SPOTTED in Coventry city centre—new litter bin signage directing shoppers to the nearest public toilet, thanks to Need The Loo campaigners! Need The Loo is a group of Coventry residents with a passion for proper public toilet provision in the city, supported by our community organisers and part of..

HAVE YOUR SAY! 📣 The government's consultation on proposed SEND reforms is open until 18 May. Please take this opportunity to have your say—they particularly want to hear from young people, families, teachers, SEND experts, academics and representative groups consult.education.gov.uk/send-strateg...

It’s an exciting time for community organising in Coventry as we welcome two new organisers to the Grapevine stable. Ari and Priya will help local people lead the change they want to see, building collective power so those most affected by local decisions have a voice in making them. Meet them 👇🔗

The Guardian’s positive action work experience is open for applications! There are (paid) schemes for disabled, BAME, and working class wannabe journalists. Because the media needs more people like us. Info here: workwithus.theguardian.com/entry-level-...

Parents, guardians, and young people across the UK are being urged to shape the country’s next steps on children’s digital wellbeing, as the UK government opens the world’s most ambitious consultation on social media today.

Our CEO Clare Wightman shares her thoughts ahead of Pride in Place’s first delivery phase this April. Read five tensions Clare says Pride in Place must navigate—and five tests for any community power initiative to reach the goals it sets out to achieve. The Promise of Pride in Place: bit.ly/4tXzHMY

We have extended our job vacancy deadline to Monday 2 March at 9am—welcoming more applications to join the #WeAreGrapevine team as our new Campaigns Officer working on Disability Justice with the brilliant, unstoppable force that is Coventry Youth Activists! Don't delay, apply today: bit.ly/3Mfik9z

Over the next few weeks we'll be celebrating some of our members and the wins they achieved together in the past year. First, we're celebrating @grapevinecovwarks.bsky.social! 🧵 #Coventry #CommunityOrganiser #Changemaker #DisabilityJustice #Community

Our Connecting for Good Cov movement believes the best version of Coventry is one shaped by people living here. That’s why we are excited to support 'Coventry Commons of Social Action'—hosted by one of Connecting for Good's core team members, Emmanuelle, this Friday (20 February). 1/

Just seven days to go until our job vacancy closes! ⏰ Join us as our new Community Organiser (Campaigns), a brilliant opportunity working alongside amazing young disabled activists to challenge threats to their rights—in an award-winning charity that believes in joyful organising 👉 bit.ly/3Mfik9z

Meet Ari—our community organiser for Nature Towns and Cities, delivered in Coventry as 'Green For All'. Ari is looking forward to listening to people's stories of their relationship with nature, helping them build on their passions to create ideas that will shape their community and city's future 🌱

Tasty treats and essential life skills—2026 has gotten off to a great start for 27 young people progressing through our Teenvine Plus programme. Follow the link find out what was for dinner, interesting conversations the girls had, who made the best cuppa and what's coming up next! bit.ly/4cgFlUn

Staff organising February's team meeting had plenty of theme ideas to choose from! From Valentine's Day to LGBT+ History Month, to Singles Awareness Day and Galentine's Day, to Random Acts of Kindness Day—the simple choice had to be love 💜 Meet our newest team members Ari, Owen, Priya and Poppy too!

This Is Our Town, Don’t Let Us Down – Community Power Against Cuts by Jemima Elliott and @grapevinecovwarks.bsky.social 📣 actbuildchange.com/stories/this...

JOB ALERT ⚠️ Senior Operations Officer bit.ly/3YJlXY7 Our team describes Grapevine as a “powerhouse” that feels like a second home. Their work creates lasting impact, they have freedom with support and real opportunities to grow. Here's our powerhouse, sketched by Coventry artist Christopher Sidwell.

This National Storytelling Week we're sharing Ade's story of seeds of change planted by a city centre tree felled by a storm. From individual vision to collective action—how Coventry Urban Eden came to shape city-wide change through Connecting for Good 👉 www.grapevinecovandwarks.org/stories/ades...

