We care about people and places and express this in long-term commitment to our priority neighbourhoods – all within a few miles of each other in North East Birmingham
Perry Common
This is where it all began back in 2003. Perry Common and the surrounding area once had the highest juvenile crime rate across Birmingham. Through prayer, partnership and positive relationships UDB have played our part in turning this around but there is still so much to do. Our base here is Hope House and we run various activities from The Underground, part of St Martin’s Church.
Short Heath
Just up the road from Perry Common lies a collection of neighbourhoods surrounding Short Heath Park. New builds mingle with beautiful period properties, a 20th century sink estate and post-war high rises. Pockets of this area are in the poorest 1% across the entire nation but there is a vibrant and unmistakable sense of community. We run street-based activities on the Topcroft estate and support the work of St Margaret’s Church over on Jarvis Road.
Erdington Hall
Over towards Spaghetti Junction lies the Erdington Hall estate. With rising youth crime levels and high rates of unemployment we were invited to launch a youth project there in 2009 and centred our project around St Chad’s Church. We have seen significant change and are getting to know an increasingly diverse community of people.
Wyrley Birch
Wyrley Birch is a small estate of 800 or so homes situated next to the beautiful Witton Lakes. Services and resources have been gradually removed from the neighbourhood over the past 20 years and it is one of the most statistically disadvantaged places to live in the UK. Working with local people and other organisations we are beginning to see things shift. We run activities at Witton Lakes.
Pype Hayes
In the south east of Erdington lies the Pype Hayes estate. In early 2021 we began working in partnership with Lighthouse Church | St Mary’s to get to know local children, families and young people and discover how we could support them in becoming everything they were created to be. We started our work here with 3 team members and a pizza oven. This has now evolved to weekly Family Drop-In and Youth Drop-In Clubs alongside our usual blend of walking the streets, asking questions, listening and giving away lots of food!
Erdington Central
Erdington High Street is the meeting point for so many of the local schools so we’ve ben itching to establish a presence here for some time. In late 2021 we partnered with Churches Together Erdington and St Barnabas Church to begin connecting with the young people who walked past. In 2022 this became a fully fledged Drop-In Club with hot chocolates, toasties, games and various creative activities.