Social Responsibility

Finding Inspiration in Every Turn

Katie Fitzgerald's is more than just a venue, we take our social responsibility very seriously supporting and creating a wide range of community groups and community actions, including support for the Foodbank, Mary Stevens Hospice, Living Springs and various animal charities, as well as providing a home for Stourbridge Community Development Trust, and Stourbridge Community land Trust.

Our Town

SCDT and SCLT were formed to address a range of socio economic issues that we felt were beginning to impact upon our town since the financial crash of 2008. These problems have continued to grow with austerity, the pandemic, cost of living crisis and the growth of a real housing emergency, not just here but across the UK

As a business centred on creativity we have observed how rising house prices and the privatisation of public space has affected creativity in the town, driving young people and older workers to find a future elsewhere, or to commute, with all the negative effects on the environment and the local economy.

Stourbridge PowerHaus

From that process was born the Stourbridge PowerHaus and Stourbridge Community Land Trust. This car free, affordable rent and energy development of 22 apartments on Enville street will, we hope, show proof of concept of how retention of creativity is at the heart of Stourbridge and its historic identity as a town. Retaining that capacity to support creativity and enterprise through affordable living is key to our shared future.

Friends of Corbett Meadow

We have also campaigned as Katie's, SCLT and SCDT for the protection of green space as part of our support for the Corbett Meadow Action group, forming the Friends of Corbett Meadow, proposing an alternative view of development of the land around Environment & Health and Wellbeing.

SCDT

As SCDT based at Katie's we are also working across the region as consultant development managers for wMUCH, supporting and creating similar actions in all seven local authorities, lobbying councils, councillors, politicians and the Combined Authority about the idea of Community Power and how Community Based development and investment can power up our economy, locally, regionally and nationally, providing the answers to the mystery of lost productivity.