OUR MISSION
We exist because communities are typically denied any structural decision-making power about what happens in their community and because funding structures tend to accidentally disadvantage those people most on the margins. We want to build new models of community decision-making and change the way the money flows to support this. The Gateshead Community Bridgebuilders use their community connections, their lived experience and their insight to make good things happen locally.
What we’ve learnt so far is that many local people don’t feel they deserve to play any role in making decisions, because they are not a professional or an expert. They have been told again and again that ‘people like them’ aren’t the decision-makers, so they have come to internalise that message. Our mission is to change that by supporting local people to have the opportunities and to develop the skills and confidence to engage in making decisions that are going to improve their lives now and in the future.
OUR PROJECTS
Through listening deeply to their respective communities, and supported financially and relationally by the Lankelly Chase Foundation, below are the initiatives that Bridgebuilders have chosen to start so far.
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THE LANGUAGE PROJECT
Lead: Zahra
We have established a community support group for newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers, tackling the issue of language justice where refugees and asylum seekers are denied funding to access English language support in their first six months in country. This work provides peer support and community, access to English language education, and cultural integration support. This work is at the point of evolving into something more to tackle the deeper issues of the ‘hostile environment’ refugees and asylum seekers face.
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Teams and Dunston Alive
Lead: Christine
We’ve been running an inquiry exploring devolved decision-making on a community level. In this work, a pot of funding is made available to the communities of Teams and Dunston and, through a facilitated process, the community decides what it wanted to invest in to benefit the area.
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NEDES/Saturday School
Lead: Hakan
We’ve funded the expansion of a Saturday School for the children of asylum seekers and refugees, where they can get supplementary schooling to bolster what they are learning in mainstream education as well as learning about, sharing and celebrating their cultures.
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Peer support groups
Lead: Rich
We’ve set up three groups, one focusing on asylum seekers and refugees, one on mental health, and one on young people. These peer-led groups focus on the experiences and barriers people are facing. There are currently 26 engaged participants in these groups. The onus is on ‘taking things slow, and letting them grow’, so we prioritise working relationally and building trust. The groups meet most weeks, sometimes simply to run fun activities and support one another, and other times to hold discussion spaces that aim to uncover intractable, difficult to see issues and patterns that can act as barriers to a good life. The groups can then be resourced and supported to develop actions around the issues they have experienced.
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Deaf community
Lead: Paul
We’re conducting work looking into the support available to d/Deaf people living in Gateshead, uncovering issues from isolation to aspiration, exploring issues that cut across demographics, such as deafness and dementia. In the pipeline is a festival led by the d/Deaf community, sharing the work of d/Deaf artists and performers, and prototyping a way of showcasing the artistic opportunities young d/Deaf people could realise in their futures.
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Sport and Wellbeing for Migrants
Lead: Eric
This work connects newly arriving migrants to other migrants through sport, in partnership with the African Platform. Isolation is a key issue in migrant communities, especially when people first arrive to the area and don’t have any existing networks of support and friendship. The project’s main focus is therefore to foster stronger connections in local communities, through football and other sporting activities. Bridgebuilder Eric often attends on a Saturday, and has conversations with participants, learning about their challenges and needs and providing support.
OUR HOME
Gateshead: 'headland or hill frequented by (wild) goats'. It was Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of England who first mentions this place in 1190. There are not many wild goats dotted around these days, but what Gateshead does have is a strong link to the past and the people and stories that have gone before us.
Gateshead is a proud community, a safe haven for newcomers, a diverse and colourful town with a rich heritage and history. It is our home, whether we were born and raised here or have come to live in Gateshead as a step on our journey, for us, Gateshead is personal. It is where we raise our children, eat our lunch, laugh, sing, dance and cry together. Gateshead is the heartbeat of our work.