About Deep Boroughs Network - DBN / Home
Deep Boroughs Network (DBN) is a social enterprise supporting residents, community-led VCS, businesses and underserved leaders. We partner with institutions, funders, developers and universities to co-design non-extractive programmes that build skills, leadership and social impact.
DBN supports communities - residents, organisers and community-led SMEs - to grow leadership, skills and local impact. Through peer-led learning and funded training, we build confidence and drive community-led change.
-
Join our learning network • Build skills with DBN
DBN works with institutions, funders and universities to deliver community-led programmes rooted in lived experience. As an independent LLDC community partner across Stratford and QEOP, we provide local insight and accountable partnerships supporting enterprise growth and social impact.
-
Co-create with DBN • Partner on community-led programmes
DBN™ connects communities through networking and cultural placemaking, creating safe spaces for collaboration and community-led engagement.
Working close to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Deep Boroughs Network (DBN™), an LLDC community partner and CAN Action Group member, operates across Stratford, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and the Royal Docks - including Creative Newham - delivering local and national impact.
Connecting - Bridging - Co-designing - Building
_.jpg)
Our Story
Who we are
Deep Boroughs Network (DBN) is an East London-based collective of lived-experience experts, grassroots researchers, and community-led businesses. Led by a Project Director with extensive community expertise and academic experience at UCL, Loughborough, LSBU and UEL, we bridge research, practice, and place.
We partner with businesses, funders, universities, and communities to deliver insight-led, community-driven solutions that create social value, inclusive growth, and real impact.
In the Royal Docks and Newham, we connect Creative Producers and events as part of the Creative Newham network — supporting artists and growing a vibrant local creative ecosystem.
As a member of the Community Anchor Network (CAN), we back communities, women, and underrepresented leaders through neighbourhood research, co-designed projects, and inclusive economic development ensuring local investment delivers lasting benefit.
Deep Boroughs Network (DBN) at The LightHouse and Gardens, Stratford E20. A regular local community home since 2022.
What We Do Differently
Deep Boroughs Network (DBN): Community-Powered Co-Design
We don't copy others. We build with communities, not on top of them.
Using our proprietary Deep Listening Framework™ and Unified Network of Networks™, DBN co-creates non-extractive solutions with London's community organisations, creatives, partners and businesses. Lived experience and unheard voices sit at the centre of everything we do.
Community organisations: Grassroots trust, fair credit and real influence over decisions.
Cross-sector partnerships: DBN helps organisations from different sectors agree clear goals, roles and fair decision-making, then stay accountable to each other. The impact: trusted partnerships that stay on track and deliver measurable outcomes.
Commercial partners: Hyperlocal East London, Stratford , national insight, proven impact models, from partnership in National Lottery- and UKRI-funded networks.
Community Research & Insight | DBN
Capacity Building
Workshop,Upskilling
Outreach & Engagement
Networks of Networks
Community Consultation &
Co-Design | DBN
-
Community-led research
-
Lived experience insight
-
Neighbourhood intelligence & Tailored Research
-
Community-centred regeneration analysis
-
Deep Listening Framework™ Community Insight
-
Bespoke Training
-
Mentoring
-
Community business support
-
Leadership development
-
Practical governance strategy for cross-sector partnerships
-
Policy Influence
-
Collective Voice
-
Strategic Advocacy
-
Systems Change
-
Community Representation
-
Stakeholder Engagement
-
DBN Social Capital Strategies
-
Workshops and Roundtables
-
Partnership facilitation
-
Community voice & consultation
-
Urban Research & Social Value Services | DBN
-
Deep Threads Creative Health | Stratford E20 | DBN
Citizens at the heart of design & change.
Join our network
We would love to hear from you - send us a message to book a virtual meeting and join our mailing list
Contact Us & Connect
