About Proud Gypsy Traveller CIC

Proud Gypsy Traveller CIC is an ethnic Gypsy and Traveller-led organisation based in Yorkshire and working nationally.

We were created because Gypsy and Traveller people should not have to rely on other people to interpret our experiences, represent our interests or decide which parts of our truth are acceptable.

We can speak for ourselves.

Why PGT exists

For generations, our communities have been researched, categorised and spoken about by people outside them.

Our histories have been distorted. Our knowledge has been overlooked. Our experiences have been reduced to statistics, stereotypes or problems for somebody else to solve.

Even within civil society, representation does not always mean community leadership. Being present in a photograph, consultation or advisory group is not the same as holding power.

PGT exists to challenge that.

We are not here simply to be consulted. We are here to lead.

Who we represent

Our core work centres ethnic Gypsy and Traveller communities:

• Romani Gypsies
• Irish Travellers
• Scottish Gypsy Travellers
• Other Ethnic GTC who feel they do not align with Government labels

These are distinct ethnic communities with their own identities and histories. We do not collapse them into one convenient label.

We also recognise the shared experiences of racism, forced assimilation, exclusion and resistance that connect our communities.

Our work begins with that understanding.

How we work

We combine lived experience with professional expertise in advocacy, research, planning, policy, education, community development and facilitated dialogue.

This allows us to build trusted relationships with community members while challenging the organisations and systems responsible for making decisions.

Our approach is grounded in four principles.

Community leadership

Gypsy and Traveller people must be involved from the beginning—not brought in after the questions, priorities and budgets have already been decided.

Cultural safety

We respect oral communication, family involvement and different ways of participating. Literacy, digital access and communication style should never be used to exclude somebody or dismiss their knowledge.

Independence

We will not change our community’s truth to fit a funding application, research framework or comfortable institutional narrative.

Action

Listening without action is another form of delay. Our work must lead to better decisions, stronger evidence and change that communities can see and feel.

An independent Community Interest Company

Proud Gypsy Traveller CIC is an asset-locked Community Interest Company.

Income from commissioned research, welfare reports, training and other work is used to support our community purpose. Developing earned income also protects our independence and allows us to address issues that may not fit mainstream funding priorities.

We work with funders and partners where our values align. We do not allow funding to determine what our communities are permitted to say.

Our stories are power

Storytelling has always carried our knowledge between generations.

Our stories hold culture, history, humour, resistance and survival. They belong to the people who lived them—not to the organisations that record or publish them.

Whether we are producing research, supporting a family, influencing policy or creating an exhibition, the principle remains the same:

Our voices. Our knowledge. Our terms.