Impact Hub
Birmingham
Impact Hub is a community centre and co-working space which aims to build a more equal and just city.
The Impact Hub is a community centre and the home of Mission Birmingham, a movement that aims to bring people together and build a better city. The project started with a small founding team working voluntarily to make the hub a reality. They signed the lease for the space in 2014 and over the next year involved the local community in the design and creation of the Impact Hub.
The space opened in May 2015 as a co-working space for creatives, entrepreneurs, scientists and activists, and a venue for community events. It has since also become the base for member-led projects including #radicalchildcare: exploring how to better host parents and children with radical childcare models, and DemoDev: using data to address the housing crisis and help people build their own homes.
Co-founder Immy Kaur told the Observer: “You were raised to believe Birmingham was a bit shit and you were embarrassed to be from there but I wanted to explore what it would look like to build something in my own city.
“We brought together people from a wide range of backgrounds who care about social justice and we have been experimenting. It was never about co-working – we’re not a corporate space – this is about the town hall for the 21st century.”
Tags Co-operative childcare Community business
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New rules needed
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Promote community wealth building
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Expand the community and co-operative banking sector
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Create affordable workspaces
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Create devolved ‘just transition’ funds
Government should devolve a proportion of its Green New Deal budget to support local just transition plans.
