Principles met

  • We will embrace innovation in how we work with local communities to drive positive change.
  • We will capture and ‘expand’ the experience and learning from individual projects and approaches in order to encourage broader application of co-operative principles within individual member Councils and across the Network.
  • In exploring new ways of meeting the priority needs of our communities we will encourage models, such as co-operatives and mutuals, which give greater influence and voice to staff and users. in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.

A collaboration between Brent Council, delivery partners Sufra NW London and local organisations, aiming to tackle food poverty, build resilience within local communities and reduce long term dependency on support services.

Brent is one of the most diverse areas in the country: it was the first local authority in the UK to have a majority black, Asian and minority ethnic population and is home to speakers of 149 different languages. Levels of poverty in the borough are high, lending to our residents being one of the worst impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic and harshly affected by effects of the cost of living crisis.

To address this issue, easing effects of the cost of living crisis became a strategic priority for Brent Council with an aim to provide more holistic support to residents, tailored to complex needs and co-designed with local stakeholders and co-produced with key partners. Brent Council recently became a Right to Food borough, paving a unique opportunity for alternative models of support for residents with complex needs.

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