We help people embrace their power and agency, supporting them to develop the skills, relationships and knowledge they need to drive change themselves—because lasting solutions and a fairer future can only come when communities are at the heart of shaping them.
But we don’t stop there.
We want to get at the root causes of the most difficult problems—not just treat the symptoms. So we work intensively with systems and services like the NHS and local authorities to understand issues together, shift power and solve the real problem, for good.
Choose from this list to jump to each project:
Coventry Youth Activists
Community Centre of the Future
Go Willenhall Partnership
Coventry Grows
Walks and talks
Ideas factories and Collaboration Stations
Coventry Youth Activists
A campaign group changing young people’s lives in Coventry. CYA members decide on the issues that matter to them and set about making things better for themselves and others.
Read about their campaigns, Playbook, Ally Pack and team members here.
Community Centre of the Future
The ‘Community Centre of the Future’ project explores Canley’s shared spaces and is funded by the University of Warwick, which is local to this area of Coventry.
Grapevine leads this community facilitation project—learning what Canley residents truly need and want from shared spaces in their community, and navigating beyond traditional consultation or predefined answers.
We aim to reframe the conversation; focusing on community listening, creativity and co-production to reimagine the use and future of Canley’s communal assets.
Go Willenhall Partnership
Grapevine’s role in the Go Willenhall Partnership, funded by CV Life, is to foster a sense of community ownership and pride in Willenhall by centring decision-making power with local residents. Partnerships will play a central role in this initiative’s success.
During this phase of the project, we are using listening activities to surface health and access needs as we focus on building a deeper understanding of the area. We are also identifying local leaders who could drive change for people living there.
Coventry Grows
Through Coventry’s Strategic Energy Partnership, E.ON has provided funding to Coventry City Council to create community growing spaces in the city.
The project is in partnership with E.ON, Grapevine, Garden Organic and Citizen and will create up to three new community growing spaces within some of the most green deprived parts of Coventry – including Stoke Heath and Hillfields.
Our previous community organising work with Coventry Urban Eden and Roots In Nature – both community-led initiatives supported by our Connecting for Good movement against isolation and marginalisation – has led to our involvement in Coventry Grows, helping communities take ownership of “unloved” pieces of land towards a greener future and taking into account how climate change has a greater effect on more deprived populations.
Walks and talks
Walks and Talks are a story-telling technique that involves having a conversation while walking somewhere. But in our case we share stories, watch performances, listen to ideas, feel inspired and spark change. It’s a chance to bring services, systems and communities together to get at the root of a problem.
Ideas factories and Collaboration Stations
Ideas Factories and Collaboration Stations are two activities through which we co-create innovative actions and solutions, building the capacity for change from all sectors and communities. Contact us to find out more.
