HOME TO COCREATE HACKNEY & THE COMMUNITY CLOSET.
What is The CoHub?
One Space.
Three Missions.
The CoHub is a resident-led and powered community space in Hackney. It is home to CoCreate Hackney and The Community Closet - two distinct organisations working under one roof with a shared mission: to build stronger communities from the inside out.
We are not a drop-in centre. We are not a charity shop. We are not a consultancy.
We are a community infrastructure model.
The CoHub exists because communities do not need more disconnected services. They need:
- One trusted space
- Consistent presence
- Practical support
- Opportunities to lead
- Pathways into influence
Our model works because it integrates three missions into one living ecosystem:
- Immediate support
- Sustainable solutions
- System-level change
This is not theory. It is lived, built, tested and refined in real time - cocreated alongside residents.
Support
Immediate. Practical. Human.
We provide accessible, dignity-first support for residents across Hackney and beyond.
Through The Community Closet and our hub services, we offer:
• Clothing and essentials with no eligibility barriers
• Crisis bundles and family support
• Food, fuel and digital poverty relief
• Information, Advice & Guidance
• Health and wellbeing sessions
• Drop-ins, workshops and community programmes
We reduce pressure. We prevent escalation. We stabilise people before crisis becomes catastrophe.
Support is not charity. It is infrastructure.
CoHub Hackney is built on three core pillars that drive our community impact, resident-led innovation, and sustainable practices under one roof.
Our Missions
Social Innovation
Circular. Long-term. Resident-powered.
We believe sustainability is social as well as environmental.
Our work includes:
• Circular fashion and reuse
• Repair and enterprise pathways
• Skills development and volunteering
• Gardening and local environmental initiatives
• Income-generating social enterprise
Residents move from receiving support to shaping solutions.
We do not create dependency. We create capability.
Sustainability
Co-designed. Insight-led. System-facing.
Through CoCreate Hackney, we work with residents and institutions to co-produce and co-design services from the ground up.
Our work includes:
• Co-production programmes
• Steering groups and lived experience panels
• Insight Labs
• Community research
• Commissioned service redesign
We translate lived experience into structured influence.
CoCreate helps systems listen properly - and respond differently.
Our Story
CoCreate Hackney emerged from the same foundation - recognising that support alone is not enough. Residents must be at the table where decisions are made.
Together, The CoHub became the bridge between services and systems.
From lived experience → system change - The CoHub was not designed in a boardroom.
It was shaped through lived experience of navigating systems, facing barriers and recognising the gap between services and reality.
The Community Closet was born in the Pandemic - when parents were struggling to access clothing & essentials for their children.
Values & Principles
People First
We respond with dignity, not judgement, understanding the financial and emotional pressures carry.
No Gatekeeping
Support should not require performance. We remove unnecessary barriers wherever possible.
Direct Action
We focus on what works. Not optics. Not tokenism. Real impact for real Hackney residents.
Accountability
We measure impact. We publish learning. We adapt when needed to serve better.
Impact First
We are warm and welcoming - but we are serious about outcomes and long-term stability.
Resident Led
Residents are not beneficiaries. They are contributors, designers and decision-makers.