Honouring Our Communities: Five organisations making a difference for children and families

In Part 1 of this series, we explored what this year's Black History Month theme, 'Honouring Our Communities', means for our work on children's health and food.

This piece continues that theme, showcasing organisations who are putting community knowledge, culture and leadership at the heart of their work.

From maternal health and culturally relevant nutrition to community growing, land justice and representation of diverse networks in the food system, these are just a few examples of the many communities creating healthier and fairer futures on their own terms.

The Motherhood Group

Founded by Sandra Igwe MBE in 2016, The Motherhood Group is a leading Black maternal health organisation supporting Black mothers and families across the UK. Through community-led support, peer networks, campaigns, research and professional training, it works to improve culturally competent care and support for Black mothers.

For Black Maternal Mental Health Week, mothers, professionals, researchers and community organisations came together for conversations, support and action. The 2026 programme included a parliamentary event, community activities, wellbeing sessions and the Black Maternal Health Conference.

Alongside this, The Motherhood Group provides peer support, counselling and training for healthcare professionals, helping turn lived experience into better care. Its digital platform, MumBrite, connects mothers with tailored wellbeing support, specialists and culturally relevant support nearby.

Together, this work helps ensure Black mothers are not only supported through their maternal journeys, but that their experiences are heard and used to improve the care they and future generations receive.

Food for Purpose

Food for Purpose is dedicated to enhancing health and wellbeing for Black and Global Majority communities, particularly faith groups, through culturally relevant, practical education and support. Its work addresses nutrition-related conditions such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension, while helping healthcare providers and community organisations deliver more culturally sensitive support.

One example is its Healthy Church Initiative, developed specifically for the Black African Caribbean church community. Food for Purpose works with church leaders and trains community-based Health Champions, combining evidence-based health information with cultural and faith-based approaches. The programme recognises the important role churches can play as trusted spaces within communities, creating opportunities to talk about health and wellbeing in places where people already gather and connect.

It's a strong example of what culturally specific nutrition support looks like when it's designed with a community, rather than assumed to work for everyone in the same way.

Land in Our Names (LION)

Land in Our Names is a collective working towards racial and land justice in the UK, focused on addressing inequalities in land access and food security for Black and People of Colour communities.

You can see this work taking shape in LION's Dandelion Garden, a London-based growing space for Black and People of Colour. Opened for regular volunteer drop-ins and seasonal gatherings in 2024, the garden has grown into a community of more than 100 volunteers. People can join regular growing sessions, whether they are completely new to food growing or already have experience, with the emphasis on growing the foods the community actually wants to eat.

Alongside this, LION is building towards something much bigger: collective ownership of land by and for Black and People of Colour. Its vision is for a space where people can grow food, share skills, rest, learn, organise and rebuild relationships with land and nature. The organisation is currently developing a roadmap towards making this vision a reality.

Black Rootz, incubated by Ubele Initiative

Based in Haringey, Black Rootz is the UK's first multigenerational, Black-led growing enterprise, reconnecting Londoners with seed, ancestral knowledge and earth. It was established in 2019, incubated by Ubele Initiative, a Black-led charity supporting community-led regeneration and resilience across the UK, with its home at the Wolves Lane Horticultural Centre. It sits alongside sister projects like Go Grow With Love in Tottenham and Enfield, which supports women of African and Caribbean heritage in building a reciprocal relationship with local land, strengthening community resilience and food security across London.

These projects show food resilience being built from the ground up through growing, skill-sharing and intergenerational knowledge passed between communities, with organisations like Ubele providing the infrastructure that lets grassroots growing projects take root and last.

Culture Roots Collective

Culture Roots Collective is a Global Majority-led initiative to amplify Black people and people of colour working across food and farming through a directory, resources and events. By centering and showcasing the voices and work of people of colour in the movement, the Collective aims to address some of the systemic inbalances of society that our sector mirrors. The platform includes a moving photo bank featuring farmers and landworkers from racialised and marginalised communities to demonstrate the breadth and diversity of our local food system.

For us, this is what honouring communities looks like in practice: making sure the people shaping food and farming reflect the full range of communities that food system serves.

Leading the way, all year round

These organisations show that honouring communities is not simply about recognising their histories. It is about recognising their knowledge, leadership and ideas for the future and supporting communities to shape that future for themselves.

Across maternal health, nutrition, food growing, land justice and food policy, their approaches are different, but they share something important: they start with communities. They create spaces where people can connect, share knowledge, build confidence and have a greater say over the systems that affect their lives. 

Know an individual or organisation making children’s food more diverse, inclusive and accessible? Nominate them for our Children's Food JEDI Award! Deadline for nominations is 8 November.