From 19 Voices to One Vision - Organising for a Bigger Home for Triangular CIO

Triangular CIO is a small, refugee-led organisation supporting refugees and new migrants across the North East of England. We focus on reaching communities who are so often isolated, underrepresented, and facing multiple forms of injustice and exclusion. Like many grassroots organisations, we've grown fast – sometimes faster than our systems, our space, or our capacity could keep up with. This is the story of how we slowed down, learned to organise properly, and started campaigning for a home that actually fits the community we've become.

Our learning journey

For a long time, our instinct when we hit a problem was to just start pushing: write letters, make noise, ask for what we needed. We'd done that before. But this time, with 19 Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) - groups from across the region from places such as Sudan, Eritrea, Kurdistan, and South America - involved and a shared goal of securing a bigger building, we made a different choice: we slowed down first.

Instead of campaigning reactively, we spent time learning the foundations of organising - building something strong together rather than mobilising only to crises - to make our community stronger in the long term. Bringing 19 different communities around one goal isn't simple, and I think how we did it matters just as much as what we're now trying to achieve.

Building a shared vision

We ran meetings with our community where everyone had the chance to speak - not just the loudest voices in the room, or the people who'd done this kind of work before. Through those conversations, we worked out what we wanted from a new building, and we landed on a clear, shared vision.

From there, we built a structure. Different people took responsibility for areas such as research, communications and coordinating meetings. This meant we could turn that shared vision into an actual plan with concrete and ordered steps, not just good intentions.

Campaigning for the space we need

Our current space can no longer meet the level of community demand we're seeing. So we've been preparing to bring our case directly to Newcastle City Council, sharing evidence of our impact and growth, and making a clear argument that our current provision is no longer fit for purpose.

Our task is simple: immediate commitment to identify and secure a larger space, direct introductions to the right decision-makers, with clear next steps agreed and, in the meantime, access to underused council spaces until a permanent solution is found. Alongside this, we're building a Social Impact Report with real evidence from real people of the outcomes and growth across our communities.

Our relationship with Act Build Change

The support of Act Build Change became a significant part of our journey. Rather than simply providing training, they created the space for us to pause, reflect, and think differently about how we wanted to grow as an organisation. At a time when we were expanding rapidly and responding to increasing demand, their coaching, leadership development, and one-to-one organising support helped us move from simply reacting to challenges towards building a stronger and more intentional organisation.

What made their support particularly valuable was how tailored it was. They took the time to understand our organisation, the communities we serve, and the realities we face – shaping their support around our pace, priorities, and culture rather than asking us to fit into a fixed programme. For a small but fast-growing organisation, that flexibility made a real difference.

In March, we attended a residential programme alongside leaders from other organisations. It gave us the opportunity not only to deepen our understanding of community organising and campaigning, but also to reflect on ourselves as leaders and as a collective. The environment Act Build Change created was open and supportive, encouraging us to build our own power rather than depend on theirs. We also learned about collective care, and many of those practices continue to shape how our team works today.

The confidence and clarity we gained through this support influenced the next stage of our development. It strengthened our leadership, increased the confidence of our volunteers, and helped us organise more effectively with our communities. Act Build Change also introduced us to like-minded organisations, networks, and funders across the country. This provided us with the opportunity to broaden our reach, strengthen our sustainability, and amplify the voices of the communities we work alongside.

What we learned

The biggest lesson from this whole process is that a good idea isn't enough. You can have the clearest vision in the world for what you're building, but if you haven't brought people together around it, it won't go anywhere. Good organising means building strong relationships, agreeing a shared vision as a group rather than as individuals, and building a realistic plan, not an aspirational one, to get there.

Working this way has done more than move our campaign forward. It's built stronger relationships across our 19 organisations, and it's grown our people's confidence to speak up, take on leadership, and contribute in ways they might not have done before. If you stopped any one of us in the corridor and asked what we're trying to achieve, I think we'd all give you roughly the same answer and that shared clarity doesn't happen by accident. It takes work!

That strength has shown up in ways that go well beyond the campaign itself. We've shared tea and food at gatherings that had nothing to do with a building or a council meeting, just people from different organisations getting to know one another. We've held music events that brought communities together in a completely different register, one built on celebration rather than strategy. We've sat down and shared knowledge across groups: what's worked for one organisation, what hasn't for another, honest discussion instead of everyone quietly figuring it out alone. We've spoken directly with service users, not just about them, making sure the people we exist to support are part of the conversation, rather than only the subject of it. Out of all of this, real connections have formed between staff, volunteers, and organisations who, before this, barely knew each other existed. None of that was written into a campaign plan. It happened because we built the relationships first, and the campaign gave us a reason to keep showing up for one another.

Looking ahead

We've made a strong start. We have a clear vision, a real structure, and a plan that's genuinely moving. We're proud of how far we've come as a team of 19 and, with Act Build Change alongside us, we're excited to keep organising until we secure a home that truly matches the scale of our community's impact.

Cruddas Park (our current home) has reached an important milestone in its journey. We have worked hard to reach the highest official level within the council’s housing structure, and this achievement reflects the commitment, determination and leadership of the community. Alongside this progress, we have developed a business plan that sets out our vision for the future. The plan demonstrates that Cruddas Park is not simply asking for change — we are organised, prepared and ready to play an active role in creating positive change for our community.

We are taking another important step by organising a community action to showcase the strength, unity and potential of Cruddas Park. We want to bring residents together and demonstrate the powerful community spirit that exists within the area. We are also inviting a range of people and organisations to join us, so they can see first-hand what Cruddas Park is capable of achieving when the community comes together with a shared purpose. 

We’ve already built a strong community committed to supporting one another. The next step is achieving our goal of a new home.