Our Mission
Creating social justice through strong local economies.
Our Mission
We exist to build stronger local economies that enable people and communities experiencing disadvantage to secure better livelihoods and long-term resilience.
We do this by improving access to good jobs and career pathways, supporting community enterprises and small businesses, and strengthening local spending power so that more wealth stays within local communities.
Our approach is rooted in place. We connect schools, communities, businesses and institutions to create practical routes into work and enterprise, bringing local people, organisations and investment together around shared economic outcomes.
Strategic Aims
Our seven strategic aims set the direction for our work from 2026 to 2031.
Together, they reflect our dual role: delivering practical programmes with people, communities and enterprises, while also building bridges between organisations, systems and resources to create lasting local impact.
Our Values
Our values guide how our members, staff and associates work. They shape our culture, inform the decisions we make and underpin the relationships we build.
They help us deliver our mission and strategic aims with integrity, consistency and purpose.
How We Create Change
Local economies are shaped by the relationships between people, enterprises, institutions and investment. Lasting change depends on these parts of the local economy working together rather than in isolation.
Our role is both practical and connective. We:
Deliver
programmes that create routes into good work, support enterprise and respond to the priorities of local communities.
Learn
from our work, building evidence about what works and sharing that learning with our partners.
Influence
policy, practice and investment so that economic development better reflects local needs and creates lasting value.
Across all three areas, we connect and convene partners, create opportunities for collaboration and help communities and institutions understand and work with one another.
Our Place-Based Approach
Every community has its own strengths, challenges and opportunities. We begin by listening to local people and organisations and understanding how the local economy works.
We then bring together communities, employers, public institutions and other partners to develop practical responses shaped by the place itself. This helps ensure that economic opportunities are accessible to local people and that more of the value created is retained and shared locally.
Our Ambition
We want local economies to work for everyone.
That means people can access good work and opportunities to progress; community enterprises and locally rooted businesses can thrive; institutions collaborate around shared priorities; and investment responds to what communities need.
By combining delivery, learning and influence, we aim to create lasting social, economic and environmental value—and support places where people and communities can shape and benefit from their local economy.
Our Strategy and Theory of Change
Our Strategic Plan sets out Loconomy’s direction and priorities for 2026–31.
Our Theory of Change explains how our activities contribute to stronger, fairer and more resilient local economies.