Always on
This project successfully funded on 31st August 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
🚪 Back Hackney’s New Resident-Powered Space!
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
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Aim
We’re opening Hackney’s first resident & volunteer-led hub: clothes, coffee, care, support & power - all under one bold community roof.
We’re two grassroots Hackney powerhouses - CoCreate Hackney and The Community Closet CIC - coming together to open something bold: a brand‑new, resident‑ and volunteer‑led community hub at New Kingshold Community Centre, E9.
We’re not your average services. We’re built from lived experience, powered by volunteers, and shaped by people who know what’s broken - and how to fix it.
The Community Closet is a CIC and Hackney’s 6‑day‑a‑week clothing bank, offering clothes, toys, toiletries and dignity with no criteria or gatekeeping. It’s designed to make sure no child or adult goes without - and that families feel proud, not pitied. The Closet also runs pop‑ups, creative events, and family fun days - all designed and delivered by local residents.
CoCreate Hackney is a social enterprise connecting people, systems, and services - offering IAG support, co‑production training, benefits help, and creative wellbeing activities. We’re designed to make sure local voices aren’t just “consulted” but actually running the show. Guided by a Resident Governance Board and grounded in Public‑Based Social Action (PBSA), residents shape what happens, lead delivery, and build the solutions themselves.
Together, we’re launching The CoHub - our big fat hybrid model - a space where both worlds collide: practical help, creative community life, training, volunteering, and system‑shifting work, all under one roof.
And we’re not just social. We’re sustainable. Donations to The Community Closet are given a second life - either going directly to local families, being recycled through our zero‑waste textile partnerships, or helping to fund our volunteer‑led activities. One family supports another, and the ripple effect fuels other local projects too. This matters because sustainability isn’t just about the planet - it’s about building community systems that look after each other for generations.
We’ve applied for grants, but funding decisions take time. Our campaign runs until the end of August - but our keys will be ready in a week. We need to raise £2,300–£6,000 to secure the building and be on track to open in September.
The money raised will go directly towards:
- One year’s rent for our shared space
- Launch costs for resident‑led, PBSA‑powered activities
What £2,300 will get us:
- A permanent base for our 6‑day‑a‑week clothing bank and free support hub
- Storage, sorting, and distribution for clothing bundles, toiletries, footwear, toys/books and home-ware for families and individuals in crisis
- An office for volunteers to run IAG sessions, manage referrals, and coordinate donation drives
- A welcoming space for parents, carers, and residents to drop in for advice and support
- Covers rent and utilities for the year so The CoHub runs fully operational year‑round
What the extra £3,700 would get us:
- A large, flexible space for community events, creative sessions, and parenting workshops
- Room for bigger donation drives and community markets, reaching 150–300 people per event
- A hub for Discomfort Sessions, peer support groups, and co‑production workshops by CoCreate
- Capacity to expand into well-being classes, cost‑of‑living advice, youth‑led projects, and volunteer training
If you believe in grassroots leadership, volunteer power, and funding the people actually doing the work - this is the moment to back it.
Magic maths - how we get there:
- 6 people give £1,000 = DONE!
- 12 people give £500 = WE MOVE!
- 24 people throw in £254 = LET’S GO!
- 48 people donate £127 = KEYS IN OUR HANDS!
- 60 people say “Here’s £100” = WE’RE IN!
- 120 people give £50 = COMMUNITY POWER!
- 240 people give £25 = BUILT BY YOU!
We’ve bottled the sauce. Now we just need somewhere to serve it.
Help us open Hackney’s first PBSA‑led community hub - together.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made