Time to Change Direction
Our 10 year strategy
We have to face the truth. Despite the sweat and tears of so many amazing people, poverty in Camden has grown in the eight years we have existed, we now have the highest rate of poverty in the country.
What makes that so hard to accept is that poverty should be solvable here. Camden is one of the wealthiest places in the United Kingdom. Camden has both some of the wealthiest and poorest wards in the country. The borough supports 36,920 registered businesses, second only to Westminster, and over 13 percent of these companies turn over more than £1 million each year—higher than both London and UK norms.
Over these eight years, hundreds of people in Camden have made sure that funding reaches those who need a hand. Whether that is a young person who does not feel safe, a family with an empty fridge or a whole community that needs solidarity in a divided world, these people have stepped up.
Our donors, community panellists, researchers and grantees are the quiet heroes of Camden. When we add them up, we believe that right now around two and a half thousand people are working together on this mission. We know this is not enough. If we want to end poverty here, we need a new way of working.
We need a Camden where everyone feels they have the power and the right connections to take on injustice, together.
For a long time, we measured our success by how much money we moved into communities. Now we know it is not just about money, but about how the whole borough moves towards participatory solutions that put power back in people’s hands.
We have seen glimpses of this future already. Two friends met through our participatory grantmaking. They are different ages, different ethnicities, different genders, but now they stand side by side at community events. When they see something wrong in Camden, they know they can tackle it together. This is happening in streets and halls across our borough.
Another young man came to one of our grantmaking panels after he had experienced grooming. His voice was not being heard through the criminal conviction system. But here, his voice mattered. He sat at a table and decided where money should go to make our community stronger. That gave him a sense of power when he needed it most. It helps him rebuild his life, and it helps Camden too. We need him and people like him to shape the future of this place.
This is what community power looks like. It is neighbours becoming allies. It is people using their own stories and skills to fight injustice and end poverty, together.
Our vision is clear. We want Camden to be a place where every person has the connections, resources and power to tackle inequality. We want every street, every estate, every community hall to be alive with people who know they can make change happen.
To hold ourselves to this promise, we will publish a State of Participation Report every two years. This will tell us how well we are doing. It will measure whether our borough is truly moving towards a future where everyone has the power to act.
This is not easy work. But Camden is full of people ready to stand up for each other. If we can build more connections and share more power, we can turn those small sparks of hope into real change.
It is time to change tack. And this time, we do it together.
To read more about our 10 year strategy, click here.