Bristol24/7’s impact report 2020-2021

Alongside our independent journalism, re-investing in our city is at the centre of Bristol24/7’s approach. We believe in creating positive change and facilitating collaboration on projects with the potential to make a difference to people’s lives.

As a Community Interest Company, the team at Bristol24/7 place this at the heart of everything we do. The last 18 months have been an exceptionally challenging time for everyone and the importance of independent journalism, supporting young people and bringing the city together has become starkly apparent.

The work Bristol24/7 has undertaken in the last year includes providing a voice for communities across the city, supporting and training young people to find employment, hosting free events tackling issues such as mental health and climate change, supporting charities and organisations to make a difference at a grassroots level, reporting first hand on protests and much more.

Read our full 2020-2021 impact report here.

None of this would have been possible without the support of our members and key partners.

Independent journalism

The small, dedicated Bristol24/7 editorial team work hard to produce completely independent journalism and tell stories that would not otherwise be told.

In 2020 we began recruiting writers from some of Bristol’s most deprived wards with no previous experience in journalism. We provided training, support and have since offered them paid employment to cover hyper-local news from their home turf, uncovering stories that mainstream media outlets might miss.

One community reporter, Charlie Watts, first came to Bristol24/7 on a work experience placement as a teenager. His commitment to journalism and talent for finding a story impressed the entire team and he has since been promoted to Community Reporters Editor as well as covering our business news.

By sharing the issues and achievements of their local areas, Bristol24/7’s community reporters are having a big impact. Lockleaze reporter, Emily Shimmel, has been raising awareness across the city by sharing the concerns of people in an area set for a huge housing boom.

We’re currently hiring more community reporters. Read more about the opportunity here.

We’ve also been sharing the voices of young people in St Judes, pleas for disabled adults play parks in North Bristol and celebrations for Eid in Netham Park.

Celebrating Eid in Netham Park – Photo by Ellie Pipe

Bristol24/7 is the only local publication with a dedicated LGBTQ+ Editor, which enables us to cover stories that other publications do not. Earlier this year, Lowie Trewena and Kit Million Ross created and launched LGBTQ+ podcast ‘Queer Catch Up’ as a new accessible way to share news and discussion.

Queer Catch Up is a space by and for queer people, talking candidly and openly about LGBTQ+ news and topics. All episodes are available on Soundcloud, Spotify and on Bristol24/7’s YouTube channel.

Black Lives Matter and ‘kill the bill’ protests

Black Lives Matter protest – photo by Phil Riley

In 2020, our extensive and sensitive coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests and the removal of the Colston statue received attention from all over the world and attracted a record 760,000 unique visitors to the website in June.

In 2021, our comprehensive live reporting from the Kill The Bill protests provided a vital local insight into the events, challenging the official accounts and national and international reporting of them. After our Editor, Martin Booth, was briefly detained by police, Bristol24/7 News Editor Ellie Pipe was invited into the police control room in Portishead in order to report the next ‘kill the bill’ protest from a unique viewpoint.

One banner in the crowd at the protest was in support of Bristol24/7 Editor, Martin Booth, who was detained by police while reporting on the unrest – photo: Tamas Kovacs

Our coverage of both protests, including from a wide range of diverse voices across the city, sparked important debate across our channels, ensured these important scenes were seen around the world and further highlighted the importance of independent local journalism.

Creating opportunities

How To Be A Chef is a free 12-week course launched by Square Food Foundation and Bristol24/7 in 2017. Since then, the programme has trained tens of young people who weren’t otherwise in work or education to be chefs and supported them in finding opportunities for employment.

They leave the course ready for the workplace, with a BTEC Level 2 qualification and a Level 2 Food & Hygiene certificate. The latest cohort of young chefs helps to support local businesses with staffing needs and the young people will have their choice of opportunities in kitchens across Bristol.

The Young Chefs in action – photo by Charlie Watts

Bristol24/7 is working with Weston College to support young people from across the city who are looking for employment or an apprenticeship, by creating the Better Business Traineeship programme. The traineeships are fully funded options for young people looking to get onto the career ladder and seeking to benefit from employability training, coaching and access to job opportunities.

In 2020-21, Bristol24/7 worked with local charity DigiLocal to address the digital divide in the city. Laptops for Bristol worked to get reconditioned laptops into the hands of those people most in need and supported students without access to computers who struggled to complete their schoolwork.

We promoted the call out for donations to our public and business members as well as our wider audience. The aim was to provide 600 laptops. By June 2021, over 1,000 had been distributed to the most in-need families and
young people.

Bristol24/7 Presents

As it became impossible to bring our members together for meetings and events during 2020, Bristol24/7
launched a series of virtual events exploring a wide range of issues and providing practical support. Events thus far have included hosted panel discussions on making creative industries more inclusive, leading a greener and fairer economic recovery, workplace well-being, innovation and becoming the first net-zero city.

The next event in the series ‘Bristol24/7 presents: How can we make Bristol’s boardrooms more diverse?’ will take place on Thursday, November 2 at 2 pm and is free to access via zoom. Sign up for updates and to attend the event here.

Ahead of COP26 in October Bristol24/7 hosted an event on the reality of becoming a net-zero city

Charity partners

We continued to offer free marketing support to local charities and helped them connect to other organisations
that can offer further assistance. Our most recent charity partner is Forest of Avon Trust. The charity creates thriving partnerships such as the impactful ‘Trees for Learning’, which saw over 500 street trees planted with Bristol City Council and Bristol Tree Forum. They are now commissioning a Defra funded tree planting programme, ‘Trees for Climate’, funding and supporting 15.5 hectares of tree planting in the last six months and aiming for a massive 75 hectares next planting season.

Prior to this, Bristol24/7 was supporting Caring in Bristol– a local homelessness charity working to support young
people experiencing homelessness. As our nominated charity, we were able to support awareness of their
projects and help garner support from across the city.

This year, Bristol24/7 teamed up with the Global Goals Centre to support the Bristol 17 campaign. The campaign
has been carried out in the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), where every week the campaign nominates a local hero who is working towards one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Bristol24/7 has supported and shared the work of the campaign’s Bristol Heroes, who are carrying out
imaginative solutions and widespread education and engagement to make a greener, fairer future
for the residents of Bristol and beyond.

Read our full 2020-2021 impact report here.

This is just a snapshot of the important work achieved by Bristol24/7 and our members, supporters and partners. We believe this is just the start and we need your help to keep it going. You can support us by signing up to our newsletter or becoming a member here.

Main image: Lowie Trevenna