Link magazine is our quarterly newsletter in which we look at the latest developments affecting the community and voluntary sector locally and nationally.
Whilst his manifesto made little direct reference to the voluntary sector, Boris’s proclaimed support for the London Citizens ‘Citizens Agenda’ is something which many in the sector will want to see him deliver on. The Citizens Agenda comprises five key planks of policy, they relate to governance, housing, street safety, opportunities for young people and the London Living Wage. Boris Johnson has already introduced the London Living Wage to City Hall and his manifesto contains a pledge to increase the number of companies that become ‘living wage employers’ from just over 100 to 250 in four years. Figures suggest that about 20% of Londoners currently earn less than the current living wage figure of £8.30. That’s over half a million people who struggle to meet the basic cost of living in the capital. Many local voluntary organisations pay the living wage but the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is one employer that has chosen not to implement it. Whether Boris is doing enough to make a difference on this issue is open to debate. On youth employment Boris’s policies centre on vastly expanding the apprenticeships scheme. He plans to create an extra 100,000 by the end of this year and an additional 250,000 by 2016. We want to see if any of these opportunities turn into substantive jobs. On housing Boris is pledging to deliver 55,000 new affordable homes by 2015. He has set targets in the London Plan to deliver 32,210 new homes every year but delivered only 18,310 last year. Rising private rents and an estimated 240,000 living in overcrowded accommodation is why many, including homelessness charity Shelter and the National Housing Federation, are calling for a greater increase in the available housing stock. London needs a mayor that will work with local councils to ensure that our city is one that is full of What will Boris do for us? mixed neighbourhoods with housing for all. Healthy mixed communities are vital and require a good range of proper social housing and enough lower cost rented accommodation. After all one would hope that no one really wants to live in a monochrome world. The Social Council is working with a number of groups locally and across London to ensure that the unfairness associated with recent decisions about housing and housing benefit is public knowledge. Through our membership of London Citizens we will be part of a number of London wide campaigns to ensure fairness and social justice is delivered, especially through the role of the London mayor. Boris Johnson’s re-election as London Mayor means he will exert a significant influence over the lives of Londoners over the next four years. SUMMER 2012
Transcript
Whilst his manifesto made littledirect reference to the voluntarysector, Boris’s proclaimedsupport for the London Citizens‘Citizens Agenda’ is somethingwhich many in the sector will wantto see him deliver on.The Citizens Agenda comprises
five key planks of policy, theyrelate to governance, housing,street safety, opportunities foryoung people and the LondonLiving Wage.Boris Johnson has already
introduced the London LivingWage to City Hall and hismanifesto contains a pledge toincrease the number ofcompanies that become ‘livingwage employers’ from just over100 to 250 in four years.Figures suggest that about
20% of Londoners currently earnless than the current living wagefigure of £8.30. That’s over half amillion people who struggle tomeet the basic cost of living inthe capital. Many local voluntaryorganisations pay the living wagebut the Royal Borough ofKensington and Chelsea is oneemployer that has chosen not toimplement it. Whether Boris isdoing enough to make adifference on this issue is open todebate.On youth employment Boris’s
policies centre on vastlyexpanding the apprenticeships
scheme. He plans to create anextra 100,000 by the end of thisyear and an additional 250,000 by2016. We want to see if any ofthese opportunities turn intosubstantive jobs.On housing Boris is pledging to
deliver 55,000 new affordablehomes by 2015. He has settargets in the London Plan todeliver 32,210 new homes everyyear but delivered only 18,310last year. Rising private rents andan estimated 240,000 living inovercrowded accommodation iswhy many, includinghomelessness charity Shelter andthe National Housing Federation,are calling for a greater increasein the available housing stock.London needs a mayor that will
work with local councils to ensurethat our city is one that is full of
What will Boris do for us?
mixed neighbourhoods withhousing for all. Healthy mixedcommunities are vital and requirea good range of proper socialhousing and enough lower costrented accommodation. After allone would hope that no one reallywants to live in a monochromeworld.The Social Council is working
with a number of groups locallyand across London to ensure thatthe unfairness associated withrecent decisions about housingand housing benefit is publicknowledge.Through our membership of
London Citizens we will be part ofa number of London widecampaigns to ensure fairness andsocial justice is delivered,especially through the role of theLondon mayor.
