Local authorities have a strong tradition of supporting communities to help themselves, and this is nowhere better illustrated than in the learning they commission and deliver through the Adult Safeguarded Learning budget. The budget was set up to protect at least a minimum of provision for adult liberal education, family learning and learning for neighbourhood renewal from the pressure of national targets and qualification frameworks. However, the budget has been reported as under threat in the spending review. Yet much of the learning it funds is facilitating the kind of self-organising, grassroots activism the government says it wants to support. The author visited two local authorities to see the often profound difference this sort of learning is making to communities. Kirklees Council and Somerset County Council are two examples that, in their different ways, offer models for the effective use of Adult Safeguarded Learning funding in supporting grassroots, community activism.