Caflo (Community Actions For Local Opportunities)
Charity 1181925
Overview
Summary
Caflo appears to be a place-based civic infrastructure organisation rather than a narrowly defined sports provider. Its community centre functions as a shared local platform in Bromford, combining recreational space with support-oriented activity including food provision, mental wellbeing and informal social connection. In a highly deprived area, this suggests a role in making everyday community participation and support more accessible across age groups and needs, while also providing a base that other voluntary activity may be able to use.
Operational geography
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Bromford and Hodge Hill
Confidence: medium
CAFLO's current official website identifies its sports and community centre as being in Bromford, Hodge Hill and describes services delivered through that centre. Its Charity Commission record and latest available trustees' report identify the Sports & Community Centre as its principal address. The evidence supports activity in the named local area, but does not directly establish a ward boundary assignment.
- CAFLO official website, Home page
States that CAFLO Sports & Community Centre is based in Bromford, Hodge Hill, and provides meetings, classes, sport, recreation, a food bank, mental-wellbeing activity and chat clubs. - CAFLO official website, About and Activities pages
Describes CAFLO as having grown from within the community centre, providing activities and space for local groups, charities and community use. - Charity Commission register: CAFLO, charity number 1181925
Lists the Sports & Community Centre as the charity address; the 2024 trustees' annual report identifies the same location as the principal address and describes work for people in Firs and Bromford. - Birmingham City Council, New ward maps / Bromford and Hodge Hill ward materials
Confirms Bromford and Hodge Hill as a current Birmingham ward.
Remaining uncertainties
- There is no current evidence of CAFLO directly delivering services from a second site or in another Birmingham ward.
- CAFLO's charitable objects refer to Firs, Bromford and 'surrounding areas', but this establishes its intended local beneficiary community rather than evidenced operational sites beyond the Bromford and Hodge Hill ward.
- CAFLO lists external activity providers and groups using its centre, but the available evidence does not show that these arrangements extend CAFLO's own delivery footprint beyond the centre.
- The Charity Commission categorises grant making as CAFLO's main method of carrying out its purposes, but the available public record does not identify the locations of grant recipients or demonstrate a wider operational geography.
Additional evidence needed
- A current service timetable or annual report specifying whether any CAFLO-run activities are delivered away from its centre.
- Current information on grant recipients, delivery partners and any outreach provision, including the locations at which CAFLO funds or operates services.
- Confirmation of whether the listed activity providers are centre-based users, formal delivery partners, or CAFLO-operated programmes.
Areas of work
- Recreation
Who they help
- Children/young People
- Elderly/old People
- Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
- People Of A Particular Ethnic Or Racial Origin
- People With Disabilities
- The General Public/mankind
How they help
- Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A community venue with a broader social role
Although recreation is its stated charitable activity, Caflo appears to use its physical centre as a base for both leisure and practical social support. Sports, classes and meetings sit alongside a food bank, mental wellbeing activity and chat clubs.
Why it matters
This suggests Caflo may be important not only for activities it directly delivers, but as a local setting where recreation, informal support and community connection can reinforce one another.
Show evidence
“The centre provides spaces for meetings, lectures, classes, sports, recreation, leisure-time activity, a food bank, mental wellbeing and chat clubs.”
Source:Organisation“The charity's object is to improve conditions of life through a community centre for meetings, classes, recreation and leisure-time occupation.”
Source:Charity Commission
Physical space is likely Caflo's core civic asset
Caflo's operating model appears to centre on providing and maintaining accessible shared space, rather than targeting a single issue or beneficiary group.
Why it matters
Understanding Caflo as civic infrastructure helps identify its potential relationship value: it may enable activities by residents, groups and other voluntary bodies that are not visible in the current evidence.
Show evidence
“The charity provides buildings, facilities and open space.”
Source:Charity Commission“The charity helps other charities or voluntary bodies as well as children and young people, older people, people with disabilities, people of particular ethnic or racial origins and the general public.”
Source:Charity Commission
Its breadth may be a response to compounded local pressures
The combination of food support, wellbeing activity, social clubs and recreation may indicate that Caflo addresses interconnected forms of exclusion rather than treating leisure as separate from hardship or isolation.
Why it matters
This frames Caflo as a potential bridge between community development, health and poverty-response systems, which may create opportunities for partnership across sectors.
Show evidence
“CAFLO sports & community centre is based in Bromford, Hodge Hill, an area in the top 1% of deprivation in Birmingham.”
Source:Organisation“The centre provides food bank, mental wellbeing and chat clubs alongside sports, recreation and leisure-time activity.”
Source:Organisation
- It is unclear which activities Caflo delivers directly and which are led by partner organisations.
- There is no evidence on participation levels, access barriers, funding, governance or outcomes.
- The extent of Caflo's relationships with local residents, statutory services and voluntary organisations is unknown.
Remaining uncertainties
- A current programme timetable and list of regular venue users or delivery partners.
- Information on participant demographics, demand, referral routes and unmet needs.
- Annual reports or impact evidence showing how the centre's activities affect local wellbeing, isolation and hardship.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
CAFLO sports & community centre is based in Bromford, Hodge Hill, an area in the top 1% of deprivation in Birmingham. The centre provides spaces for (A)meetings, lectures & classes, (B) different forms of sports, recreation and leisure-time,(C) food bank, mental wellbeing and chat clubs with the object of improving the conditions of life for the inhabitants.
Charity objects
THE PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE OF A COMMUNITY CENTRE FOR THE USE OF THE INHABITANTS OF FIRS AND BROMFORD AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS OR OTHER OPINIONS, INCLUDING USE FOR: (A) MEETINGS, LECTURES AND CLASSES, AND (B) OTHER FORMS OF RECREATION AND LEISURE-TIME OCCUPATION, WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE FOR THE INHABITANTS