Leeds is set to undergo its biggest regeneration in more than a hundred years, as the South Bank of the River Aire is redeveloped. The regeneration will bring 35,000 jobs, over 8,000 homes, a new park, HS2 terminus and much more.

Leeds Citizens has launched a new campaign - South Bank for South Leeds - to ensure this regeneration has a tangible, positive impact across South Leeds communities.

Over the past few weeks, our members have members gathered at St Ann's Well Academy for our annual delegates assembly and AGM. It was an encouraging and important evening together - community leaders shared details of recent victories and we celebrated people who have developed leadership skills and participated in public life through the past year. At a time of such national uncertainty, when politics and public life seems to divided and uncertain, it was fantastic to acknowledge people who prepared to work with others to make the changes they want for their communities. 

We were particularly encouraged to hear about the joint work of  three of our member organisations - Sycamore Academy, St Ann with Emmanuel Church, and St Ann's Well Academy, and the organising they are doing together in their local neighbourhood - local people of all ages and backgrounds coming together to listen, to research and to act together on shared goals...fantastic!!!

Continue reading for more updates from Nottingham Citizens

Brighton Table Tennis Club (BTTC) are immensely proud to be the first sports club to join Citizens UK's network of Community Organising alliances as a dues-paying member organisation. In turn, here at Citizens UK we are delighted to congratulate them on their award-winning effort, in recognition of their commitment to the wider community in Brighton and Hove. In fact, BTTC run seventy sessions for over 1,500 people a week, including players affected by cancer, refugees, seniors, prisoners, school children, players with additional needs and ping pong enthusiasts.

This week the Club of the Year prize went to BTTC at the Daily Mirror Pride of Sport awards! Watch the video to learn more about the amazing work BTTC do to combine the power of sports with the power of community.

Blog written by The Revd Dr Simon Woodman, Bloomsbury Baptist Church, Westminster Citizens

It was a privilege to host the London Citizens Delegates Assembly at my institution, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, in November 2019. Over 500 community leaders from civic institutions across the capital gathered to show how our power to bring about change for justice is magnified when we work together. The choice of Bloomsbury for this Assembly was no accident: in addition to being a member institution of West London Citizens, it is a church with a long history of engaging in works of social justice.

Revd Woodman at the London 2020 Delegates Assembly where he delivered this opening speech

At London Citizens, together with our 250 member organisations, we want to tackle the capital’s housing crises head-on.

Many people with leave or enter to remain who are citizens of commonwealth countries may not realise it yet, but they have the right to vote in the UK's upcoming General Election on 12th December 2019.

Citizens UK today launches a simple and shareable new website, canivote.org.uk to help everyone resident in the UK check if they are eligible to vote or not.

The site also explains how people of different nations, including European nations and countries like Hong Kong, can participate in different elections, or get involved more widely in democracy.

Blog by Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain.

As the weather gets colder, food banks around the country will get busier as the winter bites. They are essential not only to those without a job, but also to people on low incomes struggling to make ends meet.

Dozens of mosques across the UK are also home to food banks. Alongside other faith communities who run similar services, they see first-hand the effect of increasing levels of poverty on the poorest in society. Many are driven to run such services because they are inspired by sayings of Prophet Muhammad such as “He is not a believer whose stomach is filled while the neighbour to his side goes hungry.”

Read further to learn about how the Muslim Council of Britain are championing the real Living Wage as a solution to in-work poverty.

Children from Newham Citizens member school, St Antony's RC Primary, have celebrated the fact that several of their parents are now getting a fair day's pay for a fair day's work by performing a song to the mayor of London at a Living Wage Week launch.

Blog by Nouf Abdulqadar, Waltham Forest Citizens

With just 5 weeks until the General Election, around 9 million people are still missing from the electoral roll – that's a shocking one in five UK voters. [1]

I'm a 19 year old Muslim woman and this election will be my first. As a member of TELCO (East London) Citizens, our alliance will engage local parliamentary candidates on the issues affecting our communities - like knife crime and the housing crisis.

But, let's face it... politicians are more likely to act on our priorities if they know that their constituents will head to the polls in high numbers.

If we want our democracy to work as it should, it's crucial that we get as many people as possible onto the electoral roll. And we only have 3 weeks to make it happen! [2]

Members of Tyne and Wear Citizens encourage people in their networks to register to vote.