Community organising at King's

Making lasting change through community-led solutions

Community organising is when people come together across difference to create change.

We are proud of our partnership with community organising charity Citizens UK, a people-powered alliance working together for the common good.

Since 2019, we’ve worked together to respond to issues that matter to people in our local communities. From reforming the immigration system to create fairer access to higher education, to tackling language barriers to drive equality, we have achieved victories that transform communities and shape a better society for all.

Some of our work with Citizens UK has been focused on embedding community organising within King's, through projects including Conversations about Race, student society Kings For Change, and modules including Scripts for Change and Social Change Lab.

Much of our work has been in collaboration with community partners and other Citizens UK members. Together, we secured a fee waiver for the cost of Citizenship for children, led on the Be Well schools initiative as part of South London Listens with the NHS, co-created the CAMHS Virtual Waiting Room (led by the CAMHS Digital Lab at King's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience), used community organising to build Lambeth's first social mobility strategy (led by King's Social Mobility & Widening Participation team), and many, many more campaigns and actions.

Find out about community organising across King's and how you can get involved.

King's Impact Changemakers

The King's Impact Changemakers network is a powerful coalition of students, staff and partners dedicated to positive change for people, planet and society. Through people-powered action and community organising, the Impact Changemakers works across difference to learn skills that will change the world.

This free network is for anyone - students, researchers, operational staff, alumni, neighbours, charities or external partners - committed to making a difference.

Join the King's Impact Changemakers.

Community organising for a better world

Empoderando Familias, Parents

Creating a space for Latinx parents to speak on issues that matter to them.

EmpowerESOL: supporting local Latin American parents

Tackling language barriers to reduce inequalities.

Children Into Citizens

Campaigning for 'settled status’ for all who have made the UK their home

Conversations about Race

Promoting anti-racism at King's through community organising

Citizenship Payment Plan

Supporting parents fund British citizenship for their children.

Parent Power

Parents and carers pushing for social and educational change

University Sponsorship

How the HE sector can support those displaced by conflict

Networks taking action through community organising

King's For Change

Student group creating change through community organising

King’s Climate Action Network

A community of students and staff who are passionate about sustainability

King's Impact Changemakers

A coalition of students, staff and partners dedicated to change

King's Volunteering

Find opportunities and build connections to make a difference

Scripts for Change

This module explores the ways in which personal testimonies and life narratives can be used to frame and resource community organising and social justice campaigns. Open to students across the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, it explores how recorded oral material is generated, interpreted and mobilised across academic disciplines and by public organisations seeking to inspire change. Students receive training from London Citizens on community organising methodology, including topics such as relational politics and the power of personal testimony. Using testimonies from Citizens UK 'Listening Campaigns', students co-produce work which helps to build an archival legacy for London Citizens' continued use. The Scripts for Change module is taught by Dr Alana Harris, Reader in Modern British Social, Cultural and Gender History, with support from Hannah Gretton, King's Lead Community Organiser at Citizens UK.

Social Change Lab

Students on the BA Social Sciences can undertake the Social Change Lab module, which is co-delivered with Citizens UK. It explores how ideas from the social sciences can be harnessed to support meaningful real-world impact, and how struggles to create social change might inform the thinking of social scientists. Through this module and the collaboration with partners beyond King's, students are encouraged to think creatively about how social science understandings can be used in processes of social change to make a positive difference, as well as how core concepts and ideas can be applied to real-world challenges in order to develop credible and effective solutions. The Social Change Lab module is taught jointly by Dr Farhan Samanani, Lecturer in Social Justice, and Hannah Gretton, King's Lead Community Organiser at Citizens UK.