Introduction

This chapter explores community organising through the Tyne and Wear Citizens alliance in North East England and the role of the university in the alliance. Community organising has a long-established track record since the 1930s in the US and in the form of Citizens UK in London since 1989 (Wills et al, 2009; Wills, 2012). It has been highly successful in London, leading to the formation of the Living Wage Foundation. The economic conditions and growing inequality in the North East (see the chapter ‘The North East of England’) make for diverse and urgent societal needs. Given the reduction in central government funding of councils under the name of austerity and the lack of an effective industrial policy, there was interest in what community organising might be able to offer the region. Tyne and Wear Citizens was formed in 2015 when five key anchor civic institutions were willing to start to organise and pool money to fund an organiser. In this chapter, Sara Bryson (the first community organiser in Tyne and Wear Citizens) and Liz Todd (one of the academics that have been leading the university membership of Tyne and Wear Citizens) tell the story of its first four years. We take a stance that is informed as insiders, yet aim to be critical and reflective. This chapter considers factors that have led to a number of achievements in relation to impacts of austerity and addresses the role of Tyne and Wear Citizens in responding to what are likely to be long-lasting societal impacts of COVID-19. The role of the university in community organising is discussed and some important critical issues are raised.

It was not clear at the start whether the methods of Citizens UK would work in North East England. Community organising relies on a strong and active civic society. Making it work would need many more organisations than the original five and would need them to work together. In the North East, civic society has been rapidly in decline (see the chapter ‘The North East of England’). Trade union membership and church numbers (organisations that are often part of local alliances of Citizens UK) have fallen.