'Whose communities are being uplifted by the UK government’s £5bn investment? Not ours'

The UK government’s recently launched Pride in Place strategy pledges £5bn over ten years to revitalise up to 339 of the country’s most disadvantaged areas. Its ambition is to empower local communities, restore high streets and improve public spaces. At Pathway Fund, we welcome investment that seeks to uplift communities. Yet we must ask: whose communities are being uplifted?

The answer is clear: not ours. And so we must ask again – if not now, then when will Black and Ethnically Minoritised (BEM) communities see the investment they deserve?

With targeted, place-based investment, the government could unlock the potential of BEM communities nationwide. As the Adebowale Commission on Social Investment highlighted in 2022, more than £3bn could be added to the economy if investment in the most deprived communities was more effective. This position is reinforced by our regional ‘listening partners’, validated by the success of our Enterprise Development Programme (which supports BEM-led enterprises), and, according to polling that we carried out, supported by the majority of the British public.

An absence of racial intentionality

While the Pride in Place Strategy references “doubly disadvantaged” areas in England, Wales, and Scotland, whilst encouraging local decision-making, it fails to confront the structural inequities faced by BEM communities. These are the communities Pathway Fund serves – those at the sharpest edge of racial and economic injustice. A place-based approach that ignores race is not only incomplete, it risks entrenching the very disparities it seeks to dismantle.

The absence of racial intentionality is particularly stark in the wake of the 2024 race riots, which exposed deep societal fault lines. Together with partners, we called on the prime minister for urgent action and meaningful investment in the communities most affected. Our message was clear: inclusive economic growth is one of the most powerful antidotes to hatred and disenfranchisement. But it must be intentional, not incidental.

• Read more: UK social investment making ‘slow and disappointing progress’ in meeting social entrepreneurs’ needs – Adebowale

This concern is shared beyond our communities. At the 2025 Labour Party Conference, leaders from predominantly white working-class areas voiced similar unease, recognising that racial equity was missing from the Pride in Place Strategy. Their concerns echoed our findings: Pathway’s Enterprise Development Programme has demonstrated that place-based interventions can increase the communitarian impact of BEM-led social enterprises by 84%.

A place-based approach that ignores race is not only incomplete, it risks entrenching the very disparities it seeks to dismantle

The government’s 2025 Budget did deliver regional investment – the £500m Mayoral Revolving Growth Fund and the £902m Local Growth Fund. Both are welcome initiatives supporting the impact economy. Yet both remain light on one essential principle: inclusive growth.

Our regional listening series, spanning ten regions and engaging over 300 stakeholders, revealed diverse social economies at different stages of development. But all shared a common struggle: the fight for recognition, resources and racial equity. In Bristol, Liverpool, and West Yorkshire, we saw promising models of racially equitable investment through a number of local networks and social enterprises. These ecosystems demonstrate what is possible when BEM communities are empowered to lead. They should be scaled, not sidelined.

Our region-first approach

In November, Pathway Fund launched its 2026–2029 strategy. As the UK’s first BEM-led social investment wholesaler, we are building a multi-layered investment platform rooted in community, driven by equity and designed to catalyse long-term justice. Our strategy sets out a region-first approach, a spectrum of capital deployment, and a commitment to building an endowment that will serve BEM communities for decades to come. It is both an invitation and a challenge: to funders, institutions, and government to collaborate, invest and do better.

• Read more: Opinion: ‘Funders, treat Black-led organisations fairly or accept responsibility for our erasure’

At the heart of our strategy is the £12m allocation we received from the Dormant Assets Scheme. While welcome, this is not enough. That is why we are building a long-term endowment, designed to be spent down over 25 years, to support BEM-led fund managers, for-profit businesses, and community asset ownership. Our regional deployment plans are shaped by these insights, ensuring funding meets communities where they are – not where policy assumes they should be.

If the government is serious about mission-driven, renewal-focused growth, it must move beyond generic place-based rhetoric and adopt a racially intentional lens

The Dormant Assets Scheme funding is a significant step forward. But if the government is serious about mission-driven, renewal-focused growth, it must move beyond generic place-based rhetoric and adopt a racially intentional lens. That means recognising the unique barriers BEM communities face and resourcing them accordingly. It means funding BEM-led intermediaries, supporting community asset ownership, and embedding racial equity into every stage of policy design and delivery.

Pathway Fund stands ready to collaborate. But we will also challenge. We will challenge the idea that equity can be achieved without confronting race. We will challenge the notion that investment is neutral. And we will challenge every institution that overlooks the transformative potential of regional BEM communities. Because pride in place should not be a racially marked privilege – it should be a universally held expectation. 

Asher Craig is CEO of the Pathway Fund, which is the UK’s first Black and Ethnic Minoritised-led impact investment wholesaler. It has an initial goal of securing £50m to create an endowment to be spent within 25 years. 

Header photo shows Bradford in West Yorkshire, one of the regions that the Pathway Fund has been focusing on in its listening series.

Create your own user feedback survey