What a year for TDC! It’s been a busy time, full of exciting activity in the neighbourhoods we work with and across the city. We’ve had a chance to work with lots of new people as well as with many of our long-term partners and collaborators.
We asked our staff for their highlights of the year and here’s what they said…
“This year has been jam packed with fantastic youth focused events, from Tarner Festival in July with over 400+ people in attendance being led and curated by young people. It was brilliant and the young people loved it! Then we kicked off autumn with a youth jam in Tarner park! With skateboarding, graffiti, dancing and rapping. Oh and lovely baked potatoes and lots of munch to keep their tums full. This event was then followed with a BME Engagement event, encouraging participation from Black, Asian and minority ethnic young people in the area. This event was fun with dancing, lyric writing and drama. The young people even cooked up some lovely jerk chicken, rice and peas. Yummy!
Looking forward to next year’s string of events with other partners like south east dance who will have a dance space in 2019 in the area, we have lots planned, so watch this space!”
Kalishia Davey, Community Development Worker, Tarner
“This year, I have particularly enjoyed working with partners on the Brighton and Hove Green Spaces Forum which was officially launch at the end of October.A highlight for me has been working with the West Hove Forum and supporting their responses to various planning development issues covering their area.Finally I am especially proud of the work the volunteers do at The Purple People Kitchen. This Portslade foodbank provides a hot meal every Friday and distributes much needed food parcels to dozens of those in need every week”.
“Earlier this year TDC worked with Brighton Digital Festival (BDF) to research what young people from ethnically and culturally diverse (BAME) backgrounds feel about the general representation and portrayal of people like them on the internet. The young participants were asked for their comments, views and perspectives on the extent to which they believe online content images, references, stories, news and features etc. typically present them (or people they identify with) in a manner they believe is fair, accurate and diverse.”
“This year, a real highlight was Dr William Bird attending our AGM. He was a very inspirational speaker and the messages in his great presentation about the challenges that modern life bring to our physical and mental health have stayed with me.”
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the Hollingdean Knitting Group (HKG) this year. The group provides a safe space for women to come together, every week, to support each other, share and learn new skills. It also aims to encourage/support women in the group to become more involved in the weekly running of the group.”
Ceza Da Luz, Community Development Worker, Hollingdean and Saunders Park
“My highlight this year was supporting so many lunch clubs for older residents in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, such as the Young at Heart Club at the Bridge and the Friday Friends at the Bevy, but most importantly the revival of a new community lunch club at St George’s Hall in North Moulsecoomb.”
“This year I have particularly enjoyed working with two quite different groups. Firstly, the Brighton and Hove Community Buildings Network (CBN) – who launched their new website in February after a great deal of hard work and effort. I also have had the opportunity to work with the amazing ‘ADHD Aware’ group which provides invaluable support to adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in and around Brighton and Hove.
I am especially proud of helping to support the development and launch of the CBN website and welcoming new and lapsed members in to the group. Another satisfying aspect of my work this year has been learning more about ADHD and the challenges that adults in particular face in dealing with it. Supporting the group in developing and promoting their incredible work has been a real privilege
Another real highlight of the year has been working with a member of the Community Buildings Network to film a short video piece for the Older Peoples Festival in October. This formed part of a brilliant longer feature about the work of older people in communities all around Brighton and Hove”
Cal Chester, Community Development Support Worker
“The start of the year saw us support young people to be part of the #ProtectYouthServices campaign, which helped the City Council make a decision to continue funding youth work. This incredible piece of campaigning engaged thousands of local people in speaking up for services they believe in and need.”
“As well as the regular youth clubs we have been on the Tech Trail, had a play with Halloween make up, filled up on an all you can eat buffet, and linked with the Brighton and Hove Black History Project to run Black History Event at the 67 centre. There’s always something or someone new to get to know.”
“Joining TDC in October, I have had the opportunity to learn about all the fantastic work third sector organisations do to celebrate, support and empower BAME communities across Brighton and Hove. One such organisation is Rise, an award winning charity, helping professionals and people affected by domestic abuse. In 2018, I am looking forward to continuing working with colleagues at Rise, and raising awareness of domestic abuse within BAME communities.”
“I’ve been working for TDC for over 11 years now and for the past 8 years my work has mainly involved older people.
2017 was a fantastic year with Friends of Downlands Court being awarded over £5,300 from the Co-op community Fund for an outings project: this has meant that frail elderly people can enjoy getting out and about and in their words ‘escape the four walls.’ I would like to thank my dedicated team of buddies and wheelchair pushers that make this possible.
The year had ended with us hearing that we have been selected for a second time to receive Co-op funding for 2018. I look forward to involving our participants in developing a programme of activities that they would like to take part in.”
Sue Sayers, Senior Community Participation & Development Worker
“I am always impressed by the diversity of projects funded through Healthy Neighbourhood Funding, which reaches people who might not otherwise get the support they need to make the first step onto a healthier lifestyle. Moulsecoomb had 17 projects apply this year.”
“A highlight this year for me has been the development of our work with ethnically and culturally diverse communities. I am pleased and excited to have welcomed Ratna on to the team who, along with her work with BME communities on wellbeing, has been working in partnership with RISE to support and promote their new targeted BME work. Terry has been working with Brighton Digital Festival to explore the inclusion of BME young people in online spaces through a series of workshops which culminated in a presentation at the Digital Festival this autumn and Ceza, TDC’s Community Development worker for Hollingdean, has joined the team to carry out some consultation work for Impetus on their Neighbourhood Care Scheme, exploring how they can tailor their services for BME people and volunteer befrienders.I was also really proud of the amazing film we made to celebrate the contribution older people make in our communities which we showed at our Older People’s Festival event in October”
“I’m really proud of the impact we made with the TDC Tech Trail this year. It was the first year TDC had ever run an event with local businesses and we had a phenomenal response to the idea of connecting young people to tech businesses, helping to inspire them into STEM subjects but also encouraging growth in the tech talent pool. It led to some eye-opening discussions with businesses who had no idea of the challenges faced by the communities we work with and some wonderful opportunities for young people who were offered work experience or had follow-up tech sessions in their youth clubs.
Aside from the relationships formed with local businesses, the TDC Tech Trail enabled us to build connections with networks across the city. We were invited to be part of the discussions about future career pathways and opportunities for young people as part of Our Future City and we built a strong relationship with Brighton Digital Festival, who championed the project and invited us to talk about it at the closing conference. A chance to get on the stage and share our story with over 200 people.”
Ruth Chapman, Business Development Manager
“I’m especially proud of all the learners who completed our community development training course Working in Community – Organisations, Development and Engagement, or Working in C-ODE for short. Everyone worked exceptionally hard and I’m so pleased that they achieved their accreditations.
Highlights for me were the forest of evaluation trees we created and the delicious end of course lunch Raminder’s Mum cooked for us during her visit from Singapore. Well done everyone.”
Kaye Duerdoth, Training co-ordinator
