MERCi emphasises the need for self-help solutions and community empowerment to turn around decades of urban decay and to address the new challenges of the 'urban renaissance'.
"What truly benefits us are community businesses employing local people ensuring money is recycled in the area; community gardens where people can relax and socialise; allotments which people can call their own; food co-operatives which offer an alternative to the half mile walk to the supermarket."
Helen Woodcock, MERCi Co-founder 2001
MERCi works with numerous local residents, community and voluntary groups and regeneration agencies to ensure local projects create genuine benefits for the local community both in the short term and for years to come:
"Only by being human scale, democratic and instigated and controlled by local people can regeneration succeed"
Helen Woodcock 2001
MERCi staff are involved in a number of initiatives to green our neighbourhood and improve access to fresh food. In this section of the website are a few of the projects that we are delivering which have potentially huge community benefit.