PRESS RELEASE
18 July 2013 IMMEDIATE
One year on...
East London's champion of social change Community Links celebrates the Olympic anniversary and continues the Olympic legacy
Highlighting the need for investment in business start-ups:Established East London pop-up shop, Westfield Stratford City, 20 July to 17 August
Connecting communities to the facilities and spaces:One of the first community spaces in Queen Elizabeth Park, the Unity Kitchen Café, opens on 27 July
Inspiring the sports stars and fitness fans of the future:A pop-up tennis scheme on temporary courts under a flyover in Canning Town run by Community Links FRE Flyers on 29 July
Community Linksworks with over 16,000 people in east London every year. The London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics provided opportunities for many local people to find work, extend their skills or transform their view of the opportunities open to them - all things at the heart Community Links' work. One year on, the Newham-based charity is involved in three events to ensure that every opportunity the Olympic Legacy promised to east London is honoured.
From 20 July to 17 August, theEstablished East LondonPop-Up Shoptakes up residence on The Street at Westfield Stratford City. In a fully designed and fitted-out retail unit donated by Westfield, Established East London will be selling original artisan products created by local entrepreneurs including beauty ranges, jewellery, photography and artwork, fashion and foodstuffs. The Established East London traders will be on site from 17 July for practice trading and community events and will launch to the public on Saturday 20 July.
The entrepreneurs, who will also be staffing the shop, are all part of Community Links' Established project which provides training and support for individuals, start-up businesses and social enterprises. With support from various teams at Westfield from Retail & Design to Legal and Marketing, Established East London will give these new traders an invaluable experience, increase their retail knowledge and raise the profile of their enterprises. Plus Westfield customers will get a one-off shopping experience in one of London's top retail destinations. All profits will go back into the scheme.
27 July sees the opening of the Unity Kitchen Café, the first of the new public facilities in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The café and adjoining community space will be managed by the Camden Society working in partnership with Community Links who will engage and support local residents and community groups to make full use of this fantastic new community resource. The community space will be used for a range of local activities including arts and crafts, workshops for local schools, health and fitness sessions, award ceremonies and enterprise events, the first of which is anIntroduction to Enterprise Workshopon 29 July. In addition, Community Links will be running a range of health and wellbeing activities at the venue.
Also on 29 July, a group of young people from Community LinksFRE Flyersmulti-sports project launched last year during the Olympics, will be starting aPop-up Tennisscheme on temporary courts under a flyover in Canning Town. The ‘coaches' will be young people from the local area who joined the FRE Flyers club last year and have been trained up as junior coaches and tennis activators. The project, in partnership with The Lawn Tennis Association and the Tennis Federation aims to inspire the next generation of British Tennis stars.
Geraldine Blake, Community Links' Chief Executive, says: "One year on from the Olympics, we're proud to show what we've achieved so far - east London's young people ready to seize the opportunities on their doorstep. It's up to all of us to deliver the Legacy together, and for Community Links that means making sure there are practical pathways that enable local residents to benefit. We're also highlighting the need for serious investment in business start-ups for local people as part of the Legacy.We want to see support for young entrepreneurs and initiatives such as Established act as a catalyst for businesses that grow and transform our local economy. In addition to this, we believe a positive Legacy must ensure all future community projects are accessible to local people. We are delivering community space in Queen Elizabeth Park that is blind to existing boundaries - both geographical and cultural, relevant to local people and welcoming to all."
Ends
Press contacts:
For further information, images or to set up interviews with spokespeople and case studies, please contact:
Sue Lancashire onsue.lancashire@btconnect.comor 07973 819984
Richard McKeever onRichard.mckeever@community-links.orgor 020 7473 9671 / mobile 07940 072832
If emailing, please email both Sue and Richard in the first instance.
Notes to editors
Community Links is an innovative east London charity working with 16,000 people each year. It has over 30 years' experience working in one of the most deprived, diverse and vibrant areas in the country. Half its staff live locally and 40% are former service users or volunteers. In 2013 it ran challenging and inspirational activities for almost 8,000 children and young people; advised almost 5,000 people with benefits, housing and debt problems- at a time when funding for this work is shrinking; supported 3,950 unemployed people - over a third found sustainable jobs, many more have gone onto further training and voluntary work; worked with 177 young people excluded from mainstream education in its own Ofsted-registered school, Education Links increasing the GCSE pass rate by 7%; supported over 200 vulnerable ten and eleven year olds make a successful transition to secondary school though itsOpening Doors project.
During 2012/13 we have expanded our work with young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs). Nine of our projects across the Olympic boroughs have supported 435 young people and over three quarters of them have moved into education, training or secured a job. During the same period we have worked with over 2,000 adult jobseekers successfully helping over half them to become employment ready and 720 to start work.
There are a range of Community Links case studies available for interview.
Established is a project of Community Links, supported by Barclays. The Established Pop-Up Shop has been made possible with the support of Westfield.
Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking and wealth and investment management with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Barclays' purpose is to help people achieve their ambitions - in the right way. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs approximately 140,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide. For further information about Barclays, please visitwww.barclays.com.
We are delighted that LandAid, The Property Industry Charity have made a cornerstone investment allowing us to kick-off the FRE Flyers initiativewww.landaid.org
For further information:
Web:www.establishededeastlondon.com
Twitter:@EstablishedEast
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/EstablishedEastLondon
Google+:https://plus.google.com/u/0/114164528387482186439
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/EstablishedEast
15 July 2013