Hyde Foundation
Community Survey
2025
Completed
Stockwell and Oval are vibrant, culturally rich neighbourhoods, but the benefits of this vibrancy are not experienced equally by all residents. Many people across these two areas face ongoing challenges linked to poverty, language barriers, disability and long-term health conditions. These inequalities influence not only residents’ quality of life but also how easily they can access the services and community spaces that exist to support them.
Evidence from the earlier Stockwell Strong Fund, which provided grants to local organisations responding to the cost of living crisis, revealed consistent gaps in awareness of local services and venues. Residents reported that they often did not know what support was available, where to find it or how to access it. The Connected Community survey later confirmed these patterns. On page 3 of the report, findings show that most residents rated their awareness at only two to three out of five, and over one third said they never use local services, even when they know they exist. This suggests that knowledge is partial, uneven and not always translating into confidence or action.
Stockwell and Oval also include communities with higher proportions of residents experiencing language barriers, as highlighted on page 14, where 42.3 percent of respondents reported difficulties accessing information due to language. This reinforces the importance of accessible communication and trusted, community-based information channels.
Against this backdrop, the partners behind the Stockwell Strong Fund Sedulous, Oval Learning, Thriving Stockwell and Stockwell Partnership, supported by Hyde Foundation identified an opportunity to use remaining funding to strengthen local information access. Rather than assuming what type of directory residents needed, the partners chose to begin with listening. A community survey was developed to understand how residents currently get information, what they would find most useful and what barriers stand in the way.
This project, The Connected Community, is the result of that work. It continues the ethos of the Stockwell Strong Fund by centring lived experience, challenging inequality and ensuring that any future Service Directory is shaped by the real needs and preferences of the people it aims to serve. By grounding decisions in local insight, the project lays the groundwork for a directory that is not simply a list but a practical, equitable tool that helps Stockwell and Oval residents connect to the support and opportunities around them.
Access to clear, trusted and easy to understand information is a foundation of community wellbeing, yet residents in Stockwell and Oval consistently told us that they struggle to find out what support is available locally. This is not a small gap. It undermines people’s ability to manage everyday pressures, especially during a cost of living crisis that continues to affect many households.
The Connected Community project matters because:
Ultimately, this project matters because access to information shapes access to opportunity. Without reliable, inclusive and easy to navigate ways of discovering what is available, too many people in Stockwell and Oval are unable to benefit from the services that could support their wellbeing, connection and resilience.
We approached this project with a simple but important principle: before building any kind of service directory, we needed to understand how residents actually find information, what they struggle with and what they would genuinely use. This meant starting from lived experience rather than assumptions.
To do this, Sedulous designed a community survey that combined both quantitative questions and open-text responses. The survey explored awareness levels, information channels and preferred formats for a future directory. This mixed-method approach meant we could capture patterns across the area while still allowing residents to describe their experiences in their own words. As shown on page 9 of the report, the questionnaire explored awareness, usage, channel preferences and accessibility barriers, giving us a rounded picture of local information needs.
We worked closely with our partners Oval Learning, Thriving Stockwell and Stockwell Partnership to distribute the survey through trusted local networks. This included schools, community organisations and neighbourhood groups, helping us reach a broad cross section of residents. In total, 52 residents responded, offering insights that reflect real households, real challenges and real information gaps.
Our approach was grounded in participatory values. As described on page 9, Sedulous positions research as a collaborative process rather than an extractive one. This means creating space for residents to share experiences honestly and ensuring their voices inform practical decisions about the future directory.
We also interpreted the results with equity in mind. Residents with disabilities, long-term health conditions and language barriers were particularly vocal in sharing how difficult it can be to access information locally. By highlighting these patterns, we ensured that the findings would not simply describe what residents know but shine a light on who is being left out and why.
Through this approach, we were able to build a clear, community-informed foundation for the next phase of work. The insights generated are grounded in lived experience, shaped by local realities and focused on creating a directory that is not only useful but fair, accessible and trusted by the people it is designed to serve.
Community involvement was central to this project. Rather than designing a directory from the outside, we began by listening to residents who live, work and connect in Stockwell and Oval every day. The survey provided an accessible entry point, giving people the chance to share how they currently find information, what gets in the way and what would make support easier to access.
Through the voices of residents and the commitment to deeper community-led design, this project has laid the first layer of a directory that is not only informative but equitable, trusted and shaped by those who need it most.
The Connected Community project was delivered through a continued partnership between Sedulous, Oval Learning, Thriving Stockwell and Stockwell Partnership. This collaboration builds on the foundations established during the Stockwell Strong Fund, where the partners worked together to distribute grants that supported local organisations responding to the cost of living crisis.
The Hyde Foundation provided the funding that made both the Stockwell Strong Fund and this follow-on project possible. Their support enabled the partnership to extend its work beyond grant distribution and explore how local systems could be strengthened in more sustainable ways.
Each partner brought a different strength to this project. Oval Learning and Thriving Stockwell contributed long-standing community relationships and local knowledge. Stockwell Partnership provided insight into neighbourhood priorities and strong connections with grassroots groups. Sedulous led on community engagement, survey design and analysis, ensuring that residents’ voices shaped the direction and recommendations of the work.
Together, these partners formed a shared vision: to create a service directory rooted in lived experience that helps residents navigate the support, spaces and opportunities available in Stockwell and Oval. The Connected Community project represents the first step toward that shared goal.
This project represents the first step toward creating a service directory that genuinely reflects the needs and realities of Stockwell and Oval residents. The survey has provided a clear foundation, but the work ahead is about deepening and refining that understanding so that the directory is not only accurate, but accessible, trusted and easy to use.
The next phase will focus on building on these insights through targeted co-design sessions with different demographic groups. Residents have already highlighted that experiences vary widely depending on age, language, disability, digital access and community networks. Bringing these groups together in facilitated workshops will allow them to shape the directory’s structure, accessibility features, content priorities and communication style.
Alongside this, the partnership will explore how best to host, maintain and update the directory so that it remains relevant and sustainable. Considerations will include whether the directory should be digital, printed or both; how organisations can keep their information up to date; and how local networks can continue to play a role in sharing information.
By grounding future steps in community insight and continuing the collaborative approach established through the Stockwell Strong Fund, the partners aim to create a directory that strengthens connection, reduces inequality and supports residents in navigating the rich network of services and spaces available in their neighbourhood.
The work now is about turning insight into action and transforming what residents have shared into a practical tool that benefits the whole community.
If your organisation is exploring ways to understand communities more deeply or to design services that are shaped by the people they are meant to support, we would be happy to work with you. Sedulous specialises in insight-led community engagement that translates local experiences into practical, inclusive solutions. Whether you are developing a new project, planning community research or looking to create tools that improve access to information, we can help you build an approach that is grounded in trust and real-world understanding.
Contact us to start a conversation about how we can support your next piece of work. Stronger communities begin with listening, and meaningful change grows from what people share.
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