"People and Place provided us with fundamental tools and invaluable connections with people who know and understand our challenges and ambitions."
What is People and Place?
People and Place is Footwork’s name for the programme of support we offer community innovators like you to turn bold ideas into projects that deliver long-term change for your neighbourhoods.
The programme brings together a network of community innovators and connects you with mentors who offer helpful input as you develop your project.
Footwork covers 100 per cent of the running costs of the People and Place programme, such as, mentor fees and travel to field trips. We also give an unrestricted grant of £5K to each project.
We feel 100 times better about going forward into the next stage of the project thanks to the People & Place programme!
Hannah,
Railway Gardens
Who do we support?
People and Place supports small groups or individuals whose experience of an issue in their neighbourhood has motivated them to take action and address it.
In 2024, People and Place is supporting 10 individuals and groups - from Coalville to Hillsborough to Bath to York to Exeter and London - each addressing a pressing local issue with an innovative solution. In 2025, we seek to support a further 10 projects from across England and Wales.
These ideas can take many forms, but in each case you will be using inventive ways to make change happen in the place where you live. You will be meeting challenges around ensuring:
For example, ideas that ...
make new use of a local open space, land or buildings
rethink how local facilities (my local library, high street or others) can work better for our community
open access to materials to build and repair our homes, streets and neighbourhoods
challenge the planning system to do a better job for communities
work with local stakeholders to acquire and repair building assets
engage quieter voices in regeneration processes
protect our local social and built heritage
What's included?
Footwork’s aim is for People and Place to create strong locally-led projects that will have a lasting impact on communities up and down the country. We do this by supporting you in these ways ...
The programme made us question the essence of the project (what actual change we want to see happening and how we get there) and redefine who we are as an organisation - a space operator for circular economies to flourish.
One-to-one support
Work with a mentor who is carefully matched with you, who will bring their specific expertise and experience to focus on the areas in which you most need support.
Together you can tackle knotty problems, this may include working on your strategy; helping you tell your story; developing a pitch for funding; or finding ways to measure and explain the difference your project is making in your neighbourhood.
Take a peek at the 2024 mentor spotlights here:
Learn together
Know you’re not alone! Swap experiences with peers facing similar issues; discover tips and tricks and how to overcome challenges.
Meet collaborators from further afield and learn about other ways in which people are transforming their neighbourhoods. Take part in Field Trips to pioneering community-led projects around the country, join online huddles with your People and Place peers and stand on national platforms to tell your story.
Read our latest field trip reflection here:
It felt energising being able to speak with others with similar traits and challenges as there was less focus on trying to understand each other and more focus on the issues at hand
Problems are best resolved by identifying those with power to help, and finding common-ground with them to encourage cooperation and solutions …
Place visits
The Footwork team will come to visit you in your place to understand more about your work, its impact on your community and will support you to build alliances with others.
By learning alongside you we can communicate to others the barriers community innovators face and how to overcome them; and together we can demonstrate the success of community-led innovation in creating thriving neighbourhoods.
People and Place Grant
This is an unrestricted grant of £5,000 awarded directly to you or your organisation, but its main purpose is to give you the time to think and the freedom to take part in the People and Place programme.
There's more!
Space
During the programme, Footwork’s home in London is yours to use as a space to come together: to hold a workshop with your mentor; to use as a co-working space when in London; or simply to pop by if you’re in need of a cuppa.
Connection and knowledge exchange
You will have opportunities to connect into a network of fellow community innovators from further afield. Our aim is for more and more community innovators nationally to have the solidarity, inspiration, shared power, knowledge and improved conditions to take action!
Just having someone there saying we believe in you, and you can do it, makes such a huge difference when you are tackling challenging and seemingly impossible situations in your place.
Is this a right fit for me?
We are looking for people who ...
... are able to sign-up to all the programme has to offer! Please expect to commit
12 days in total to the People and Place programme, spread out over 12 months.
Be sure that you can make the most of all People and Place has to offer as each programme moment is built on the back of the last.
We've created this programme because we get it! We are community innovators ourselves and know how important it is to have a supporting hand.
Insights Group Member
2025 Timetable
Jan - March
Welcome event
at Footwork
Mentoring begins
Monthly online huddles start
from February
April - June
Spring field trip
Mentoring ongoing
Monthly online huddle with peers
July - Sept
Summer field trip
Mentoring ongoing
Monthly online huddle with peers
Place visits with Footwork run through August
Oct - Dec
Autumn field trip
Mentoring wrap-up
Monthly online huddle with peers
Key dates
Applications have now closed for People and Place 2025.
We aim to review applications with the help of our Insights Group as quickly as possible after the closing date of Monday 9th September at 11:59pm.
July - Sept
Applications are open for 8 weeks from Monday 15th July to
Monday 9th Sept at 11:59pm.
September
Footwork and our Insights Group will get to work reading your application carefully.
October
We will visit a short-list of applicants between 30th Sept - 9th Oct. We contribute £100 towards the cost of you taking the time to speak with us (likely to be an hour or two)
November
We will let you know by Friday 1st November if you have a spot on the People and Place programme.
Celebration event at Footwork!
December
Payment is made of the unrestricted grant of £5k
We begin the People and Place programme together!
January 2025
Our mentor Mark has given us the confidence to put things in place which are already really benefiting the project. We feel 100 times better about going forward into the next stage of the project thanks to him. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be part of People & Place!
Hannah, Co-founder of Railway Gardens