We Have Built Before. We Can Do It Again: Historical Lessons from Community Organising
Communities of colour have always organised, built assets and created solutions to economic injustice. Yet too often these histories are overlooked or forgotten.
Our latest report uncovers stories of community organising, collective action and community wealth-building across Power to Prosper’s four hubs in Lambeth, Greater Manchester, Newham and Nottingham. Together, they show that communities experiencing poverty, debt and economic exclusion have never been passive recipients of change. They have built institutions, won campaigns, secured community assets and created lasting change.
Learning From Our History
Produced as part of Power to Prosper, the report explores what today’s movements can learn from generations of organisers who challenged structural racism, economic exclusion and inequality.
Drawing on oral histories, archival research and conversations with community leaders, it documents how communities have built power by organising together, developing leaders, pooling resources and holding decision-makers to account.
Communities That Changed History
Across every location, the same lesson emerges: lasting economic justice requires shifting power into the hands of communities.
From Dora Boatemah’s campaign for community-controlled redevelopment in Brixton, to the Abasindi Co-operative’s work building economic self-sufficiency in Manchester, Newham residents organising for the Living Wage and Olympic legacy, and Nottingham communities creating legal defence funds and fighting for employment rights, history shows that collective action can transform communities.
The Power of Solidarity
Many of the campaigns documented succeeded because communities built alliances across neighbourhoods, organisations and movements, recognising that lasting change is built collectively rather than individually.
The report argues that remembering these histories is itself an act of power. When communities understand how previous generations organised and won change, they inherit not only inspiration, but practical strategies for the future.
Building the Future Together
As Power to Prosper continues working with communities to tackle the root causes of poverty, debt and inequality, these histories remind us that community power already exists.
The challenge now is to invest in it, strengthen it and build on the foundations that previous generations have already laid.
Our task is to strengthen it, invest in it, and build on the foundations laid by those who came before us.”
