Across Bradford, hundreds of small community organisations are quietly changing lives every day.
They run breakfast clubs, mentor young people, support struggling families and create safe spaces where none existed before. Yet many operate on the edge – underfunded, overstretched and often invisible to those with the power to help.
For Fozia Naseem, Partnerships Manager at GiveBradford, making sure those organisations are seen, heard and supported has become a personal mission.
Her journey into the role did not begin in boardrooms or funding bodies. It started on the frontline.
Several years ago, Fozia co-founded Hop On Yorkshire Ltd, a social enterprise delivering cycling, yoga, walking and eco-coaching programmes across Bradford and Kirklees. Working directly with communities transformed how she understood the sector.
“You see the passion people bring to their communities,” she says. “But you also see the reality – organisations trying to survive with very little support while doing work that genuinely changes lives.”
Like many grassroots leaders, Fozia experienced the strain herself. Running a community organisation with limited resources can be isolating, uncertain and emotionally demanding.
During a particularly difficult period in her life, she began to notice a wider pattern.
“So many organisations are doing incredible work,” she explains.
“But they’re often overlooked simply because they don’t have the right connections or the confidence to navigate funding systems.”
That realisation gave her a sense of purpose. Today, at GiveBradford, Fozia works to shift that imbalance.
“I want to be a voice for organisations in spaces they’re rarely invited into,” she says. “These groups are the heartbeat of our communities.”
Where grassroots voices meet opportunity
Fozia’s role is as much about listening as it is about funding.
Each day she meets community leaders, volunteers, businesses and donors – people who care deeply about Bradford but may never have crossed paths before. She helps grassroots organisations access funding, build partnerships and gain the confidence to grow their work.
At the same time, she works with businesses and philanthropists who want to invest in the city. “It’s about helping people understand what’s happening on the ground,” she says.
“And showing them how their support can create real, lasting change.”
GiveBradford has already distributed millions of pounds in grants to local organisations tackling some of the district’s most pressing issues, from youth services and mental health to poverty and unemployment.
But numbers alone do not tell the story.
“For me, impact is the difference it makes in someone’s life,” Fozia adds.
One project that left a lasting impression on her is Café South, run by Saif Space CIC in Buttershaw. The initiative offers young people a safe space before school, with breakfast, mentoring and wellbeing support.
She recalls hearing about one young person who began attending after struggling to engage at school. “They were arriving tired and disconnected,” she says.
“But through something as simple as a warm breakfast and trusted adults who showed up every day, their confidence started to grow.”
Attendance improved. Behaviour changed. The young person began engaging with school again.
“It shows how something small on the surface can completely change the direction of someone’s life.”
Protecting stories, building pride
Another project close to Fozia’s heart is the Bradford South Asian Festival, which created space for communities to share migration stories and explore identity and belonging.
The work resonated deeply with her own family history.
“My parents were just nine and ten years old during the Indian partition,” she says.
“Some of the stories they shared about what they witnessed were horrific.”
Those memories were never fully recorded before her father passed away and her mother later developed Alzheimer’s.
“So much of that history disappears unless communities preserve it themselves.”
Projects like this, she believes, do more than celebrate culture. They help young people understand their roots and build pride in who they are.
They also highlight something Bradford has always been known for – resilience.
Investing in Bradford’s future
Born and raised in the city, Fozia speaks about Bradford with unmistakable affection.
“I’m a Bradford girl – or maybe a Bradford woman,” she says with a smile.
“This city shaped me.”
Its diversity, creativity and strong community spirit continue to inspire her work.
But she also believes Bradford deserves greater investment.
While many people generously support charitable causes overseas, Naseem encourages donors to look closer to home as well.
“A lot of money goes abroad, which is important,” she says. “But we also need to support communities here.”
Grassroots organisations, she argues, understand local needs better than anyone.
“They’re rooted in the communities they serve. They understand the culture, the challenges and the lived experiences.”
Supporting them means strengthening the foundations of the city itself.
For Fozia, success is not measured simply by how much funding is distributed, but by the strength of the communities that grow from it. “My vision is simple,” she says. “To make a positive difference in the world, one person at a time.”
