By Mark Drayton, Community Development Worker for Portslade and Portland Road.
The community of Stoneham Park responded quickly to racist graffiti recently, by clearing it up themselves.
Nazi graffiti was daubed over the children’s playground in Hove at the end of January on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and disgusted residents cleared it themselves so as to remove it immediately. Jon Pike who has children who use the park said “I wasn’t happy sitting at home knowing that graffiti was up. I picked up some paint stripper and said that if it hasn’t been cleared up then I’m going to do it”. Residents clearly won’t put up with this vile anti-semitism and care deeply about a safe park environment for their children – a great example of the community acting quickly and ‘doing it for themselves’. You can read more about this on Brighton & Hove News and in local newspaper The Argus.
Brighton and Hove City Council has denounced the graffiti and pledged resources to prevent repeat attacks. The council will work with police to track down the vandals behind the graffiti. According to The Argus, a council spokeswoman said: “We do not tolerate any offensive graffiti in the city and it’s particularly disturbing to see anti-Semitic graffiti on the anniversary of the Holocaust. The offensive graffiti had already been removed from Stoneham Park by the time we got there, so a big thank you to the residents who helped with this removal.”
Our Coffee & Croissant networking sessions continue to be well attended, with four sessions taking place across the city each month. Service providers use the opportunity to meet others working locally and can find ways to collaborate and share best practice.
Dates up until the end of March can be found on our Coffee & Croissant page, all service providers are welcome, just make sure you book first so we know how many people to expect.
Emma Reeves, our Community Development Worker for Tarner, shares a few words about this month’s event for the Hannover, Elm Grove and Tarner area, known as Central. This gives you an idea of the kind of thing that happens at the sessions. This month was a special session where the networking was followed by a community lunch.
“Central Coffee and Croissant had a really good session this month at the Brighton Unemployed Family Centre Project (BUCFP). Mireille from the Resource Centre gave us the low down on everything that they do as did Joy from the BUFCP. And even though some of the attendees already worked with these organisations they still learnt so much more about them. The lunch of salads was delicious and everyone learnt something new or made a new connection. A highly enjoyable and productive meeting.”
By Cal Chester, Community Development Support Worker.
TDC is currently working in Woodingdean as part of the Ageing Well project. This project sees a variety of organisations from across Brighton and Hove working together to engage with older people in the community, linking them up with community groups in the area or enabling them to create their own projects. These groups and activities can provide significant health and wellbeing benefits to people in later life.
One area we have identified where older people might miss out is in benefiting from new digital technologies to communicate, create or just for fun. This is known as the ‘digital divide’, where economic barriers or lack of knowledge means individuals and groups are unable to either access the internet or use the technology (phones, tablets and laptops) given them by relatives.
Although they may feel nervous and unsure about using their tech, with the appropriate support and encouragement people can become much more confident and competent and greatly improve their quality of life and sense of wellbeing. Learning these skills can be of particular benefit to those who may have be more isolated in the community, allowing them to connect with and communicate with others even if they have mobility issues.
As part of TDC’s work with the Ageing Well project in Woodingdean we have been supporting older people to gain access to IT and enabling them to use their devices to shop, stay in touch, research and learn. We have worked with people ranging in age from 55 to 91, supporting them to do a wide range of things with their devices – from setting up and using e-mail accounts and joining ‘WhatsApp’ to using their on-line accounts to communicate with housing support and other services.
We are currently providing a weekly ‘drop in’ IT session at The Java Cafe, 23 Warren Way, Woodingdean, BN2 6PH from 1.30pm – 2.30pm each Thursday afternoon. Over 50’s in the Woodingdean area are most welcome to come along and learn in a relaxed social space.
If you know of anyone who might want to come along, please do ask them to contact me on [email protected] or on 07500 474 641.
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Ageing Well is a service in Brighton & Hove which helps people aged 50+ find activities, groups, trips, befriending, and information in order to get the best from life.
