Community Links

Community Links blog

Archive for June, 2009

London Debt Summit

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

dump the debtThe national Financial Inclusion Champions programme is intended to take forward the work of the Now Let’s Talk Money campaign, and is managed by the DWP as part of the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy and Financial Inclusion Fund.

Community Links is leading the development of the champions programme across east and parts of north London. 

Financial Inclusion Champion Wai-Fong Pang is based at Community Links and is  working to develop and promote financial inclusion services. In this article she comments on the London Debt Summit.

 

There have been many concerns raised within the advice sector about the impact of the recession on advice services and their clients. So, Capitalise, London’s Debt Advice Partnership and the GLA organised the Debt Summit, which took place yesterday, to address some of these issues. There were a range of speakers invited including the Deputy Mayor of London, funders from both the statutory and charitable sector and the chief executive of a voluntary advice agency. But, despite their diversity they were all in agreement about the need for a co-ordinated and strategic response to the impact of the recession.

Debt advice can deal with the more pressing problems of keeping a roof over someone’s head or the bailiffs from the door, but there are other issues such as redundancy, ill health, relationship breakdown, unreasonable behaviour by creditors and even the tenuous state of advice funding that must also be dealt with.

The report, ‘Up to our neck in it’ was also unveiled at the Summit. Despite the many depressing statistics and figures, the one that really shocked me was the impact this recession is having on the self-employed. Since 2006, Capitalise has seen a 300% increase in average debt levels of these clients, from £10,000 to £44,000. No work – no money, and to compound the problem they also have difficulty accessing benefits because of the need to provide proof of income with a set of accounts prepared by an accountant. The way that I see it, if you can’t afford to pay your rent or mortgage you probably can’t afford to pay an accountant to prepare your accounts!

The BBC  journalist, Liz Barclay, was also in attendance, she was a manager of a Citizens Advice Bureau 20 years ago and remembers dealing with clients in debt and dealing with the impact of the previous recession. She asked the question ‘Has there been any improvement since the last recession?’ Not one person put up their hand and said ‘yes’ there had.

I really hope that something good will come from this Summit, there is talk of the formation of a London Debt Strategy group to work cross-sector to find solutions to the problems.

Let’s hope that they succeed.

Wai-Fong Pang
Financial Inclusion Champion – east/north London

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Benefits, Child Poverty, Informal Economy, Regeneration, Welfare, debt, employment | No Comments »

Big boost to Brick Lane research

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

 

I recently worked on a research project into the working lives of waiters in London’s Brick Lane as part of the Need NOT Greed campaign. This project got mentioned in The Observer recently and received a big boost this week.

Along with Sharif and Aaron from Community Links I attended an event with other partner organisations intersted in the informal economy in Brick Lane. The meeting  included two staff from the Tower Hamlets Learning and Skills team and Graham Fisher, the Chief Executive of Toynbee Hall where the meeting took place. The learning and skills team were well advanced with plans for English classes for waiters to take place in Brick Lane restaurants – a first in the UK we think.

Graham made a firm commitment to Toynbee Hall’s continued involvement in the project, which was good news as both I and Sharif  had concerns about the project’s long term future as a whole because there has been so much potential for making a real change for the better for this community 

“It was great to see further committment from the local council and working out the practicalities which is often the hardest bit. We hope to have the courses up and running by the summer.”

In the evening Sharif, the main researcher  gave a presentation  about the main findings to around 40 people  in the Hackney Refugee and Migrants Rights Support Group at Praxis in Bethnal Green  as part of Refugee Week. His presentation raised a lot of questions and discussion  about the informal economy and the contribution this brings to the local community. A number of migrants were present and the meeting heard moving accounts of the struggles, both practical and psychological faced by those who come to the UK in search of a safer and better life. 

The interest that came from the group that night and the trust that was formed so quickly confirmed  how important this project is and the desire out there to get involved in Need NOT Greed and escape the vulnerable  situation that traps so many in poverty.

Read the Waiting for Change report online
For more information contact www.neednotgreed.org.uk

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Informal Economy, Regeneration, Research, employment | No Comments »

Refugee Week

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Little SanctuaryToday sees the start of Refugee Week an annual opportunity to reflect on the contribution that refugees have made to the UK and to “identify positive educational messages that counter fear, ignorance and negative stereotypes of refugees.”

It sometimes feels that few understand the reasons why people seek sanctuary in the UK and - if the tabloids were to be believed - this country does not appear to be a welcoming place for those seeking asylum and coming to live here in a place of safety.

 

This year Refugee Week falls as we come to terms with the UK being represented in the European Parliament by two members of the British National Party and further job losses are announced making the UK a tougher place for many to live and thrive.

A little while ago we at Community Links published a book identifying projects led by or working with refugee and asylum seeking communities. The book’s title “Small Places, Close to Home“  is a quotation from a speech Eleanor Roosevelt made to the UN General Assembly marking the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”

It is a very powerful idea that enormous overarching global concepts - like human rights - can only have real meaning if each of us takes responsibility for safeguarding them where we are. Where we live, work and play together…

This year the focus for Refugee week is the Simple Acts campaign. Simple Acts is inspiring individuals to consider 20 small, everyday actions which if carried out by a large number of people will help change perceptions of refugees and promote better relations between refugee and host communities. The aggregate effect of many small actions can be immense.

The actions, including “Tell a child a story from another country“, and “Cook a dish from another country” are all detailed on the wondefully designed  Simple Acts website along with short-films, original writing and links to loads of resources to inspire further action. 

