What's happened since October?
Since the Feast for Our Future event in October 2025 at Jo Richardson school, the Disruptive Explorers (DE) project has moved into a more focused and collaborative phase, bringing together residents who expressed interest in continuing their involvement with this work. From January to April 2026, the group has focused on building relationships, establishing shared principles to working together, and developing approaches to how a pot of funding could be used in Barking & Dagenham.
The DE members are still using the below framework to guide their work:
Power: We want to disrupt how power is used and try different ways of using power.
Connection: We want to create environments where different voices and perspectives are accommodated.
Learning: We want to equip ourselves and our communities with the knowledge and skills to use power and make change.
Subsequent sessions shifted toward exploring what “disruption” means in practice and how different funding approaches align with the project’s aims. Participants examined who holds power, who benefits, and how inclusive different models might be.
From late February into March, the group refined its focus to the how– designing processes for decision-making. Through collaborative exercises, participants developed and presented multiple proposals, ultimately selecting four to take forward. These included approaches centred around using a digital platform to distribute funding to communities, decision-making led by people with lived experience, funding for parks, and youth-centred decision-making.
“Being a part of the DE group has been both fun and challenging, as I've been connecting to a community of people from diverse backgrounds so that we develop new ways of working together, and shift the power dynamics in Barking and Dagenham to make sure residents decide how funding is spent...this experience has helped me to become more curious, and to build my community skills and knowledge. I'm excited to see how this journey evolves and discover what impact the group makes in the borough."
By April 2026, marking the end of “phase one,” the group began assessing the feasibility of these options, identifying areas for further research and testing. The focus now is on refining and validating these approaches, with the aim of agreeing a final approach to distributing this funding and action plan by July 2026.
“I enjoy making new connections, building new relationships, aswell as building on previous relationships and forming stronger bonds. Seeing and learning how to be disruptive and make disruptive decisions is also very engaging. I have really enjoyed being part of this process and I am looking forward to the outcome.”
What's next?
Stay tuned for what comes next from the Disruptive Explorers project! Exciting things are on the horizon- which might need your involvement.
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