Chamberlain Forum

Communities in control; real people, real power, recently highlighted participatory budgeting as an important tool for empowering communities, giving more people a say in local spending.

Most people in England and Wales think the justice system is stacked in favour of the rights of criminals - and the former head of the Government’s Respect task force, Louise Casey, agrees the public need to be heard to restore faith in the criminal justice system. Asked by Gordon Brown to conduct a [...]

Mark Lynes of the Coalition of Disabled People in Birmingham talked about the way society can be the barrier that disables people. But community can be summed up in one word - ‘belonging’: disabled people want support to help themselves so that they can belong on equal terms. Just before we interviewed Mark, [...]

Itabarica Napthali of the Haile Selassie I Peace Foundation based in Handsworth, Birmingham talked about the work of his organisation including the award winning neighbourhood Rastafarian Peace Patrols. Since interviewing him, the organisation has faced further difficulties with funding.

Filmed by community film-maker Rachel Smith; interview by Paul Slatter.

Naseem Akhtar of the Saheli Women’s Group based in Balsall Heath, Birmingham UK, talked about why and how local women opened their own Healthy Living Centre in the city. Public services seem to doled out on a ‘one size fits all’ basis; communities could help them to do a better job. Despite the [...]