Key words: community cohesion, inclusion, diversity, partnership, belonging
The North East Wales Community Cohesion Team brings marginalised communities together through co-produced projects, proving we have more in common than divides us.
The North East Wales Community Cohesion Team (NEWCC) has been bringing people together across North East Wales since 2019. Funded by Welsh Government and employed through Wrexham Local Authority, the team occupies a deliberately unusual position, moving freely between the local authority, partner organisations, and communities. It is precisely that flexibility that makes the work possible, and that sets this model apart.
The team’s work spans an impressive range of co-produced projects, creative programmes, and community initiatives. The community book project brought Syrian and Afghan families in Denbighshire together over six sessions to share their culture, their journey, and their sense of home, culminating in a celebration event with five other community groups. The Larynx Live project worked with young hip hop artists in Wrexham, and revealed something unexpected: when asked why they wanted to make music, every single young person gave the same answer, not fame or money, but to look after their family and friends.
Wider initiatives include the North East Wales Multi-Cultural Hub, a growing collective of over 14 organisations co-producing events and activities celebrating diversity across the region, and the N.E.W. Leaders programme, which gave young people a genuine stake in shaping five co-produced projects spanning mental health, cultural identity, young carers, and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Gareth Hall has also been instrumental in building the North Wales Interfaith Network, now over 100 members strong, creating a trusted space for communities of different faiths and beliefs to learn from each other.
At its heart, the NEWCC team’s message is simple: bring people together, get them standing side by side, and help them realise they have more in common than divides us. Community cohesion doesn’t happen within organisations, it happens between them, and that is exactly where this team has made its home.
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