About us
We exist to make sure no community is left out of the decisions that shape their lives.
People Street is a community interest company working across the UK. Building on more than twenty years of practice, we bridge the gap between systems and the communities they too often struggle to reach.
Our story
We campaign for Design Justice. It's a simple conviction: the people closest to a problem understand it best and must be centred in decisions that affect their lives.. Over two decades we have built a network of trusted outreach leaders, facilitators and community researchers, who listen, gather and translate lived experience into evidence that systems can act on.
Today we work across asylum & migration, health and mental wealth, poverty and financial literacy, climate justice and inclusive technology. We lead community development projects alongside supporting government bodies, universities, NHS organisations and researchers to engage the communities that matter most. We unite bottom-up experiences with top-down perspectives to agitate, disrupt and innovate.
What we believe
The voices of communities most negatively impacted/excluded by a policy, product, service or pathway must be centred in the design, testing and evaluation of the policy, service, product or pathway. Lived experience is evidence.
We show up, listen and follow through. Relationships come before research. We value reciprocity and mutuality. We don't reach out to people because you 'need' them. We offer them opportunities to take action because we want to shift power back to the communities.
Design WITH the communities most at risk of exclusion and roll it out to everyone! Bake the inclusion into the design and make products and services we all want to use.
Our people
Led by community, backed by expertise
A multi-disciplinary team alongside a network of more than 150 outreach leaders and community researchers across the UK. We are a Global Majority, female-led organisation. We are representative of the communities we serve. We are People Street.
Lisa Mutanga
Community Participation Coordinator
Lisa sits in the outreach team supporting our Outreach Leaders and Community Researchers. Lisa ensures the most under-heard voices are supported to take part in User Research for clients like the Home Office and Department Health & Social Care. Lisa asks the best questions. She drops insights in every meeting.
Yumi Geron
Research Assistant
Yumi sits in the community research team. She supports co-design activities and sense making with Community Researchers. Yumi's has a big brain and an equally big heart. She is our quiet thinker who loves nothing more than analysing data and creating visualisations.
Tanya Strutt
Engagement Coordinator
Tanya sits in the community research team. Tanya supports our Community Facilitators, Outreach Leaders and Community Researchers ensuring participation of the most excluded voices. She loves a plan and is possibly the friendliest person in all of London.
Khadra Ibrahim
Outreach Lead
Khadra sits in the engagement team and leads on outreach in east London running health literacy sessions for Somali women alongside our partners at the Somali Senior Citizens Club. Khadra is a beam of sunshine whose love of people is unmatched. If you google community development, we think Khadra's image will pop up!
Soumo Ghosh
Senior Researcher
Soumo leads the community research team. He ensures learning and insights run as a thread across the organisation. Soumo loves to chat and its he's sharp mind and love of people that make him an essential ingredient in our team. Soumo's superpower is his ability to distil complexity into simplicity. It's why our community researchers adore Soumo.
Niluishka Perera
Director of Impact & Innovation
Nilu leads on impact and innovation projects, embedding learning and evaluation as a thread across all our work. Nilu also oversees our inclusive tech projects. Nilu has both a beautiful brain and beautiful heart. She's full of ideas which makes her a perfect partner in crime with Shabira when they fundraise together.
Nimo Mohamed
Director of Outreach & Engagement
Nimo leads all our outreach and engagement work across the UK. She supports the capacity of our Outreach Leaders and Community Researchers to reach under-heard voices. She has the patience of Mother Teresa, a heart of gold and teaches us something new everyday.
Jo Wood
Artist in Residence
Jo is a creative and a maker based in East London. For Jo's 12-month residency she is turning our insights into images. She's bringing alive the work to make it accessible to a range of audiences. Jo is another quiet thinker with an astute perception and to us, she is a magician!
Robert Elliot Smith
CTO
Rob is our thoughtful and curious CTO. He is the author of "Rage inside the Machine: The Prejudice of Algorithms, and How to Stop the Internet Making Bigots of Us All". Rob is leading on the development of every1, our inclusive tech project.
Shabira Cassidy
Chief Executive
Shabira works alongside the People Street team to bring our vision and mission to life. She is full of ideas and gets excited about collaborating with like-minded partners.