Boris Johnson’s re-election as London Mayor means he will exert a significantinfluence over the lives of Londoners over the next four years.
The views expressed in Link are notnecessarily those of KCSC.
Kensington & ChelseaSocial Council (KCSC)works to support locally focusedvoluntary and communityorganisations serving local residents.
An artist’s impression of the Wornington Green development currently under constructionin North Kensington. There is concern that many people currently housed in the area
will not be able to afford to live there much longer.
Poverty Watch hears VoicesAfter speaking with around 70 local residents from the Golborne ward onwhat it is like to live in Golborne, the Social Council in partnership withseveral voluntary and community organisations held a dialogue sessionwith Golborne residents on 3 May to discuss ways of improving the areaand the lives of people who live locally.
The meeting was called following the release of figures earlier this yearthat showed the ward to be the second most deprived in London basedon the extent measure of the Indices of Deprivation.People spoke passionately about the need to protect the area’s rich
cultural mix and highlighted the concerns that mattered most. The risingcost of living was a running theme whilst people called for more to bedone to boost learning and employment opportunities for youth, moreaffordable nursery care and improvements to the physical landscape.A group from the meeting went forward to address councillors at a
Borough Voluntary Advisory Group meeting to find ways the localcommunity and the statutory authorities could work together to tacklesome of the issues raised.You can read about the Golborne Voices work at
www.kcsc.org/povertywatch.
The Future of Affordable Housing
Golborne Road during the Notting Hill Carnival: The area’s rich diversity and range of culturesis something many people value and want to preserve.
The council has produced a draft Housing Strategyand draft Tenancy Strategy for consultation until 10thJune. The Housing Strategy lays out how affordablehousing will be developed whilst the Tenancy Strategysets out objectives for social housing providers onhow social tenancies should be issued. Both draftstrategies were presented at the Kensington andChelsea Partnership on Tuesday 22 May.A concern over ‘affordable housing’ is defining what
is deemed ‘affordable’ in a borough where the cost ofhousing is amongst the highest in the UK. Anestimated starting salary of £80,000 is required to getonto the housing ladder in Kensington and Chelsea.This salary is way out of the reach of many localresidents, especially those in more deprived areas.The future of social housing and the chances of
getting a home are also a big concern in a borough
A new ethical credit union will soon be offeringindividuals and businesses a real alternative to highstreet banking in the Royal Borough of Kensington andChelsea (RBKC).
As well as providing a financial return, Your CreditUnion will focus on investing in the local community,so money stays local and in the pockets of members,rather than just private shareholders.
Community-minded residents of RBKC andneighbouring areas will be offered the chance to investmoney for social good, unlocking affordable financialservices for people who may otherwise be unable toaccess mainstream banking.
Despite being one of the richest areas of the UK,almost a quarter of all residents in Kensington and
Chelsea – nearly 25,000 households – aremarginalised from mainstream financial services andare frequently at the mercy of home credit companies,payday lenders, pawnbrokers and illegal loan sharks,often paying extortionate borrowing rates, sometimesas high as 2,000% APR.
The mutually owned and not-for-profit credit unionaims to provide local people, no matter what theircircumstances, with an opportunity to save and borrowusing a fair, affordable and local service.
Interested individuals can find out more informationabout the credit union at www.yourcu.co.uk orcontact 020 8354 5663.
where 8000 people are currently on the housingwaiting list. On average there are only 490 newlettings per year. With new legislation that will allowsocial landlords to charge up to 80% of the marketrate for social housing and the impact of universalcredit next year, there are fears that even socialhousing will be out of reach for local people in thefuture.With high land values that mean buying a property
is an option only for the few and space for buildingnew homes at a premium, Kensington and Chelsea isnot unique but is certainly an extreme case. Surely weshould be arguing for a different response to theGovernment’s guidance on social and affordablehousing. One that values the rich social mix of ourexisting communities.
Your Credit Union, Kensington and Chelsea:The Changing Face of Ethical Banking
Building Vocal ConfidenceThe Kensington Community Voices Project was aBig Lottery funded community cohesion initiativesupported by the Social Council and WestwayDevelopment Trust. It built vocal confidence amongstlocal people to enable them to speak up effectively atmeetings as well as by telling their story through songswhich they choose, learnt and performed.
