Sustainable Communities |

Cheaper Energy: Together »

With one in two families in some neighbourhoods struggling to pay fuel bills, Birmingham & Solihull Together promises cheaper bills by clubbing together. The scheme is open to anyone who lives in Birmingham or Solihull and – if you have your most recent gas and electric bills handy – it’s easy to check how much [...]

February 28, 2013 | Posted in Featured,News,Pictures | Read More »

Now FULLY BOOKED – Communities Managing Change Event »

PLEASE NOTE – This event is now FULLY BOOKED. We will aim to get resources and information online as soon as the event as possible.

May 8, 2012 | Posted in Events,Featured | Read More »

Theories of Community Strength »

What’s stopping stronger communities? Places where public services are done with citizens – and not to them? What are the missing rungs on the ladder of local coproduction? Theories of Community Strength is the result of a year long research project into the nuts and bolts of civil society undertaken by Chamberlain Forum and residents [...]

August 16, 2011 | Posted in Featured | Read More »

Community-Led Housing and the Coproduction Imperative »

What do you call a group of residents who manage a vital local public service with a turnover of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of pounds? One answer might be a TMO. TMO stands for Tenant Management Organisation. There are more than 200 TMOs in England managing more than 84,000 homes – about 3% [...]

January 13, 2011 | Posted in Paul Slatter | Read More »

Getting Heads Together on Co-Production »

Chamberlain Forum is undertaking a piece of research on co-production commissioned by Birmingham City Council Housing and Constituencies Directorate. One of the outputs of this work is an initial briefing paper. You can download the paper here and either comment online or email paul@chamberlainforum.org

January 20, 2010 | Posted in Featured,Gallery,News,Pictures | Read More »

Why Co-Production Isn’t What They’ll Say It Is »

Co-production is a really important idea – it’s something that could transform the way neighbourhoods look and feel; it could make sense out of a lot the things about society that don’t make sense to people now. NESTA (which is a research body set up with Lottery money) yesterday launched The Challenge of Co-Production, a [...]

December 16, 2009 | Posted in Opinion,Paul Slatter | Read More »

What We Do

Chamberlain Forum helps civil society and local authorities to coproduce better places to live. We are non-profit, politically independent and proudly based in Birmingham.

We organise Chamberlain Lectures featuring speakers including Prime Minister David Cameron. We also organise Resident University - a peer and shared learning programme for people who live and work in neighbourhoods.

We promote and develop community networks as social capital builders, including by supporting Community Network 4 Birmingham

We support action to strengthen local civil society including through: community asset transfers; neighbourhood websites; mediation and facilitation; training and business planning.

We organise action research into aspects of coproduction and are delivering an 18 month programme, Communities Managing Change, funded by Barrow Cadbury Trust.

Chamberlain Forum Limited acts as a consultancy delivering a wide range of 'thinking and doing' services for clients including local authorities, housing associations, development trusts, health and social care bodies, local strategic partnerships and voluntary and community groups.