Introducing Bradford Speaks
On June 30th 2025, the Millside Centre in Bradford hosted Bradford Speaks, a vibrant community event dedicated to exploring what’s needed to enhance education, employability, and life chances across the city.
Part of our project – From the Centre to the Periphery – a collaborative initiative between the universities of Bath, Bristol and Durham – this event is one of the series of ‘Periphery Speaks‘ designed to surface local perspectives on place-based educational inequalities. The aim is to help inform our process evaluation of the Opportunity Areas programme and help shape policy solutions for regional economic growth.
Bradford Speaks brought together local community organisations, education stakeholders, residents, and public sector partners for a day of rich discussion and reflection. Presentations and contributions from Shine West Bowling, The Education Alliance for Life Chances (EALC), The Sutton Centre, Bradford Council, and Sharing Voices highlighted the critical challenges facing Bradford’s communities.
The event emphasised the importance of long-term, locally rooted change – grounded in trust, strong relationships, and community-led solutions – to address barriers to young people’s opportunity and improve life chances. Interactive breakout sessions and mapping activities encouraged participants to identify areas of greatest need and discuss the support systems that could make a difference from early years through to adulthood.
Bradford Speaks demonstrated the power of collaborative, place-based approaches to education and skills development. By focussing on local voices, the event not only helped to inform our process evaluation, but provide valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners committed to building a more equitable future for Bradford.
Thank you to everyone involved and to Dr Chris Cunningham for organising the event. Stay tuned for future Periphery Speaks events.
