Community voice and lived experience shapes city-wide priorities

Since late 2024, Healthy Me Healthy Communities CIC has been proudly facilitating the first ever Making Manchester Fairer Community Forum. The Forum is made up of residents representing the rich diversity of Manchester, especially people from backgrounds most affected by health inequalities.

To recruit to the forum, we worked collaboratively with Making Manchester Fairer Communications team with materials produced in accessible formats such as easy-read, several community languages and a BSL video. Over 60 trusted VCSE organisations also shared the opportunity and provided support to those who wouldn't usually put themselves forward.

The role of the forum is to bring lived experience insight to shape, influence and question the work of the Making Manchester Fairer Programme Board. To date, the Forum has brought about real positive change and influence for Manchester residents.

We have worked together with Making Manchester Fairer Theme Leads to bring lived experience voice to bear on how city-wide, high-level strategies and objectives can work for all residents.

We've worked closely with the Theme 4 Lead (on preventing ill health and early death) to ensure that people with existing health conditions, especially mental health conditions are supported and enabled to access cancer screening. The Forum also mapped out a life course approach to cancer screening and testing, showing from birth the screening opportunities at each age.

The Forum has also worked closely with the Theme 5 (homes and housing) Lead to shape the strategic objectives, with a clear focus on bringing empty properties back into use as affordable homes.

The Forum has also shaped the future of race equity in the city. Working with the Theme 7 (Tackling systemic racism and discrimination), we explored the findings and meanings of the REMI (Race Equity Maturity Index) assessment and how race equity can be progressed across the city.

The session closed with Forum members designing and delivering 'micro pitches' - prioritising two Making Manchester Fairer themes for reflection through a race-equity lens. One group chose Theme 1: Early Years, Children and Young People, sharing reflections as to how not all families and communities are equally able to access school-readiness programmes and opportunities.

The other group chose Theme 4: Prevention of ill health and early death, sharing reflections on the need to open opportunities to have individual and community voices heard in a vast and often complex health and wellbeing landscape, as well as the opportunity to use resources holistically to bring about maximum positive impact.

We've also worked closely with the Policy team around strengthening and expanding the Growing Manchester offer, with specific recommendations to ensure that the offer is inclusive, accessible and welcoming to all. The forum also shared points of intervention in the legal and compliance process to ensure that small, grass roots groups could care for and cultivate land without being hampered by unnecessary and costly red tape.

Forum members also regularly attend Programme Board meetings as well as annual Health Scrutiny Committee meetings and the Health and Wellbeing Board to give 'live' insights on current agenda items.

A recent highlight was the Health Equity Quick Wins workshop delivered in June, in partnership with colleagues from Making Manchester Fairer and the Health Determinants Research Collaboration. Funded by the Cooperative Council’s Innovation Network, building on "what's strong, not what's wrong" we journeyed together from recognising what health inequalities look, sound and feel like in Manchester to generating potential achievable and realistic solutions.

Lived experience, professional expertise and research knowledge were brought together in one space, on an equal footing to generate diverse, real-world solutions to everyday challenges from big picture systems change to hyper local pilot projects. Suggested solutions ranged from embedding the cash-first approach more deeply into practice and policy responses and strengthening investment into the VCSE sector, through to 'Look Good, Feel Good' courses to boost resident's confidence, ready to get back into work, or find a new job.

During the break, participants were treated to a tour of Gorton Central, soaking up the fruits of our £1m investment, volunteers busy preparing for the Community Grocers and marvelling at our Farm Urban indoor growing wall - the Pak Choi was a real hit.

Next up we're looking forward to working closely with our colleagues from the Health Determinants Research Collaboration to ensure that opportunities for community-led research are meaningful, accessible and enable opportunities for everyone to live healthier, happier and longer lives.

Testimonials from members

Since getting involved in the Community Forum....

"I've shown myself that challenging my anxieties and getting involved can be a really positive thing and it's really helped my self-confidence. It's opened doors to me in other ways in my life such as now being able to do some further studying"

Rachel

"I am more confident to speak about what I think about policy in Manchester"

Margarhett

It's important for community members to be part of this work because....

"Often council meetings, documents and the inner workings of democracy feel hugely removed from real life on the ground and people's real-life experiences. For me, being part of the group bridges the gap between the council and reality"

Rachel

"This is a rare opportunity, by being a member I have the opportunity to have a voice in shaping the strategic work of Making Manchester Fairer"

Margarhett

"Being involved in the Community Forum has been an incredibly grounding and transformative experience. It has given me a renewed sense of purpose, transforming my perspective from passive frustration to active engagement. Through this work, I have built communication and leadership skills along the way"

Dale