Changemakers: Bringing divided neighbourhoods together in the West Midlands

When five neighbourhoods in the West Midlands were allocated just over £1million of Big Local funding, it meant they had to overcome the mistrust that kept them divided. Tracy Lowe chairs Grace Mary to Lion Farm (GM2LF) Big Local. It covers Grace Mary, Oakham and Wallace, Tividale and Lion Farm – which are in the borough of Sandwell in the Black Country. Here Tracy, who lives locally, shares how the Big Local area has brought people together.

“Mummy, what’s that? Is it sand?” said one little girl on our coach trip to Blackpool. She’d never been to the beach before. To see her face light up was amazing.  

I’ve been doing voluntary work with young people for 30 years. It gives me a different perspective on life. I was brought up around here in a one parent family. But, sitting on the coach, which took 52 people from 14 families to Blackpool, I was thinking how privileged I was as a young person. 

Focusing on family life 

The area GM2LF Big Local covers is very diverse. The neighbourhoods are across three council wards and parliamentary constituencies. In some areas, there’s a lot of one parent families, people on benefits, anti-social behaviour and drug problems. And there’s a larger than average number of young people, with nearly a quarter aged under 15.  

Before Big Local… people didn’t really interact with others from different estates. They didn’t cross boundaries, staying in their own area.”

After consulting residents, our Big Local partnership focused on family life. We started doing four family outings a year, like the Blackpool one, which help to build relationships between parents and young people. If you’ve got a good relationship with your parents, then you can talk to them about your problems rather than hiding yourself away in your bedroom. 

Community spirit was a problem before Big Local. People didn’t really interact with others from different estates. They didn’t cross boundaries, staying in their own area.  

I saw this with young people because I run a weekly youth club for eight to 16-year-olds, called Wallace Youth Project. It’s in the centre of the GM2LF Big Local area, in a community room in a 17 storey block of flats.  

It’s mad to think how I set up Wallace Youth Project at 19… I wanted my brothers to have something to do to keep them off the streets. And here I am now chairing this Big Local.”

I first got involved in Big Local because I was looking for funding for Wallace Youth Project. I went along to the Big Local chats, which consulted residents about the plan for how to spend the £1million.  

Soon, I was part of the partnership that oversees the Big Local area and I’ve been chair for three years. My role is keeping the partnership motivated and following our plan, which has been set by residents. 

It’s mad to think how I set up Wallace Youth Project at 19 when I was just starting out in life.  I wanted my three younger brothers to have something to do to keep them off the streets. And here I am now chairing this Big Local.  

Back then, because we struggled for funding, our activity away from the youth club would be going to local fields with a cricket set. Now, because of Big Local, our activities have grown. In 2019, we took 16 young people on a holiday around Black Country canals, so that they’ve got insight into their historical background. Soon, we’re going to Butlins for a weekend. We’re getting them out of the environment that they’re in so they feel free. 

Breaking down barriers 

Wallace Youth Project is one of five GM2LF Big Local community hubs. We use the hubs to break down barriers between the neighbourhoods. Each has activities going on for all ages, including knit and natter and mother and baby groups, where residents have had the chance to be involved in Big Local.  

Then we have events we do together as one Big Local, like an annual litter pick which attracts around 300 people. Plus an afternoon tea dance which was attended by 80 older people.  

We started small, within a neighbourhood, and have grown from there, building relationships and trust with residents. Now, local people travel to the community hubs to interact with each other.  

Community groups and residents can apply for small grants. Between 2014 and 2019, we awarded 67 grants to 17 community groups. We’ve funded bowling groups and coronation and community parties.  

Big Local Little Voices  

Myself and another Big Local partnership member, Jennie, tried out some detached youth work to bring young people from across GM2LF together. This is when you go on the streets to interact with people.  

Big Local Little Voices won a West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner award for outstanding young people’s project, which was absolutely amazing.”

In 2018, we approached young people and gave them a leaflet. We said we were setting up a group to talk about how young people can change things locally and there’d be free pizza. I didn’t know if anybody was going to walk through that door. But to my surprise, eight young people came and they all just gelled.   

The group became Big Local Little Voices. (BLLV) In 2020, they won the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner award for outstanding young people’s project, which was absolutely amazing.  

There’s 12 of them and they have their own not-for-profit printing enterprise, selling merchandise on their Facebook page and at the market where I work.  

They created a video about the issues they face, like with knife crime and loneliness. And they had the idea to install four loneliness benches across the Big Local area, using money from their enterprise. If someone sits on a bench, it signals to BLLV, who monitor them, that the person would like someone to talk to. It’s their way of talking to other young people who might be lonely.  

Similarly, during the pandemic, when we couldn’t open the youth club, I would sit on the wall outside it at the same time every week. So if there was any young person that needed help with homework or anything, I was there for them and could keep my distance.  

We’re responding to what people need. The Big Local Big Feed started after the pandemic when money was tight. The first year we did it, in 2020, we gave Christmas food hampers to 72 families on low incomes. In 2023, we gave out 173 hampers. It’s really heartwarming to know that children will get a Christmas dinner because of our Big Local.    

Building a lasting legacy  

Being involved with GM2LF has been a learning curve. To begin with, residents didn’t understand that it was nothing to do with the council where the money goes. When some local people got involved, others could see what it was actually all about.  

We also looked at gym memberships for residents because we wanted to tackle obesity, but no one came forward. So, instead, we built an outdoor gym on the Lion Farm Estate which is well used. 

I hope that I’ve got the health and the strength to carry on doing this voluntary work for as long as I can.”

We will have spent all our Big Local funding by 2025. So starting this year, GM2LF Big Local will commission the charity we have set up to carry on its work. This gives us time to build the charity up and phase the Big Local out. I am chair of the charity, which is called GM2LF Charity. We hope to keep bringing people together and sustaining our community hubs so they can continue their activities. This will help people who are isolated and support them with the cost of living crisis. 

I hope that I’ve got the health and the strength to carry on doing this voluntary work for as long as I can. It’s part of me and it is so rewarding.

Interview by Trina Wallace

Read more Changemakers stories from the people delivering Big Local on our Voices page.