Birmingham VCFSE Community Cohesion Summit 2026 – Mobilising the VCFSE Into Action

On 23 February, BVSC and BRIG brought together Birmingham's Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector to develop a collective approach to tackling the community cohesion challenges facing our city.

The Summit aimed to develop a clear, collective voice from the sector, articulate the impact on citizens and mobilise the VCFSE into action.

Highlights:

Summit highlights included:

A brilliant spoken word performance to open the summit from Jasmine Gardosi
A warm welcome (and enormous pastries!) from our hosts and sponsors Birmingham City Football Club and their Foundation
Challenging insights into extremism from Small Steps
A poignant reflection on racism from BRIG
Powerful testimony on migration including from those with lived experience from Stories of Hope and Home
Sharing of experience on community response to the Manchester Arena bombings from Rishi Shori, Birmingham City Council/ Birmingham City Partnership
Meeting with and hearing from so many VCFSE and partner organisations on your views and action on Community Cohesion

Speakers:

Thanks to all of our fantastic speakers including:

Jasmine Gardosi, Birmingham Poet Laureate 2022-24
Chantel Hunter, Communities Programme Manager, Birmingham City Football Club Foundation
Nigel Bromage, Small Steps
Lorna Shaw, Interim Chief Executive, BRIG (Birmingham Race Impact Group)
Stephanie Neville, Stories of Hope and Home
Virginia Waimiru, Stories of Hope and Home
Rishi Shori, Deputy Chief Executive, Birmingham City Council / Birmingham City Partnership
Brian Carr, Chief Executive, BVSC (Birmingham Voluntary Service Council) (Event Chair and Compere)
Stephen Raybould, Director of Programmes, BVSC (Birmingham Voluntary Service Council)
Sophie Wilson, Director of BVSC Research, BVSC (Birmingham Voluntary Service Council)

Resources:

We also welcomed many VCFSE and partner organisations who promoted activities, services and resources relating to Community Cohesion. Thanks to all those who attended with a stand at the event.

Full details of resources, speakers, presentations and stallholders from the event, are now available on our BVSC VCFSE Mini Race Impact Summit (MRIS) webpages:

Click Here for Resources

Report & Next Steps:

BVSC Research led discussion groups at the summit and are compiling a full report – watch this space!

The report will be delivered to and all agreed actions will be owned by our funders, the Birmingham City Partnership Board ensuring accountability and momentum for change.

Updates- News & Events:

Please check out our BVSC news and events pages for further updates on community cohesion, race equality and migration, and sign up to our weekly ebulletin.

BRIG also provide news pages and you can sign up to BRIG's newsletter.

Further Information:

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