The Kensington Community Choir was free andopen to anyone living or working in the borough andmembers described how taking part helped them toincrease their confidence, get out of their home andeven lose weight!
A film about how the projects boosted vocalconfidence can be viewed atwww.kcsc.org.uk/communityvoices.
Both projects were run by vocal coach AneesaChaudhry.
Kensington and Chelsea isone of the host boroughsfor this summer’s gameswith indoor volleyball to bestaged at the Earl’s CourtExhibition Centre and roadcycling due to passthrough Fulham Road.
In 2010 the council outlined itsvision for a local legacy for thegames in the policy – Raising theBar – 2012 and Beyond. In it, thecouncil states that the Olympic andParalympic games will provide theopportunity to promote sport andphysical activity amongst theresidents of Kensington andChelsea.There is a particular emphasis in
the policy on increasing physicalactivity for residents and groups inthe north of the borough wherestatistics show historically lowerlevels of participation and poorerhealth outcomes.The council’s Transport
Environment and Leisure ServiceDelivery Plan also refers to a legacyfor Kensington and Chelsea. Itstates its aim “to capitalise on the2012 Olympics and Paralympics topromote recognition of the royalborough as a place for creativityand innovation, and increase
figure was much lower at 18%.Obesity levels are generally lower
than the London average despite adifference of 6-7% between thenorthern and southern parts of theborough. However worryingly, year 6children (aged 10-11) in the boroughsee rates amongst the highest in thecountry. In 2009/10 the JSNAreported one quarter of year 6children as obese.To ensure the legacy of the
Olympics has the desired impact,the physical health of residentsshould continue to be a priority.Whilst there are plenty of activities toget involved in, clearly more needsto be done to address the
Five years ago the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA )Now with the games just weeks away it is worth con
participation in sport andcommunity activity.”The plan again, emphasises a
desire to see increased levels ofphysical activity in the north of theborough.
So how are we doing?The Joint Strategic NeedsAssessment (JSNA) which maps theneeds of the local populationreported last year that whilst levels ofphysical activity (defined as 30minutes 3 times a week) across theborough as a whole were muchhigher (28%) than the London(21.3%) and national (21%) average,in the north of the borough this
‘ Our responsibility is to stage a great games for the athletes of the world –a games that inspires young people and heralds a new era for communitydevelopment linked to sport, and maximises the social, economic andenvironmental benefits of the 2012 games for future generations.’
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), 2007
The Olympic Stadium has transformed the landscape of East London but will there beany lasting transformation for our communities?
ACY FOR LONDONERS?A ) published its vision for the 2012 London Olympics.onsidering if that vision is on course to be delivered.
Exhibition Road Show, 28 July – 5 August 2012
Road Show is the Council’s contribution to thissummer’s festivities. Taking place on ExhibitionRoad during the first nine days of the Games,ROAD SHOW will provide a place for Londonersand visitors alike to unwind and recharge duringLondon 2012 with everything from a pop-upballroom to a bicycle orchestra.
Visit the Road Show websitewww.exhibitionroadshow.co.uk for full details.
A 400-strong team of volunteers will be recruited tosupport production, administration, on-streetinformation, visitor support, and much more. If youare interested in getting involved visit the VolunteerCentre website at www.voluntarywork.org.uk
If you are interested in gettinginvolved visit the VolunteerCentre website at:www.voluntarywork.org.uk
Concerned about how the Olympicswill affect your organisation?
If you are worried about how road closures,diversions and a busy tube network will impacton your organisation during the games the goodnews is that help is on hand.
For information about how journeys will beaffected you can visitwww.GetAheadOfTheGames.com
To keep up to date with local news andinformation visit the councils Games pages atwww.rbkc.gov.uk/london2012
Read a guest article from the council on the‘Games in the Royal Borough’ on our website atwww.kcsc.org.uk/olympics
Lottery money£425 million that was diverted from the BigLottery Fund to pay for the games is not likely tobe returned until the mid-2020s. In total £675million was taken from lottery distributors and itwill not be recouped until the land of the OlympicPark is sold. Sales are expected to take placeover 25 years.
The Big Lottery Fund is amajor funder of the voluntarysector and the Directory ofSocial Change has beenleading calls for the moneyto be refunded.
www.biglotteryrefund.org.uk
discrepancy in health relatedstatistics between the borough asa whole and its most deprivedneighbourhoods.
