Big Issue's 100 Changemakers of 2026: Politics and Activism

 
When the global political landscape feels increasingly unstable, it’s reassuring to know activists are doing what they can to protect the people and places they care about.

Every year Big Issue compiles a list of 100 organisations and people who are bringing change to their community. It’s a chance to celebrate the agenda-setting activists and grassroots groundbreakers delivering change.

Head here to see the full Big Issue 100 Changemakers list

Amro Tabari

Turning adversity into action, Tabari is a community volunteer and activist based in Brighton, using his voice to challenge injustice and bring people together. He campaigns publicly on LinkedIn, supporting efforts such as Stop Hurt at Work, and regularly gives his time to local causes through groups including GoodGym and community meal services. As his nominator noted, despite being targeted in racist hate crimes, Tabari “refused to be silenced”, responding instead with compassion, resilience, and an even deeper commitment to community action, inclusion and solidarity. His work is a powerful example of courage and hope in the face of intolerance.

Dewi Emberton

Growing up trans in rural Wales meant isolation and a lack of support, but Emberton turned that experience into activism rooted in care. As a volunteer researcher with LGBT Foundation’s former Trans Advocacy Team, he helped create clear, accessible resources on issues such as Gender Recognition Certificates and bridging prescriptions, supporting people to navigate complex systems and advocate for themselves. He later joined Trans Pride Manchester as a director when it was close to collapse, helping rebuild it into a major, visible celebration of trans resilience. Emberton founded Rural Trans Alliance CIC, a national organisation dedicated to improving the lives of gender non-conforming people living in rural and under-served areas.

Mark Harrison

Harrison has spent more than five decades championing the rights of young people and disabled people, pushing public services to work with communities rather than doing things to them. Starting out as a youth worker in 1970s South London, he went on to lead Equal Lives and help embed co-production and lived experience in policy, research and practice across the UK and beyond. He continues to train local authorities on co-creation, while supporting care-experienced young people to influence change. As his nominator said: “Mark is a humble and beautiful soul… Big Issue seems like the perfect avenue to recognise his life’s work.”

Changing Realities

Changing Realities puts parents and carers on low incomes at the heart of poverty debates, ensuring lived experience shapes policy, not just commentary. Born from Covid Realities in 2020, it has grown into a UK-wide network of 200 parents documenting life on a low income and calling for urgent investment in social security. The project has helped change how government engages with poverty, securing a structured role in developing the Child Poverty Strategy and supporting parents to speak directly to ministers, journalists and the media. It also shares best practice through an Involvement Network and practical guidance.

Trans+ Solidarity Alliance

After the Supreme Court’s judgment on the Equality Act in April and the EHRC’s subsequent guidance, Trans+ Solidarity Alliance mobilised to defend trans inclusion. The volunteer-run organisation coordinated the largest LGBT+ mass lobby of MPs in UK political history, ran nationwide constituent letter-writing, and brought trans voices into parliamentary briefings and media coverage. It also rallied more than 650 businesses to publicly back trans equality, while using social media to keep the community informed and channel fear into action.

Milo Turnley

Creating space, confidence and community through movement, Turnley is the founder of Transkaters, London’s first trans+ skate collective. Launched in 2023, it offers a welcoming alternative to the toxic masculinity many experience in skate parks, welcoming trans skateboarders, rollerskaters, wheelchair users and people of all abilities. The collective now runs the only regular LGBT+ skate night in
London, which is hosted monthly at BAYSIXTY6. In 2025, Milo was named on the Attitude 101 list celebrating LGBTQ+ trailblazers worldwide.

Gaia Rose Cawley

Using her lived experience to challenge stigma and strengthen prevention work on violence against women and girls, Cawley has become a powerful voice for young victim-survivors. She is an #IWill Ambassador and founder of Why Didn’t You Leave?, an online community tackling harmful myths around domestic abuse. Gaia has also been part of UN Women UK’s GenEqual programme, worked as an NHS young researcher, and was runner-up for the UNiDAYS Student Women of the Year award. A trustee and youth board member at Tender Education and Arts, she campaigns through talks, panels and her YouTube channel. As her nominators wrote, Gaia dedicates “countless hours… effecting real change across society.”

Chris Wild

Fighting for children in care to be heard, Wild is a speaker and director of Foster Greatness UK, using lived experience to push for lasting change. His books Damaged and The State of It expose the realities many young people face in the care system and demand urgent reform. A tireless campaigner, Wild (right) works alongside advocates including former Big Issue Changemaker Terry Galloway to secure stronger rights for care-experienced people, including calls for care experience to become a protected characteristic. Through policy engagement, community building and public speaking, Chris helps create “space, voice, and power” for the next generation of care leaders.

Juliet Stevenson – Nominated by Alex Lawther, actor

Never far from a protest march or an open letter, Stevenson is a consistent cultural voices for human rights, gender equality and Palestinian self-determination. A celebrated stage and screen actor, she uses her public profile to push for action and stand against injustice. Lawther said: “She’s really excellent in the work [she does], but also really vocal in her activism and her politics.” Stevenson’s campaigning is rooted in solidarity, insisting that silence is not neutral.

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Gary Stevenson – Nominated by Harris Dickinson, actor

A former financial trader turned bestselling author and YouTuber, Stevenson campaigns against economic inequality and call for higher taxes on the ultra-rich. As Dickinson said: “He’s shouting for us to tax the uber rich, which I’m all on board with completely.” Speaking to Big Issue at a Patriotic Millionaires event, Stevenson warned that rising wealth concentration is “destabilising society”, leaving ordinary people working hard but unable to pay bills or buy a home.

Charlotte Faulconbridge, Changemaker 2025

What were your proudest moments from 2025?

Being the first poet to win a national competition performing in British Sign Language.

What did it mean to be named a Big Issue Changemaker?

To be named one of the Big Issue’s Changemakers was incredibly humbling as I’ve never fully had the self-belief to know that my work makes a difference. Having an impact on the lives of children and young adults with disabilities is and will always be my greatest pleasure as no one should have to face the discrimination and abuse I was subjected to.

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