Team Leader, Transformational Regeneration, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

CAPE Policy Fellow

Rachel Appiah is a Transformational Regeneration Lead, at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. This involves working on holistic regeneration and convening local leaders and other government departments to address the challenges that are holding deprived cities and communities back, as part of the Government’s Levelling Up Agenda.

She previously worked as a Stakeholder and Community Engagement Manager leading on engagement with the affected Grenfell communities. This involved managing relationships with key stakeholder groups, local engagement strategy and ensuring that it aligned with the Government’s wider objectives of supporting Grenfell recovery.

She has also worked on prison policy at the Ministry of Justice, establishing and maintaining relationships with the independent scrutiny bodies who monitor and inspect prisons and courts and custody services. This also involved facilitating strategic engagement between the scrutiny bodies and policy teams to influence policy development and providing strategic advice to Ministers and Senior Officials on key issues affecting the prison estate.

Rachel was a Project Co-ordinator for the Us Programme, a charity which addresses socio-economic inequality in different regions across the UK and is currently on the Advisory Board for the Social Mobility Foundation.

In the past, Rachel has also engaged with CEOs in private sector organisations conducting research and training on how senior leaders can create a collaborative environment in the workplace. Her interests include social mobility, diversity, and inclusion and empowering young people to pursue the policy profession.