VolunteeringIncreasing volunteering opportunitiesis another key way in which theOlympics will be used to engagecommunities. A team of 500 localpeople have been recruited asLondon Ambassadors as part of thevolunteering drive lead by the localVolunteer Centre. There is also a local
scheme to place volunteers in sportsand activity groups as part of theborough’s legacy. Kirsty Palmer, ChiefExecutive of the Volunteer Centrestates “The whole Olympics isdepending on almost 100,000volunteers giving millions of hours oftheir time and, as a host Borough,K&C is making every effort to makesure that local people are able to be apart of it.”Volunteering is seen as an
essential part of building the spirit ofthe Olympics and once the Games
have ended it is an important aspectof maintaining community spirit.There are plenty of ways to getinvolved, not just in the Olympics andcelebration events but in supportingthe local voluntary sector, ensuring alasting legacy.Let's all get behind the Olympics
and make the Games something tobe proud of. We also hope the legacythe Games leave behind can alsoinspire pride in years to come.
As it’s Olympic year wespoke to Abdullahi Ali fromBaraka Youth Associationabout the role sport hasplayed in inspiring theyoung people hisorganisation works with.
Can you tell us a bit about theorigins of the Baraka YouthAssociation?Baraka has been around forabout ten years. We started withfootball for young boys and theirfathers. A lot of new arrivals fromSomalia settled in the area in thelate 90s and there was a growingproblem with some of the boysgetting mixed up in anti-socialbehaviour and petty crime. Someof us parents thought we neededsomething constructive to do andso we started playing football atKensington Memorial Park.
Did you have any support todo this?At first it was parents from thelocal community, at one stage wehad an ex-player who had playedfor the Somali national teamcome and train the boys whichmade everyone more determinedto succeed. It wasn’t until 2002when we got funding fromChildren in Need that we couldafford to buy kits and boots.Westway Development Trust hasalso been helpful and even nowthey provide us with pitches toplay on weekends. We runsessions for juniors from 4pm to6pm on Saturdays and for thoseaged over 16 on Sundays.
How has football helped thepeople you support?It was never about helping peoplebecome footballers. It keeps youfit but the sessions were also achance for people to makefriends and meet people theyotherwise wouldn’t meet.Post 9/11 there was a lot of
discrimination, many Somali
children faced bullying and wewanted to breakdown somebarriers through football. We playa lot against teams from differentbackgrounds and our teams arenot now wholly Somali. Wewelcome children from allbackgrounds. Football has inmany cases been a steppingstone to wider participation. Wehave encouraged the boys totake up gym sessions and to tryfor the Duke of Edinburgh Awardscheme, 14 children have nowreceived a bronze award.
What other activities do youprovide?We started female only swimmingclasses for the girls, normallyover 12s wouldn’t swim becausethey wouldn’t want to attendmixed classes. We had to findfemales from the community whowould volunteer to support them.Every year we take the boys andgirls away, camping in thecountryside. We encourage themto work in teams and to workthings out for themselves and wehelp them to work towards aDuke of Edinburgh Award. Inaddition to this oursupplementary school providesEnglish, Maths and Science studyand homework support duringweekday evenings.
How does the sporting activitylink to the supplementaryschool activities?A lot of children get involvedthrough sport and then startattending the supplementaryschool classes. I believe thediscipline and team ethic children
learn through sport helps them inthe class room. Those who attendregular sports activities alsobecome better at school. As partof the Duke of Edinburgh schemewe encouraged children tovolunteer. Sometimes they mighthelp in the classroom by takingthe register and we recorded thetime they spent helping out. 17children have become peermentors. Participation helps totackle low self-esteem and raisesaspirations. We encouragechildren to put forwardsuggestions for activities and theyhave taken part in debatingcontests and been taken on tripsto the science museum.
What new activities are youinvolved with at the moment?This summer we will be takingsome of the children on anexchange trip to Sweden, theyhad to fundraise for the tripthemselves and managed to raise£2,500. We are also developing asmall allotment for boys to growvegetables; the girls are takingpart in an intergenerationalproject in which they are teachingolder women computer skills inexchange for learning domesticskills like sewing.We have drop in advice and
guidance sessions, regular coffeemornings, workshops and seminarsfor parents and local residentsaimed at improving their knowledgeof the education system, trainingand job opportunities, fitness andhealthy eating.
