An update on our public and community partnerships funding award

Congratulations to the following local authorities and their partners:

• Barnet Council and Inclusion Unlimited

• Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Voluntary Service Council

• Bracknell Forest Borough Council

• Braintree District Council, Essex County Council, and Healthwatch Essex

• Brent Council

• Brighton and Hove City Council, The Hangleton & Knoll Project, and Trust for Developing Communities

• Calderdale Borough Council, Davren Community Solutions, and Ideas Alliance

• Cambridge City Council, Cambridge County Council, Cambridge United Foundation, and Health Equalities Research Network

• City of York Council 

• Durham County Council, Durham Community Action, and Tow Law Community Association

• Gloucestershire County Council and Age UK Gloucestershire

• Hackney Council and City of London Council 

• Hartlepool Borough Council, Teesside University, and Hartlepool Community Trust

• Havering Council and Havering Accord

• Leeds City Council, Hamara Healthy Living Ltd, and Sri Guru Sikh Temple

• Lincolnshire County Council, Lincolnshire Voluntary Engagement Team, and University of Lincolnshire

• Luton Borough Council

• Newham Council

• Northumberland County Council

• Slough Borough Council and Together as One, Aik Saath

• Stockport Borough Council, Sector 3, and Skylight

• Stoke on Trent City Council

• Waltham Forest Council and Project Zero Waltham Forest

• Warrington Borough Council, Warrington Voluntary Action, and Liverpool Hope University

• West Sussex County Council

• Westmoreland and Furness Council, HDRC Cumberland, People First Independent Advocacy

• Wirral Borough Council, Make It Happen Birkenhead, and One Wirral CIC

• Wolverhampton City Council and University of Wolverhampton

• Worcestershire County Council, Worcester Mela, and Democracia84 

Project activities include:

• Early conversations and initial relationship building

• Working with peer/community researchers and research champions

• Co-designing involvement approaches

• Developing toolkits and resources 

Thank you to the funding panel, including 3 of our public contributors, and representatives from the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA). 

In September 2025, we awarded funding to 2 pilots, Kent County Council (KCC) and Lancashire County Council (LCC). 

KCC are using their pilot funding to deliver 'From Recovery to Research: A Peer-Led Public Health Initiative'. People with lived experience of substance misuse, and the often interconnected challenges of criminal justice involvement, homelessness, and social exclusion, are consistently underrepresented in public health research. This lack of representation leads to research that frequently overlooks the realities, needs, and strengths of these communities. They will work in partnership with Reach Out and Recover to lose this gap by empowering those best positioned to make a difference: frontline workers and volunteers who all have lived experience. By equipping frontline staff and volunteers with public health research knowledge and skills, we will strengthen their ability to identify needs, influence service design, and drive meaningful, community-led change - ultimately helping to close the gap in support for people affected by addiction.

LCC are using their pilot funding to deliver 'Community Research Catalyst: developing involvement in public health research in the heart of communities in Nelson, Pendle (Lancashire)'. Nelson, in Pendle, Lancashire, is one of the few UK towns where the Asian population forms the majority. Despite its rich cultural identity, the area faces significant deprivation and minoritisation, through persistent barriers to accessing services, particularly linguistic, cultural, and social. Health research often fails to engage meaningfully with this community, relying on sanctioned representatives or missing the community altogether. Building trust and access requires sustained, culturally sensitive engagement. LCC aims to address this gap by piloting a Community Research Catalyst Project. This initiative will support women from minority backgrounds in Nelson to build confidence and capacity to participate in public health research.