See you on 24 Feb! We're determined to improve our place by taking a systematic approach to community power—organising people with energy and ideas, building their collective ability to realise change. They can’t go it alone—we must actively draw everyone into the community of place: bit.ly/3M2PM34

We are on the hunt for a new community organiser with proven campaigning experience and strong facilitation skills! Someone with creativity, a passion for justice and the ability to work inclusively with young people with learning disabilities. Could that be you? All the info here: bit.ly/3Mfik9z

ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY IN PRACTICE 💛 Our Coventry Youth Activists (CYA) community organiser Chloe Andrew has written a new "working out loud" blog about accessible organising, how inaccessible that world can be and what it takes to bring new disabled young people into it. 1/

Join us at lunchtime on Monday 9 February at 12.15pm to learn more about practical solutions to fuel poverty and additional support available to families. There are currently 6 million children living in fuel poverty, so come along to learn the skills to help them.

JOIN OUR TEAM! We're looking for our new part-time Senior Operations Officer based in Coventry. You’ll join a values-driven team that trusts you to make decisions, celebrates your initiative and recognises that behind every operational task is a person we’re enabling to change lives 🔗 bit.ly/3YJlXY7

HAVE YOUR SAY! 💬 The deadline for giving feedback on what @coventrycc.bsky.social should invest in during 2026/27 is Wednesday 28 January. This year, no cuts to services are proposed—instead there is potential to invest more in our city. What are YOUR priorities? letstalk.coventry.gov.uk/budget-26

COVENTRY'S new 'Green For All' initiative sets out to work with communities to tackle inequalities in access to green and blue spaces in urban areas. As we get started, our new community organiser Ari has penned a blog about what this means to them and how YOU could get involved! Link below 👇

JOIN OUR TEAM as Senior Operations Officer—the operational heartbeat of our award-winning charity enabling community-led change across Coventry and Warwickshire. Part-time role combining operational excellence with warmth, resourcefulness with reliability and efficiency with empathy ⭐ bit.ly/3YJlXY7

Community-led change is happening in Stockingford, Nuneaton and this Thursday (15 Jan) sees the first residents' meeting of 2026 from 6pm at the Ford Community Centre. We're building community leadership for now and the future, asking what change people would like to see and how they could help ✊

LEADERSHIP GOALS 🙌 "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" (Eleanor Roosevelt). Young disabled campaigners from our Coventry Youth Activists (CYA) have shared their proudest leadership moments and the kind of leaders they want to become 👉 bit.ly/4swyc7U

January is tough. The weather is cold, energy bills are high and finances are stretched after the festive period. Millions of people across the UK will be desperately trying to make ends meet this January. Wondering how they’re going to keep their home warm and the lights on this month.

A warm welcome to 2026 from us, and a quick reintroduction to our work for followers new and old. We're a social action charity working alongside people and communities facing disadvantage in Coventry and Warwickshire—helping every life and community have the power to grow 💜 1/

And finally our ✨DECEMBER✨ photo of people with learning disabilities hosting senior public health leaders at Grapevine, leading the meeting and sharing what they believe must change bit.ly/49hbkS6 That's our Year in Photos done! Wishing everyone a peaceful break 🎄

✨NOVEMBER✨ Supported by our community organisers, Need The Loo campaigners marked #WorldToiletDay by bringing ideas for change together with local people, services and national charities to inform their next steps. Learn about the campaign here 🚽 bit.ly/3JM4WIQ

✨OCTOBER✨ In Advocacy Awareness Week we shared Lilly's story, illustrating the theme of #AdvocacyWorks in a web of other Grapevine support. Lilly and her daughter were living in unsuitable temporary accommodation following a relationship breakdown. More bit.ly/4sihd9s

✨SEPTEMBER✨ The ‘Community Centre of the Future’ project, funded by @warwickuni.bsky.social, sees our community organising team reframing the conversation about Canley's shared spaces to reimagine the future use of its communal assets. Look out for news in 2026! bit.ly/GVpower

We're completing our Year in Photos this Christmas Eve! Here's ✨AUGUST✨ and young people with SEND celebrating their 12 months on our Teenvine Plus intensive development programme with a summer camp out. More on how we are strengthening people 💪 bit.ly/GVstrength

