By Will Horwitz
The Evening Standard is running a powerful series of reports on poverty in London this week. They rightly identify some of the failures in government policy, but they’ve missed one of the most important ingredients in achieving change – building respectful relationships between individuals and communities.
There are some poignant stories of individuals – 18 year old Vincent who has applied for 32 jobs, would love to go to university, but can’t afford the £19 for a UCAS application form. 21 year old Jaydine, who has had an incredibly difficult start to life, movingly describes how her 11-month old baby “has taught me not to give up.”
At Community Links we know a lot of people with similar experiences to Vincent and Jardine, and we’ve spent 30 years supporting them. And the key to our success? Building relationships – treating people as individuals not problems, as people not targets.
Take our employment project, which helps people like Vincent into work. Despite running out of two slightly shabby offices in Newham and Tower Hamlets, we get more of our people into work than any other provider in London. We invest in people before furniture – our advisors really get to know every person, finding out what jobs they want to do, and supporting them to overcome problems. And then we get to know all the local employers, finding the right job for the right person.
Or look at our Ofsted registered school, for young people excluded from mainstream education. Youth workers, many of them who had difficulties at school themselves, get to know every young person, finding out what each individual needs and doing their best to support them.
And the main thing we’ve had constantly reinforced over all these years is that people in Newham, as in London, are and always have been hopeful, resilient, ambitious, generous, and honest. London might be a city divided by wealth, but not by the qualities that people possess.