At the start: Why and how we began

In 1982, in the wake of riots in Toxteth and Brixton, the UK was suffering from high levels of unemployment and inner-city unrest.

Business in the Community was created following a government conference where a group of US business leaders involved in the urban regeneration of Baltimore and Detroit in the 1970s shared their experiences with their British counterparts.

Supporting economic regeneration

Our organisation was formed by a small number of secondees from both companies and the public sector. Early supporters included Barclays Bank, BP, British Steel (Industry), IBM, ICI, Marks and Spencer, Midland Bank and WHSmith.

Regeneration was our initial focus; we acted as a broker for companies supporting local enterprise agencies with cash, secondees, premises, equipment, expertise and employee volunteering.

Healthy back streets, healthy high streets

We described this as corporate community involvement and then as ‘corporate community investment’. We wanted to show that business might achieve benefits, such as enhanced reputation or improved staff morale, not necessarily gained from ad hoc philanthropy.

Our first few corporate supporters knew that companies had a vital role to play in offering solutions, because it was the right thing to do for business: 'healthy back streets make for healthy high streets'.

Content of this page written by Helen Baker, Concise Content