Urban Forum has a huge range of experience and expertise gained through 15 years of working with community groups, public and private sector agencies and policy makers, including:

Insight into government policy relating to communities
and how this can be used to influence and develop new initiatives.

Research and consultation projects with partners
ranging from community organisations to national research bodies and universities.

Handy Guides written in plain English
relevant to people working at a community level and information in all formats icluding policy briefings and research reports.

Events and training programmes
employing a wide range of participatory techniques to meet the needs of different audiences.

Dissemination of knowledge and learning
outwards to voluntary and community groups and upwards to government and other policy makers.

Here is some of our most recent work.
There are many more examples across the website.

Community Led Planning
An action research project with Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), Action for Market Towns (AMT), National Association of Local Councils (NALC) and Community Matters to explore neighbourhood governance and community led planning in Urban Areas.

Community Resilience
A research project with the Centre for Local Economic Studies to assess and identify how to improve community resilience at a neighbourhood level and the role of the voluntary and community sector in achieving this.

Community Rights made Real
An action research project with Dudley Council for Voluntary Service to increase understanding of the needs of community groups less equipped to take advantage of the new community rights contained in the Localism Bill.

Community Power Empowers
An international study of community energy projects. More . . .

Getting to Grips with Big Society
A programme of events in partnership with Urban Forum members to provide briefing and discussion sessions on the new Government and Big Society. More...

Citizens and Local Decision Making
A research project with Ipsos Mori and Manchester University to identify the key drivers of citizens' feelings of influence. More . . .

Bridging the Mismatch
A programme for the National Empowerment Partnership to support better communication and engagement between local authorities/public bodies and communities in the East Midlands. More . .

Duty to Involve: A reality Check
A series of events with Regional Empowerment Partnerships in Yorkshire and Humberside and the North West to enable councillors, council officers and voluntary and community groups to understand and plan for the implementation of the Duty to Involve. More  . . .

Involvement: A Practical Guide
A collection of case studies for the Equality and Human Rights Commission on inclusive involvement by public bodies. More . . .

Voice and representation
Two events with NAVCA around effective representation, training workshops for Bromley Council for Ageing and Calderdale Community Forum and a planning workshop for the North East Empowerment Partnership on the future of Community Empowerment Networks in the region. 

Leading Lights national research
A research project exploring the roles of councillors and third sector representatives in community leadership, including recommendations to strengthen relationships between the two groups to address the major differences in perception that exist. More . . .

Leading Lights workshops
Following on from the national research, this was a programme of workshops and research for the National Empowerment Partnership to train and inform local councillors in the East Midlands around communication, community engagement and the new post-election policy landscape. More . . .

The Changing Role of Local Councils and Councillors
A national seminar with Involve and Local Government Leadership on the role of councils in Big Society and Localism. More . . .

Low Carbon Councillors
A series of workshops with the Centre for Sustainable Energy to build awareness amongst local councillors of how they can shape a low carbon future for their areas. More . . .

Local Action
A handy guide produced with bassac (now part of Locality) on the relationship between community groups and local councillors. More . . .

Knowing Your Communities
A training programme for the East Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership to inform councillors on using Open Government Data.