Sheffield, Yorkshire

Bringing communities together to shape race equality in Sheffield

Sheffield is a diverse city with a long history of community action, civic participation and campaigning for social justice. Yet many residents continue to experience racial inequalities in areas such as education, health, employment, policing and representation.

Working with Operation Black Vote and Ellesmere Children's Centre, local residents and community leaders are exploring how assemblies can create space for honest conversation, collective problem-solving and community-led action on race equality. This is helping to build the relationships, trust and community leadership needed for long-term participation and change.

Assembly Culture in Sheffield

From consultation to community-led change

In 2026, residents, organisers, faith leaders, frontline workers and local representatives came together for Sheffield’s first People’s Assembly on Race Equality.

This Assembly was built on a foundation of outreach, listening and relationship-building. Working through Ellesmere Children’s Centre, local organisers engaged residents and developed facilitators, helping to ensure the process was rooted in community experience and local priorities.

The Assembly was created as a structured, community-led space for reflection, dialogue and action, taking place four years after Sheffield’s Race Equality Commission. Participants explored lived experience, reviewed evidence and discussed priorities for change across education, policing, health, employment and community life.

Through facilitated conversations, participants reflected on progress since the Commission and identified continuing concerns around accountability, representation and implementation. Many expressed a desire to move beyond consultation towards approaches that give communities a more meaningful role in shaping decisions and holding institutions to account.

The Assembly also created space for culture, healing and relationship-building. Community contributions, collective agreements and dedicated healing spaces helped create an environment where people could share experiences openly, listen deeply and engage respectfully across difference.

Participants identified priorities including stronger accountability, community-led oversight, youth leadership, ongoing assemblies and deeper collaboration between community organisations, public institutions and local leaders.

This work is helping to build new pathways for participation and shared decision-making in Sheffield. By bringing people together to deliberate on race equality and community power, the Assembly marked the beginning of a longer-term process focused on accountability, action and community-led change. As the work develops, further assemblies and collaborative activity will continue to explore how communities and institutions can work together to create lasting change.