Sara Bryson

(Date first appointed: 2021)

 

Sara Bryson is a Senior Community Organiser with Tyne & Wear Citizens. Community Organising brings together civil society (institutions of education, faith, and community) to act together for power, social justice and the common good. Citizens UK is perhaps best known for the Living Wage Movement bringing millions of pounds in additional wages to low paid workers and lifting hundreds of thousands of families out of working poverty. Sara trains and develops community leaders to act on issues of local concern. This currently includes action on the Environment; Racism & Inequality; Poverty and Mental Health.

Sara has worked with children, young people, and communities to ensure their views and experiences inform policy, practice, and research for over 20 years - both regionally and nationally within Sure Start Children’s Centres, Children’s Fund, The Children’s Society, and the Office for the Children’s Commissioner for England. As the Policy & Research Manager at the regional children’s charity Children North East, Sara led on the child poverty programme of work. Developing ‘Poverty Proofing the School Day,’ a nationally celebrated programme to remove barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils.

In a voluntary capacity Sara is currently Chair of Trustees at West End Women & Girls Centre; a Trustee at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art; and an Advisory Group Member at Jesmond Park Academy. Sara also served as a Commissioner on IPPRs Commission on Economic Justice (2016-2018).

Sara was born and raised in the west end of Newcastle and studied at the London School of Economics (LSE). She is a 2016 (North East Specialist) Clore Social Leadership Fellow and a Fellow at the RSA. She lives in Newcastle with her two children and is passionate social justice and tackling poverty and inequality.