Newcastle Community Bridgebuilders – End of Project Recap
Over the months of May to July 2025, Connected Voice, in partnership with Newcastle Council, The Relationships Project, and the Centre for Creative Conversation, put together a series of workshops to create a network of bridgebuilders across Newcastle.
The Newcastle Community Bridgebuilders programme was created in response to the rising tensions between communities across the country.
The programme trained over 150 individuals from over 85 organisations, with each trained bridgebuilder now being equipped with skills in creative conversation to challenge beliefs that are intended to divide communities.
The workshops brought together a diverse group of people representing a wide range of communities across Newcastle. All attendees showed a real commitment to the Bridgebuilders cause and we have already seen great work done by members of the network.
As part of the Bridgebuilders project, we also delivered advocacy to victims of hate crime, ensuring that those affected received support and had their voices heard.
While it is impossible to highlight the work of all groups who have used their learning from the project to initiate positive change, we would like to give a mention to:
Riverside Community Health Project who used bridgebuilder skills to put the community in control of their project, Community Action on Need
The Staiths Cafe in Gateshead, who helped to spread the learning to communities across the river through their Coffee Connectors work
National Innovation Centre for Ageing + Voice who organised a cakes, communities and connections activity inspired by the bridgebuilders training
How can you keep up with Bridgebuilders
If you want to stay involved and keep up to date with the Bridgebuilders project, you can find more information via the following methods:
Find the end of programme video, put together with help from Young Women's Film Academy, on the Centre for Creative Conversation Website
Keep up to date through the Bridgebuilders page on The Relationships Project’s website
Join our whatsapp communications channel for occasional updates and insights from Eddy
What else can you do
Join the Haref Network – the health and racial equity forum. This network is for groups and organisations led by, or running projects for, ethnically marginalised communities in Newcastle and/or Gateshead. You will have the opportunity to discuss the challenges which create disparities in health outcomes for communities. You can also access health and wellness information that is culturally appropriate, and faith informed on topics requested by you.
Become a Haref Ally – Haref allies is a paid for membership for health providers, researchers or organisations that want to work more closely with ethnically marginalised groups. You will receive cultural competency training, invites to skills building sessions and will be linked with Haref network members that can benefit from your services.
Connected Voice hate crime advocacy – If you, or anybody that you know has been a victim of hate crime, we invite you to download our HATE ID app so you can check if a situation is hate crime and get advice on how to handle it. Our advocates can help victims to understand their rights, report a crime if they want to, offer you support while the case is being handled and help them recover from the experience.
North East Anti-Racism Coalition (NEARC) - If you want to join a North East based group that is directly campaigning against and addressing issues of racism, you may want to join NEARC. Ngozi Cole delivered part of workshop 1 of the bridgebuilders programme and gave a fantastic insight into the history and politics of racism. Join the coalition to learn more.
