Esther Foreman: equipping new community group leaders to respond to the pandemic
Esther Foreman (CF 2013) from Brent in London is the founder and CEO of The Social Change Agency and The Social Change Nest, which offer consulting, training and communications help to movements creating social change. She is also co-founder of her local mutual aid group. During the pandemic, her organisation has supported over 300 new community leaders and groups across the UK to raise and manage finances transparently inside communities.
She will use her grant to expand this work, providing long-term support for these and other groups, through creating a national network of new community leaders to share experiences and learn from each other. Additionally, she will develop online resources and provide training on how to build local funds, manage volunteers, work with the voluntary sector, run food banks and more. She hopes this will lead to an increase in community-led resilience.
Esther's Fellowship to Australia, Canada and New Zealand in 2013 explored how activists can use their personal experience to effect change.