The upcoming general election has put political conversations and debates firmly back at the top of many of our agendas, but the general feeling during this campaign has been one of despair and hopelessness in our politicians and the systems they work in. In fact, Stylist conducted a poll of more than 500 women in the UK and found that although 89% intend to vote in the general election on 4 July, only 0.6% trust the current political parties and politicians.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom. There are many grassroots political groups and organisations working at a local level to bring about much-needed change in our communities. It can be easy to get stuck into the mindset that politics happens at the top and that the only role we as individuals have in our democracy is voting during elections. But that isn’t the case. Politics happens every day to each and every one of us.

From giving young people a voice in politics to pushing for change for migrant voting rights, here are three women-led grassroots organisations you should know about today.

Naked Politics

Naked Politics was initially set up as a grassroots media platform for young people at a time when young people weren’t thought to be interested in politics. Since then, there’s been a “shift in perception and it’s obvious young people are very invested in political change – just not necessarily through traditional means such as becoming a politician or being involved in party politics”, Banseka Kayembe, the director and founder of Naked Politics, told Stylist.

The organisation has evolved with its audience, having a core focus on people power and how ordinary communities can fight for the political change they need. It commissions young journalists to write about the issues and stories impacting young people and its team goes into schools to educate young marginalised people on social movements and collective power.

“If you want to engage young and marginalised people, it’s very important to go where they are and not expect them to organically come to you. When conversations about politics don’t involve local people, it can feel like politics is something being done to you, rather than something you are shaping. Politics is too top-down and grassroots organisations are trying to fill that – often with very limited resources.

When it comes to establishment politics, many young people feel quite hopeless. There’s this idea that democracy is just the presence of ballot boxes once every few years and that’s the extent of democratic participation. We don’t have an aspirational democratic system that encourages people to work together to pressure power holders. But collectively, people have so much power and that should give us hope for a better world.”

Migrant Democracy Project

Migrant Democracy Project is the only campaign group in the UK that specifically focuses on residence-based voting rights (RBVR). RBVR means that wherever you live, work and contribute to society, you should have a say in how it is governed. In Scotland and Wales, residents can vote in their devolved parliamentary elections. The non-partisan organisation believes that all residents in the UK should be able to vote in all local elections and those who have lived here at least five years or have indefinite leave to remain should be able to vote in general elections.

To achieve this goal, it works with local authorities to pass its motion in support of RBVR, and so far, 12 local councils have passed its motion. “The more we can show governments that this is something supported at the local level, the easier it will be to integrate extending the right to vote into the national discourse,” says Frankie Gaynor, Migrant Democracy Project’s advocacy manager.

Gaynor explains that the organising perspective of their work involves creating power through a ‘bottom-up’ direction, which includes its MPower programme (training first-generation migrants to stand in elections), voter registration work, arranging tours of parliament and building a network of migrants in the UK. The advocacy component of their strategy is a ‘top-down’ approach, which includes meetings with MPs’ offices, attending party conferences and gaining support for RBVR at a governmental level. “By adopting both strategies simultaneously, we believe this is the most effective model for building power and bringing about real legislative change.”

“Local and grassroots work is extremely important because it’s impossible to shift a national conversation without having already shifted the narrative at a local level. We believe in the power of people and the power of community. Don’t feed the status quo by giving up – organising, mobilising and building community is the only way we can keep pushing forward and fighting for what is right.”

The Politics Project

The Politics Project supports young people in learning and engaging with democracy and helping them to use their voices. It supports over 2,500 schools and youth organisations in the UK to run education programmes. This year, this work has included running voter registration drives, arranging youth hustings and connecting young people and politicians via video calls through our digital dialogue programme.

The organisation is also the convener of the Democracy Classroom Network: a collaboration of over 100 organisations in the youth, education and democracy spaces, which come together to support young people to engage in elections. “One of the biggest problems we try to tackle is a lack of trust and the best way to do that is by helping people to see politicians as real people through meaningful conversations,” explains Harriet Andrews The Politics Project’s director.

“We often think that politics is about facts and figures, but it’s actually about emotions. Lots of people feel hurt by politics and are nervous to hope again, which can be especially true for communities that are often ignored or underrepresented. It starts in the same way that fixing any relationship does: through listening and demonstrating that you are listening. We need to take some of the toxicity out of politics – on all sides – and start to have a proper conversation.”

Images: Getty; courtesy of organisations