Rise in Our Roots, working in UK cities

Rising divisions between marginalised communities in the UK, people of colour, marginalised white working-class, LGBTQ+ people, migrants and refugees, represent a growing crisis. These groups share the experience of poverty and exclusion, yet are increasingly pitted against one another rather than united in solidarity. This fragmentation weakens collective power and entrenches the systemic inequalities that harm them all.

Rise in Our Roots addresses this directly. Working with The Innovation, we bring together incredible human beings from these communities in a brave, trauma-informed space to share experience, build solidarity, and take collective action. The two lead facilitators Adeola Banjoko and Mohammed Ali, bring lived experience of racial inequity, faith, refugee and migrant backgrounds, and queer identity. They understand these barriers because they have navigated them personally. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s approach to learning through experience, reflection and action, participants reframe their oppression as a source of power, then work, individually and together, to challenge the systems affecting their lives.

Our impact: leaders develop stronger personal agency, launch new action initiatives, and forge lasting local and national cross-community relationships that replace division with solidarity. Early results from two South Yorkshire cohorts show increased community-led action, reduced isolation, and stronger relationships across communities often kept separate. Leaders develop the confidence and skills to challenge the systems affecting their lives. We currently have more than 50 registrations to participate in the next cohorts.

We are looking for amplifiers around the country, contact our partner lead Mohammed by emailing [email protected]