The service is delivered in partnership by a number of organisations across the city, all of which already deliver work with older people. The service can link people to cafes and centres, groups & activities, befriending, information and advice, multi-cultural activities, LGBTQ specific activities and volunteering opportunities. To access the service, please call 01273 322947.
After years of planning and campaigning, local residents of Bevendean and Moulsecoomb have planted a small orchard of a dozen apple & pear trees on the upper part of the Avenue green for the community to care for, maintain and enjoy. The two planting days this rainy January were attended by more than 40 brave and weather-resistant local volunteers plus local MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, and were supported by the Brighton Permaculture Trust.
Moulsecoomb & Bevendean residents and those who work or use services in the area were welcome to join a series of Planning for Real consultation exercises to have their say and share their ideas for a potential new neighbourhood hub and council housing development in Moulsecoomb.
A model of the Hodshrove Lane area, where the developments are set to happen, was presented at the consultation. Attendees could comment on the plans and make suggestions of how the space should be used by planting flags in the model to represent different services. This covered traffic, transport, health & wellbeing, sports, public spaces, environment, employment and training and so much more.
Engaging with the model was the first step, giving local people the chance to get involved. For future engagement and further information contact: [email protected]
Ahead of our AGM on 20th february, we invite TDC members to read our annual report for the financial year 2018/19. The report details our objectives and aims as well as providing a strategic overview of some of our activities which we’d like to share with you here on our blog too.
The following text comes directly from our report, we hope you enjoy reading it.
Charitable activities
The Trust for Developing Communities delivered our largest ever programme of work and our most diverse range of activities in 2018-19 – all focused on delivering grassroots community-led solutions to tackle inequality in Brighton and Hove. Our work was delivered through four departments: Neighbourhood, Youth, Equalities and Training & Consultancy, each overseen by a highly experienced Director leading dedicated and dynamic teams of community development workers, youth workers and volunteers.
Neighbourhood
TDC’s community development work in neighbourhoods experiencing high deprivation remains at the heart of all our activity. In 2018-19 we supported over 500 people to participate in running community activity and over 700 people to participate in neighbourhood action planning. Neighbourhood plans focus on enabling partnership projects where communities and services can work together on a shared agenda – such as the digital hub in Hollingdean and the restorative justice projects on Phoenix & Pankhurst Estates. Equalities data shows our work enables a diverse range of people to contribute to their communities – 23% are disabled, 12% are from BAMER communities (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee) and 4% from LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) communities. We supported small community groups to fundraise over £32k in small grants and over £120k in volunteer time and in-kind donations. These include weekly groups and services such as job clubs, food banks, family groups and social groups for older people; facility managing groups like friends of parks and community buildings management groups; and project groups, such as renovation and greening projects. A highlight this year was Friends of Farm Green who opened their new play park after they were supported to raise £70k.
TDC was involved in supporting community members to award £27k in grants of up to £500 per project to 85 local community run projects promoting health and well-being across the city, through the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund. Our Community Development Workers also supported community members to develop skills and confidence through formal and informal training. This included training on bookkeeping, food hygiene, first aid, risk assessing, committee and governance skills, fundraising and workshops on personal and group development. TDC also ran a programme of regular Practice Sessions for colleagues from many other organisations to cascade skills across the city.
Youth
TDC had substantially our biggest year of delivering safe and transformative youth work, primarily through our Youth Grants Programme contracts for the East and North Areas of Brighton. For this work, we delivered 4,468 accredited outcomes with 695 young people – surpassing our target of 560 young people. 56% of our young people live in Council tenancies – a key performance indicator, and the highest proportion of all the Youth Grants Programme providers. Our dynamic, innovative and varied youth work programme included: funding from Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner to support young people away from criminal trajectories by supporting young people to build and race a kit car; running creative pilots to enable young people to develop tech solutions to tackle youth loneliness, and to make community spaces more accessible for young people; in Whitehawk – starting a new Youth Café delivering the Our Future City Social Action project; supporting young people to engage in the Cross-Party Working Group with local politicians; supporting the Woodingdean Youth Centre with Project Management; providing individual support to young people with health and well-being issues; supporting the establishment of the Saltdean and Rottingdean Youth Club; running a Youth Sports Festival in Moulsecoomb and consultation with over 300 people on a new skate park in the area; delivering welfare work to young people at the Pride Festival; continuing our successful work with young Travellers in partnership with Friends, Families and Travellers; and with Look Sussex to support blind and partially sighted young people.
