Black Culture Conversation 2024
In 2024, Rebel Led undertook one of the most comprehensive engagements ever conducted within the borough of Southwark to understand, document and celebrate Black culture and experience.
Key engagement metrics:
Face-to-Face Engagements: Connected directly with over 900 individuals through in-person meetings.
Outreach Communications: Reached more than 200 organisations and individuals via targeted email.
Digital Presence: Welcomed over 1,700 unique website visitors.
Survey Participation: Collected 229 responses during a seven-week campaign.
Fireside Chats and Conversations: Hosted 120 in-depth discussions over six weeks, capturing rich lived-experience.
The initial focus of this work clustered around: Premises & Infrastructure; Skills, Organisational Development & Networking; Visibility & Celebration Campaigns. Through our deep engagement we identified additional critical themes emerging from the community — themes now being explored in the forthcoming BCC 2024 Report:
Storytelling and History – documenting the lived experience and contributions of Black residents in Southwark.
Blackness, Community and Identity – interrogating the complexity of identity and belonging in the Black community.
Health and Well-being – examining mental and physical wellness in the context of inequity.
Children, Family, Ageing & Education – digging into inter-generational dynamics, education access, and family-support systems.
Investment & Economic Factors – assessing economic opportunity and structural disadvantage affecting Black residents.
Prejudice & Discrimination – exposing systemic bias and barriers preventing equity.
Although the full BCC 2024 Report is yet to be formally published by the council, its insights are already shaping policy, programmes and strategic discourse in Southwark.
The work is actively referenced in the development of the borough’s shared vision for 2030 — as set out in Southwark Council’s Southwark 2030 Strategy, which calls for resident-led participation, tackling inequality, and empowering communities.
It is informing the establishment of the proposed Centre for Black African & Caribbean Elders (CBACE) in Southwark, a landmark community project that is accepting expressions of interest from organisations to lead its development.
Senior EDI leads within the Council are using the findings from our engagement — as well as the emerging Report — to leverage change, influence commissioning conversations and strengthen the voice of Black communities within borough strategy forums.
As a Black-led, Southwark-based organisation, Rebel Led is proud to stand at the nexus of community insight, strategic policymaking and cultural celebration. Our work is not just consultative — it is catalytic.
This is more than a research exercise: it is a foundational piece of evidence and narrative that underpins transformation across Southwark. We are prepared to lead—and to partner—with public, private and community sectors to ensure that the insights captured translate into sustained impact.