The Campaign takes a very similar approach to We Are What We Do, which was initiated at Community Links: Small actions X lots of people = Big Change! 

As well as the very powerful message behind the campaign the approach is very refreshing – some ideas are identified and some resources are made available via the campaign website and then readers are encouraged to take the ideas and develop them – so their Facebook group includes invitations to film showings and self organised events across the UK. For example people are introducing a refugee angle to their regular poerty group or just making a point of talking to friends in the pub about a current topic.

Spare a few minutes this week to show a bit of support to vulnerable people in those “small places close to home”.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Communication, Inspiration, News | 1 Comment »

Launch of Child Poverty Bill and Take-Up Report

Friday, June 12th, 2009

Today we have two announcements from the Child Poverty Unit: Firstly the much anticipated Child Poverty Bill was presented to parliament yesterday  and is being published today. Details here.

The Bill is so important because it enshrines into law the target of eradicating child poverty by 2020. It is an essential step forward in tackling child poverty and one we welcome. Our own work on child poverty over many years is summarised in our Social Change booklet.  Ending child poverty is not a luxury, but a necessity. The Campaign to End Child Poverty (a campaign which we are proud to be a part of) has maintained pressure on government  to “keep the promise”  to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.

Please do write to the Chancellor, Alistair Darling; Ed Balls, Secretary of State for DCSF; and Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for DWP - or your own local MP welcoming the Bill but note that it is vital that the focus on 2020 should not detract from the pressing need for Government to invest the necessary resources to get as close as possible to the interim target of halving child poverty by 2010.

Secondly “Take Up The Challenge” the Chinn report of the national Take-Up Taskforce, which I sat on, is also being published today. Download it free here.

Poverty means more than just low income and material deprivation. It affects the everyday experiences of families and communities. The tax and benefits system provides financial support to help make sure that work pays and supports families who cannot work. But many families are not taking up all of the financial support to which they are entitled. For example, (the latest available figures are from 2006-07) Housing Benefit was being claimed by between 86% and 94% of entitled lone parents and by only between 60% and 74% of entitled couples with children. This amounts to only between 67% and 82% of the money available to couples with children being claimed.

There is a strong argument for local authorities and partners to focus on increasing take up of benefits and tax credits by poor families with large unclaimed amounts. That’s why a letter from Ministers will go to all local authority chief executives, lead members and directors of children’s services today, informing them of the Bill, and urging them to take the action in the report.  Take up can contribute to tackling child poverty, and related issues such as social exclusion and health inequalities. There are also benefits for the local economy, with money claimed in benefits and tax credits being spent in local communities. Furthermore, improving take up will help local authorities and partners to ensure that hard to reach and vulnerable families are receiving support, and are in contact with services. Read the report to find out the principles needed for effective implementation.

And finally, Hilary Fisher, Director of the Campaign to End Child Poverty is moving on at the end of next week. She’ll be sadly missed by those of us in the Child Poverty arena, but gladly welcomed by the National Council for Palliative Care  Thanks for everything Hilary.

Will you “Take up the Challenge” to lobby for the end of child poverty? Keep in touch with our work aaron.barbour@community-links.org

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Child Poverty, News | 1 Comment »

Community Anchors Conference

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

“In these uncertain financial times will Community Anchors really be ‘fit for purpose’?” This was the title of a conference at the Tab Centre in Shoreditch, last week which was co-hosted  by the Bromley-by-Bow Centre, Community Links, Toynbee Hall, and the Centre of Institutional Studies at the University of East London. It was an intimate affair focusing on current issues surrounding the sustainability and future of Community Anchors.

The opening plenary set out the challenges faced by Community Anchors.

There followed three workshops repeated so that everyone could attend and contribute, these were:

Workshop 1: How do we know that Community Anchors are viable institutions? This workshop looked at the theme of how we measure our social impact. Milla Gregor, Toynbee Hall and Lucy Heady, New Philanthropy Capital, discussed how and why they have developed their social impact measurement.

Milla challenged us to come together and agree a set of indicators for Community Anchors to use. Get in touch with her if you’d like to get involved: Milla.Gregor@toynbeehall.org.uk

Workshop 2: How can Community Anchors become sustainable institutions? Stephen Thake, London Metropolitan University, and Max Weaver, Community Links presented this workshop discussing the financial sustainability of Community Anchors in the current financial crisis.

“We’re in trouble” were Stephen’s opening remarks. Funding is becoming increasingly tight with an end of national area based grants, a move towards sub-regional, mega contracts and commissioning services; added to this is the long shadow of the recession that will be cast over the next funding cycle 2011-14 (at least). However it’s not all doom and gloom. There is still plenty that can be done to argue our position, possibly develop a Community Anchors manifesto, and take the campaign for Community Anchors to a local, regional and national level.

Workshop 3: How can Community Anchors contribute to the overall social improvement and well-being of a locality? Christopher Durkin, University of Northampton and Rob Trimble, Bromley-by-Bow Centre, looked at how the issues of partnership, competition, and local relationships with community groups can ensure Community Anchors have a greater impact than they might otherwise have had.

Ben Hughes, bassac, ended by summing up the key points, which for him were:

  • Emphasise the strengths of the holistic approach taken by Community Anchors, whilst recognising that it’s hard to do
  • Communicate, articulate and prove the benefits of Community Anchors
  • Be fleet-of-foot and look at the opportunities to be had from a (possible? doh!) change of government and the recession.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Communication, Community Engagement, Regeneration, Research | No Comments »