Following the 2024 UK Racist Riots, SARI and Voscur partnered to respond to Bristol City Council’s request to develop community-based strategies to prevent disorder and promote social cohesion with a series of community forums.
The community forums were held at community venues across Bristol and online, and engaged 176 attendees from 60 different VCSE organisations across the six events. They were:
- June 2025:Disunited Kingdom – Bringing communities together to set the scene and understand what’s behind the issues
- October 2025: From Challenge to Change – How to build resilience and inclusion in Bristol’s neighbourhoods
- November 2025: Navigating difficult conversations and building community cohesion
- January 2026: Using community-focused strategies to tackle racist violence and hate incidents for improved cohesion and wellbeing
- February 2026: Tackling Islamophobia and supporting communities
- March 2026: Tackling Inequality – Race, class and the importance of allyship
Several participants noted that the discussions had broadened their perspective and helped them to think differently and see other points of view, and many were keen to connect with the organisations they met to further the conversation outside the event and provide mutual support. One participant provided the following feedback,
“It was great to be in a space with such a diverse group of professionals/community leaders with different skillsets but a common goal.”
Community Resource Pack
A substantial bank of resources and information was developed throughout the sessions, which we have collated into a ‘community resource pack’.
The community resource pack is designed as a practical guide and incorporates the wealth of ideas and content from the forums. It aims to support community organisations to foster inclusion and respond effectively to hate crimes and incidents. This will help ensure that the VCSE sector is better equipped to respond to potential future incidents and help advance social justice work in complex, ever-changing times.
We thank all those who attended and facilitated our sessions; contributed to the creation the community resource pack; and supported us in any way to tackle racist violence and hate crime.
Link to resource pack coming soon…
