Welcome…

to Birmingham Community First, an online hub managed by Chamberlain Forum.  The hub is a resource, that links a range of community activities and initiatives that support the development of community resilience.

Community First Programme

An £80 Million Government Funded initiative managed by the Community Development Foundation (CDF) supporting communities to come together to identify their local priorities, plan for the future, and develop grassroots activity.The programme will be led and delivered through ward based community panels, each supported by a panel partner organisation.  On this website you can find:

• Links to individual Community Panel websites (some of them hosted here) through the ‘Blogs’ header at the top of the page
• Supporting guidance and information from CDF about the programme
• Information about local networking and information sharing events, linking community panels from across Birmingham
• Updates and information from different community panels

Communities Managing Change

The aim of Communities Managing Change is to research innovative approaches to tackling poverty and inclusion through more sustainable communities, ie communities that can manage change.  Between October 2011 and December 2012, five projects  will be undertaken to look into different aspects of community strength and resilience.  Reports on these projects will be published at intervals during the year.

You can find out more about Communities Managing Change, by following the link on the ‘blogs’ section at the top of the page.

Resident University

A peer and shared learning programme for Birmingham’s resident experts.  Previously funded by Be Birmingham, and the Big Lottery.  Resident University continues to support and deliver learning events, and is currently in the process of transferring online learning resources to the Community First website.