OUR YEAR IN PHOTOS ✨ JULY ✨ Continuing our Christmas countdown! Our Coventry Youth Activists launched the CYA Playbook in July—a powerful, practical guide for anyone serious about creating bold, joyful change with young disabled people. Get your copy here ✊ covactivists.co.uk/playbook

Our ✨JUNE✨ photo shows public health system leaders and workers hearing how the Healthy Communities Together partnership of NHS, local government, voluntary and community sector and residents has developed new ways of improving health together over the last four years. 1/

Our Year in Photos ✨MAY✨ Here's our team at @belgradetheatre.bsky.social with the brilliant staff from @ce-lawcentre.bsky.social at the start of a day helping Coventry people affected by the government's proposed changes to disability benefits to respond to the consultation online or on paper.

In September, health advocate Rishard walked 16 miles from Rugby to Coventry to raise awareness of barriers people with learning disabilities like him face when trying to access healthcare. This month, our H Team met with senior public health leaders to make change together. 1/

OUR YEAR IN PHOTOS ✨ APRIL ✨ Today we bring you Coventry Youth Activists' (CYA) accessible voting campaign. Launched in April—ahead of local elections in Warwickshire and around the country—the campaign aimed to raise awareness of the barriers commonly faced by disabled people trying to vote. 1/

THANK YOU 🙏 to Coventry Building Society for inviting us to bring people we've been working alongside during 2025 to the annual 'One Day At Christmas' party at the city's CBS Arena—giving the full Christmas Day experience to anyone who may be alone, isolated or vulnerable this festive period 🎄🎅🥳

Our Year in Photos ✨MARCH✨ In March, our Experts By Experience (EbE) Co-Production Service helped develop new easy read advice explaining the causes and symptoms of pneumonia and aspiration pneumonia, effective treatment and ways to avoid them. What other impact did we make? 1/

Our Year in Photos ✨FEBRUARY✨ Coventry resident Alex launched their sensory library! Alex's idea for a catalogue of items free to borrow with a library card, came from their own experience of autistic sensory processing and was supported by our Connecting for Good team. 1/

Nnena Kalu becomes first artist with a learning disability to win Turner prize

Since marking #WorldToiletDay in Coventry three weeks ago, Need The Loo campaign core team member Ruth and our community organiser Melissa have completed a "loo crawl" of Earlsdon's neighbourhood pubs, shops and cafes—helping venues raise the bar around accessible toilets. 1/

Our Year in Photos ✨JANUARY✨ Here we stand united outside Coventry Council House with people with learning disabilities, friends, families, colleagues, allies successfully defending voluntary sector support from a 45 per cent proposed cut in funding: bit.ly/4aCO6qM

Thank you #CovConnects for donating 20 MiFi units, 10 mobiles, 9 laptops and a tablet to our Help and Connect project. No need for a partridge in a pear tree! These devices will help autistic people and people with learning disabilities access healthcare, training, employment, friendship and more.

Our last #WeAreGrapevine team meeting of 2025 yesterday 💜 Highlights included Grapevine’s Big Ginormous Quiz of the Year and choosing which medal we'd give ourselves and each other! As we close the door on 2025 we're sharing our #job opportunity once more bit.ly/4nY5l9b

Happy International Day of People with Disabilities! Here's a photo of our H Team who educate peers and professionals on how autistic people and people with learning disabilities can live long, healthy lives. Here they are on a 16-mile awareness walk 👣 bit.ly/4iAGnvq

Your council may have additional support through discretionary funds so it's worth checking their website. Residents of Worcestershire, @warwickshirecc.bsky.social, @solihullcouncil.bsky.social & @stratforddc.bsky.social can apply for some council-funded support through us - call 0800 988 2881

#JOB Our Teenvine Next Steps project helped get C back to school for an EHCP assessment. She got her plan, going on to attend alternative provision. She got back to playing piano too—first appearing in a 1m views YouTube video then on a grand piano at Birmingham Symphony Hall! 1/

Coventry Poverty Alliance—convened by Grapevine and @ce-lawcentre.bsky.social since 2022—met yesterday for the final time this year. The meeting came the day before the Autumn Budget, due to be delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves this lunchtime. 1/