About

Community Roots CIC works to ignite action for social change to bring about a more equal and inclusive society.

Our Story began in March 2013, building on the Community Organising skills we gained by participating in the national Community Organising programme. Since inception, we have been pioneers of Community Organising in Gloucestershire and have built up a portfolio of evidence to show that using this approach creates positive change. We work with residents living in areas of deprivation to develop their confidence, use their voices and skills to take action on the things that really matter to them in order to create changes that will have a positive impact on their lives and the wider community.

Meet the Team

We are a well-formed team, consisting of working directors, non-executive directors, Community Organisers and a Finance & Admin support, who all bring essential skills to help make Community Roots CIC a success.  We also work with lots of volunteer community organisers, unfortunately, we can’t include them here as there isn’t enough space, but we recognise we wouldn’t function without them. We are looking to add to our board of directors, if you have any of the following skills of financial, marketing or community organising then we’d love to hear from you. 

Penny Liddicot

Director and Community Organiser

Penny has worked in communities for more than 30 years and feels passionately about the ability of people as individuals and groups to do amazing things and change the communities we live in.

Debra Baker

Director and Community Organiser

Debs background is in the Creative Sector with experience in business management. Over the last 20 years she has been involved with supporting many communities of interest. More recently Deb has been involved in community art initiatives, supporting people to improve mental well-being through creativity and has trained as a community organiser.

John Mclaughlin

Non Executive Director

John is currently a Grants Manager and has spent a lot of his career in senior positions within regeneration in the public sector. He brings his knowledge of the sector and extensive experience of working with communities at strategic levels.

Jim Austin-Jones

Non Executive Director

Jim is an adult educational specialist and current Interim Head of Adult Learning at Croydon Council. He brings his expertise in education and also his experience of Community Organising having attended training the United States over 20 years ago.

Luke Burrows

Director and Community Organiser

Luke joined us as a trainee in May 2018 and has gone on to complete the Level 3 Community Organising Qualification as well as all of the 1-day workshops. Luke brings experience from mentoring young people, social media and website support and setting up various entrepreneurial ventures.

Also, working in association with

Anna Buckland

Anna’s experience is in the Education and Creative Arts sectors. Over the last 30 years, she has passionately supported many communities of interest. Anna is a qualified Community Organiser who has recently supported Community Arts initiatives that promote well-being. She has also supported a community project involving local residents contributing to development initiatives for Gloucester Park.

Our Supporters

Acknowledgement to our funders, partners and other people we work with.

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