Community Development Practice Hub

The Community Development Practice Hub is a resource for people and organisations who ‘work with’ people in Birmingham, supporting them to take collective action to make changes to things that are important to them and their communities. It aims to connect, inspire and upskill community development practitioners across Birmingham.

The hub is funded by Birmingham City Council, led by BVSC and supported by Thrive Together Birmingham.

Come join us on this exciting journey, as we collaborate with the sector to offer a tailored approach with a focus on Birmingham-specific learning, challenges, and achievements.

About

What: The Community Development Practice Hub aims to develop creative ways for people to be actively involved in their local communities, to connect, inspire and upskill community development practitioners in Birmingham and to test and learn from new approaches to designing services which aim to make people’s lives healthier and happier. The hub advocates for a practice of community development in the city that focuses on 'doing with', not 'doing to'. It provides opportunities for professional development, peer support, networking, and more support to enable strengths-based approaches to community development. It works with practitioners in paid or volunteering roles, which might be called Community Enablers, Connectors, Helpers, Builders, Guides, Networkers, Liaison or Development Workers.

Why: Community development happens in communities across Birmingham, with practitioners predominantly located within the voluntary and community sector. There is little specialist support or training to articulate or define what intentional community development practice looks like and few opportunities to develop practitioner skills and networks. The hub aims to address some of these needs.

Who: The Community Development Practice Hub was developed by Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) and an advisory board of community development practitioners. We'd like to thank them for giving their time and experience to support the development of the hub; Paul Wright, Open Door Community Foundation; Jo Bagby, Thrive Together; Rashta Butt, St Margaret’s Community Trust; Maria Hughes, Birmingham LGBT; Carol Hebden; The Outcomes Unit; Conrad Parkes; CLES; and Miriam Aslam. It is funded by Birmingham City Council until March 2026.

Since its formation, the hub has developed and is actively supported by Thrive Together Birmingham. Thrive lead the Community Treasure initiative, which focuses on identifying, supporting, and connecting the individuals who are actively building community in their neighbourhoods – finding and sharing the "treasure" that exists within Birmingham's communities.

BVSC leads the Community Development Practice Hub, providing a strategic infrastructure that:

Creates a formal connection between community-level activity and city-wide strategic partners
Provides a platform to systematically capture and share stories from Community Treasure
Influences policy, resource allocation, and city planning by demonstrating the value and impact of community building
Engages senior leaders, policymakers, and system stakeholders who can become allies to the community building movement

Throughout 2025, the hub and Community Treasure will be delivering a range of activities that support community building in Birmingham. You can get in touch with the hub by emailing [email protected].

Latest

West Midlands Multibank Reaches One Million Milestone to Help Families in Need

One million essential items have been distributed to families in need across the region through the West Midlands Multibank since the project was launched just over a year ago. The milestone was celebrated by BVSC, who oversee the West Midlands Multibank alongside funders Comic Relief and Sport Relief. The West Midlands Multibank receives donations from businesses such as Amazon to distribute to a network of over 200 community partners who then distribute them to families most in need.
CYP Preventative and Early Mental & Emotional Help - External Stakeholders Engagement

Early Help Mental Health Services provide voluntary, preventative support for children, young people, and families facing challenges to prevent future escalations into secondary care mental health services. The way our young people want to access support, and their needs have changed a lot over the last 10 years. We are reviewing our services to ensure we deliver them effectively and to check if our current delivery model meeting patient needs.
Letters, Promises and Belonging: The Children Of Windrush
Birmingham Windrush Service of Commemoration, Thanksgiving and Celebration

The service will include contributions from clergy, community leaders, and the Birmingham Windrush Celebration Legacy Choir.

Building Belonging: Liz Fossey Leads the Way for Over 50s in Northfield

After moving from a close-knit community in Devon to Northfield in 2010, Liz struggled to find the same sense of belonging, especially after the loss of her husband. Lockdown unexpectedly reconnected her with people through online groups, and later volunteering at the Northfield Arts Forum Café helped her build new friendships and rediscover a vibrant sense of community. In turn, this led Liz to a new role within the Northfield Neighbourhood Network Scheme, as volunteer Over 50s champion.
Exploring space and place: new arts project connecting people in Northfield

In Northfield, the Redeemer Church’s arts and wellbeing programme sparked the Space and Place Project, blending creativity with geography to explore how places shape identity and memory. Over six weeks, participants of all ages shared food, stories, and artistic expression, creating personal artworks inspired by locations ranging from Barcelona to Oddingley Hall. The project fostered confidence, connection, and new friendships, showing the power of creativity to bring people together.
Bringing the community together through sewing: Donna’s story

At Oddingley Hall in West Heath, a small but vibrant community project is making a big impact. Thanks to a Microgrant from the Community Development Practice Hub, Donna Wells (Crafty Queen) has been able to share her sewing skills with others, bringing people together, tackling isolation, and creating a space where creativity and friendship can thrive.
Robert Netherway - Lunchtime Talk

Our series of lunchtime talks that explores the role of community development practitioners, and how they approach working with communities, kicked off with Rob Netherway on 28th September
Hub launch event

The Community Development Practice Hub launch took place online, 3rd September 2021. With speakers Jo Bagby & Carol Hebden of JJ Consulting, and Cormac Russell, Nurture Development.
Introduction to Reflective Practice

Reflective Practice is a method of assessing your own thoughts and actions, for the purpose of learning and personal development.
Birmingham Community Development Network

An online space for anyone in a paid or voluntary role, who enable communities to take collective action to make changes to the things that matter to them.

Crisis and Resilience Fund

Help for Birmingham households experiencing financial hardship is being developed as part of Birmingham’s Crisis and Resilience Fund (previously known as Household Support Fund/ Hardship Grant Community Fund) programme.
Become a volunteer

Volunteering involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that is of benefit to others or the environment. Find out how you can get involved in volunteering in Birmingham.
The Weather Model

This model uses the weather as a metaphor for different elements of reflective practice.
What we do

BVSC aims to support a vibrant and resilient sector which in turn ensures that people from across the city feel included and engaged and have access to appropriate support from people who understand the issues and challenges they face.
Join BVSC

There are several ways that you can engage with BVSC to stay informed, grow your organisation and connect with others.
Neighbourhood Network Schemes in Birmingham

The aim of Neighbourhood Network Schemes (known as NNS) in Birmingham is to help older adults in Birmingham to lead healthy, happy and independent lives in their own homes and communities.
Funding

Find out how BVSC can help you with fundraising
Compliments, Comments and Complaints Process

At BVSC we strive to provide our customers with the best service possible. We know that some of the best ideas come from people outside of our organisation and we therefore welcome feedback at every level to help us continuously improve what we do. This means that we want to hear from you when things go well, and when things could have gone better.
Quality Standards
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