Community Business Market Survey 2020: Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
Published: 2020
This report is the first of two to be published around the 2020 annual Community Business Market Survey data. These research findings are based on questions relating to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the 2020 iteration of Power to Change’s annual Community Business Market survey. This paper provides top-level findings about the impact…
Empowering Places – Interim Evaluation Report
Published: 2020
The Empowering Places programme aims to build more resilient communities by catalysing and nurturing community businesses to provide benefits and opportunities for local people. The programme funds locally rooted ‘catalyst’ organisations in six places – Wigan; Leicester; Bradford; Plymouth; Grimsby; Hartlepool – to help empower communit…
Empowering Places: A report for Power to Change, using data from the Thriving Places Index
Published: 2020
In this report, The Centre for Thriving Places uses the Thriving Places Index (TPI) to look at the conditions that support wellbeing, enabling communities to thrive fairly and sustainably, in six Local Authority areas: Hartlepool, North East Lincolnshire, Leicester, Plymouth, Wigan, Bradford. Looking across the headline elements of Local Condit…
Homes in Community Hands – Baseline Evaluation Report
Published: 2020
Power to Change’s Homes in Community Hands (HCH) programme provides grants to help build and refurbish affordable housing. Specifically, the programme is supporting the development of community-led housing (CLH) in England and has been allocated £7.6 million to do this. Between 2016 to 2018 £1.8 million in grants was disbursed in a vanguard…
Rapid Research COVID-19 Briefing #4: Blending formal and informal community responses
Published: 2020
In Briefing 3: Grassroots Action, Rob Macmillan explored the literature on the value of informal community activity in conditions of crisis. This included a classification of responses (Whittaker et al, 2015) from established crisis response organisations to expanding organisations meeting the demands of the moment as well as extending organisa…
Community Businesses in the North of England 2020: New comparative analysis from the Third Sector Trends study
Published: 2020
This report compares the activities of local community businesses with those of other types of third sector organisation (TSOs) in the North of England. The report draws upon findings from the longitudinal Third Sector Trends study, which was most recently run again in 2019. Within the report, 2019 findings about community businesses are compar…
Left Behind areas 2020 – Interim Set
Published: 2020
A Community Needs Index was developed to identify areas experiencing these second set of challenges by combining a series of indicators, conceptualised under three domains:
Social Infrastructure: Measures of the presence of key community, civic, educational and cultural assets in and in close proximity to the area.
Connectedness: Measures o…
Rapid Research COVID-19 Briefing #3: Grassroots action – the role of informal community activity in responding to crises
Published: 2020
The establishment of COVID-19 mutual aid groups at community level has been a remarkable and praised feature of the first few months of the coronavirus crisis. Yet little is so far known about how they formed, how they work, and what role they play. This briefing examines some of the literature on the value of informal community activity- espec…