The Baraka Youth juniors football team practise every Saturday at Westway.
1 We will work to develop closerrelationships between localbusinesses and local voluntaryorganisations, developingcorporate volunteering andgiving
2 We will develop a joint webportal so that you can accessour web support though oneeasy to navigate online gateway
3 We will develop financial e-learning courses, providing yourstaff and volunteers with moreflexible ways of learning
4 We will support you to learnabout tendering processes andcome together with other
We have now received funding todevelop this company as part ofthe work of the K&C InfrastructureConsortium. Lev Pedro has nowbeen appointed businessdevelopment manager, and IanHarvey is the newly recruitedmonitoring and compliance officer.Based at the Social Council, Levand Ian are now developing abusiness plan and the monitoringsystems that will support thecompany.The company won its first
contract in March to undertake
You will have read in previous editions of LINK thatwe have set up a company, Kensington & ChelseaCommunity Enterprises CIC, which will bid forcontracts and sub-contract work to localorganisations through a consortium approach.
some action research into thebarriers that people fromdisadvantaged groups face inchanging their household energytariffs. We are delivering thisthrough four partner organisationsbased in Westminster and K&C.As we go to press, we are
gathering ‘pre-qualificationquestionnaire’ data from aminimum of 50 organisations, sothat we have all the data at ourfingertips when a commissioningopportunity arises. We plan toopen up another round of data
organisations to bid forcontracts
5 We will explore and implementways for us to work moreclosely together ensuring youreceive a more seamless andjoined up service from us
In our last edition we introduced the new Kensingtonand Chelsea Infrastructure Consortium, a partnershipbetween us, the Volunteer Centre, CASH, K&CFoundation and the Migrant and Refugee CommunitiesForum. But how will its work improve services to yourorganisation? Here we outline our 5 pledges to you:
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T R A N S F O R M I N G LO C A L I N F R A S T R U C T U R E
Get involved withTransforming
We need you as members of theSocial Council to tell us how wecan continue to provide effectivesupport that will help move us intowhat is looking like an uncertainfuture.
We have two colleagues – HelenHughes and Lisa Charalambousworking for KCSC that are keen tohear your views and will berunning a Community Day onSunday 15th July so that as manyof you can attend as possible tohelp shape future services and tofind out more about our ideas onproviding future support for thesector.
To find out how you can getinvolved contract the TransformingTeam at [email protected]
Transforming support for your organisation
Kensington & ChelseaCommunity Enterprises
gathering later in the year.The company has a board of
directors drawn from the board ofSocial Council, and an advisorygroup representing different clientgroups.We are also working closely
with the new tri-borough consortiaDesta (health and social care) andValens (children and families) toensure that we are all workingtogether, not in competition, tobring money into the voluntarysector.
Lev Pedro and Ian Harvey will bedeveloping K&C Community Enterprises CIC.
Overseeing Finances – a training session for trusteesThursday 21 June 2012 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Would your trustee board like some bespoke training?
Maybe your charity trusteeswould benefit from afacilitated session on strategic planning?
Whatever your in-house training andfacilitation needs are, contact us for a chat andwe will see how we can help you.
The Get on Board trustee support project canprovide your board members with in-housetraining, advice and facilitation.
Whether it’s just refresher training ontrustee law or advice on a specific issue theGet on Board project can help.
This training will provide voluntary sectortrustees with an overview of what they need toknow to help guide their organisation inmanaging its finances.
The session is being organised by the Geton Board Kensington and Chelsea project in
partnership with Community Accountancy SelfHelp (CASH).
It is open to any trustee of a voluntary andcommunity organisation operating in theborough of Kensington and Chelsea and isparticularly suitable for new trustees.
The second of our big lunch events willhave an Olympic theme in celebration ofthe Games as the women’s cycling roadrace passes nearby.
Similarly to the first Big Lunch event inJune, this festival will be family friendly, withlots of entertainment and activities for all.So come along and join us in a celebration ofour multicultural neighbourhood. This will be agreat opportunity for all ages, races andcultures to come together and socialise in a funand healthy environment.
A third and final Big Lunch event will betaking place on Sunday 19 August 2012 at OldBrompton Cemetery. Please keep an eye on ourwebsite for further details of that.
