dream act inspire
@theleapbd
community-led climate action
Dream Act Inspire is a bold, community-led climate action programme rooted in social justice, lived experience and cultural practice. Delivered over 3.5 years, it demonstrates how coordinated, grassroots action in marginalised urban communities can generate meaningful local environmental change while producing nationally relevant learning and models for replication.
The programme is funded by National Lottery Community Fund (Climate Action Fund) and Bradford Council. Support focuses on densely populated, disproportionately polluted neighbourhoods across Bradford District, supporting communities historically under-represented in climate leadership to become designers, owners and leaders of climate solutions. Fairness, inclusion and equity are embedded throughout, alongside practical, impactful action that connects climate, health, wellbeing and place.
Led by The Leap, Dream – Act – Inspire will support six community partners to co-design and deliver locally tailored Climate Action Programmes. Partners represent a wide range of communities of place and interest, including disabled people, older people, minority ethnic women, White working-class communities and migrant communities. Each community based partner will receive funding and dedicated capacity building support to strengthen organisational sustainability and deliver climate action rooted in local priorities.
Projects will emerge through a proven co-creation model, developed by The Leap and may include: reclaiming disused land, pocket parks, community food growing, biodiversity enhancement, waste reduction and creative reuse, community-owned energy initiatives. These hyper-local interventions will improve air quality, biodiversity and climate resilience while fostering pride, ownership and long-term behaviour change.
The programme is structured around three stages:
Dream (Year 1): community visioning, capacity-building, expert input, learning visits, local consultation and co-design.
Act (Year 2): delivery of six community-led climate projects, with residents actively involved in implementation.
Inspire (Years 1- 3): capturing learning, producing toolkits and films, and sharing nationally through conferences and a new National Community-Led Climate Action Network
Governance is community-led, with collective decision-making through an independently chaired steering group, back-office support from The Leap, and shared accountability across the consortium of partners.
Strategic partners include Bradford Council, Natural England, West Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and a national network of supporting organisations across England. Together, they ensure learning is embedded within wider climate, health and place-based strategies, and shared far beyond Bradford district.
Dream Act Inspire responds to urgent need in one of the UK’s most diverse and deprived districts, where life expectancy, health outcomes and environmental conditions lag behind national averages. It proves that deprived urban communities can lead climate action, create lasting environmental and social change, and inspire others to do the same. The legacy will be healthier, greener neighbourhoods; confident local climate leaders; and a scalable, people-powered model for national transformation.
dreAm act iNspire partners
Bradford District Senior Power is a volunteer-led charity supporting older people across Bradford and Keighley. They provide guidance, information and companionship to reduce loneliness and help seniors remain independent. Their work focuses on isolated and vulnerable adults aged 60+, including those with dementia, poor health and complex needs. BDSP also runs weekly social and learning groups at venues throughout the district, helping residents stay supported locally.
Bradford Moor Play & Support Service has supported the local community for over 15 years, developing practical, community-led solutions through partnerships with residents and organisations. Their vision is to make Bradford Moor a place people are proud to live and work. PASS focuses on entrepreneurship, education, volunteering, employment and community safety, with diversity and inclusion central to all their activities.
Founded after Hurricane David in 1979, the Dominica Association of Bradford is a long-established community hub with 100 family memberships. It supports social welfare, education and culture through senior activities, warm spaces, meals and cultural traditions. The association also runs community programmes, children’s activities and popular street parties, promoting unity and providing an inclusive, welcoming space for all ages and cultures across Bradford.
Keighley Association Women and Children’s Centre is a charity supporting women, girls and underserved communities in Keighley. It provides advice, education, health activities and youth clubs while promoting community cohesion, tackling extremism and reducing antisocial behaviour. KAWWAC works to create stronger, safer and fairer communities through inclusive local support and engagement.
Kyffin Place Community Centre, known as The Sutton Centre, is a Bradford charity supporting underserved communities through arts, wellbeing and community activities. Open seven days a week, it offers programmes for all ages, venue hire and the Tong Wellbeing Hub, which provides mental health support, welfare advice, fitness sessions, domestic abuse services and substance misuse support.
Since 1988, Mind the Gap has created a pioneering legacy. We collaborate with learning disabled and/or autistic artists to make exciting, unapologetic, original work. We want to live in a world where learning disabled and/or autistic people are seen, heard and represented everywhere. Based in Bradford, we make and tour work nationally and internationally, train artists for the future and specialise in community based cultural access.