South Riverside Community Development Centre

Description & History

SRCDC is a registered charity with a Memorandum of Association, established for the purpose of benefiting the communities in the Riverside, Canton and Grangetown areas.

SRCDC is a member organisation, an independent voice of the community in South Riverside and neighbouring communities for almost 40 years as well as the provider of a range of essential services to local people. Throughout that time it has worked on the basis of a strong sense of community and of community development values, including empowering and supporting individuals and groups and promoting community cohesion in the most culturally diverse areas in Cardiff and indeed in the whole of Wales. Key to its success is the understanding it has developed of the complexities that arise from multiple barriers facing many local residents including language and the impact of low income.

Our strategic aims – the interrelated means by which we will achieve our mission – are:

• to foster the empowerment of individuals and groups through providing information, facilitating involvement in issues that affect their lives through supporting community organisation and developing skills; and acting as an independent, representative voice for the community;
• to ensure access to services, facilities, and opportunities necessary for social and economic development, health and well-being;
• to develop strong cross-cultural relationships which recognise, value, and celebrate the multicultural makeup of our community. We aim to achieve this by supporting cultural activities within each community, encouraging sharing between cultures and promoting understanding and acceptance, which will benefit our diverse communities.

Location and Area of Benefit

Riverside, Canton and Grangetown areas (Cardiff).

SRCDC aims to:

1. advance the education of the public in matters related to mental, physical, cultural, and social welfare;
2. relieve poverty.

Main services, Enterprises and Activities

SRCDC provides a range of services to thousands of local people per year, the majority of whom are from the BAME communities. Its service users span all age groups and many nationalities and backgrounds. It runs 3 important community building. At the SRCDC-owned Brunel Street Centre it runs a popular mother and toddler group, an extensive programme of education and learning and a community information and signposting service whilst at the Wyndham Street Centre, it runs a community Food Pantry, healthy cooking classes and art/craft projects and the Riverside Warehouse hosts dynamic youth provision.

All centres are available for hire to local community groups with more than 40 taking advantage of this service on a regular basis and many more using the facilities periodically. Under the pandemic this has been problematic and rental and trading income has been much reduced. However since early May 2021 individuals and groups have started to use our buildings again and activities have started to return.

We host a number of groups, such as Keep Riverside Tidy, Women’s chat, Food not Bombs, and the Cardiff Activists Cafe – see the full list here.

Projects include: Breaking Barriers: Greening Riverside Project 2021-2023, River music, Young Children & Parents Project (YCPP), Digital Inclusion and Credu – Believe.