Equalities
BAMER – Our work with BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee) communities includes our Engagement work, through which we ran a series of consultations on topics including: social isolation; barriers to using on-line GP services, understanding attitudes to dementia; and the health benefits of volunteering. Our research on volunteering showed how volunteering positively impacts on isolation and loneliness and the associated mental and physical health issues; can provide a bridge between people from BAMER communities and health and social care services; can improve skills, confidence, agency, independence, well-being and employment prospects. In response to these findings TDC ran Brighton and Hove’s first ever BAMER Volunteer Fair, a great success with over 40 organisations present and almost 200 people attending. “I would like to give back to the society and community I live in. I found the fair very resourceful and inspiring, motivating me to get involved in volunteering and to help others.” one BAMER volunteer fair attendee told us.
TDC delivers psychosocial support with BAMER communities to support improved mental health. This included running the BAMER Wellbeing Event ‘The Greatest Wealth is Health’, attended by over 400 people. We also worked both with the Survivor’s Network and with RISE to enable their work to more effectively reach people from BAMER communities. New work to support people from BAMER communities included our offer of ‘Social Prescribing Plus‘- personalised, individual support to enable access to non-medical activities that improve health, and our work supporting people with learning English, literacy and employment through the ‘MESH’ project.
Older People – We more than doubled our targets by delivering community development work to over 700 older people across the city, supporting older people to run activities such as the Over 50s IT Group at the Vallance Centre, Coldean Supper Club and the Hollingdean Knitting Group. We completed our Dementia Action Alliance work with Age UK – having trained over 300 new Dementia Friends and supported a peer-led group for people living with and affected by dementia.
Training & Consultancy.
Citywide Projects – We continue to support a wide range community of identity groups across the city. This included a focused project to support the Community Buildings Network (CBN) – a peer support group of people running community buildings across the city. Through this we bought together a shared resource for 36 buildings, created and delivered a health check tool, focused support on six buildings and supported the ongoing development of the network. “TDC support has completely revitalised the CBN” said one CBN Network Member.
Community Research and Learning – We began a new series of networking events focused on bringing together community groups with statutory services to ensure stronger connections and coordination within neighbourhoods. Then, following the loss of an important community service in Moulsecoomb, TDC stepped up to ensure people could continue to gain access to adult education opportunities, with proactive outreach to people further from mainstream education. TDC also worked with Brighton University to begin a community-led research project exploring barriers to services for people from a neighbourhood experiencing high levels of deprivation.
Future plans
TDC’s Strategic Plan ‘Community-Led Solutions to Tackling Inequality’ sees us building on the organisation’s strengths – such as the strong, trusting relationships with communities and with partners; gained through successfully delivering responsive, grassroots community development and engagement work for nineteen years. Having refreshed our vision and our values, we are now piloting new models of work, further integrating our diverse delivery, improving organisational infrastructure and enacting our four-year sustainable business plan. This work is enabling us to be responsive to community need, to further develop as a dynamic, impactful and sustainable charity which plays a central role in enabling Brighton and Hove to become a beacon of equality.
The REBOOT early intervention project for 11-17 year olds, launched in Sussex in Spring 2019 thanks to support from the Sussex PCC.
REBOOT is a personalised, one-to-one package offering support to vulnerable young people to prevent them being exploited into criminal behaviour. We are working alongside three other partner organisations (YMCA DLG, AudioActive and the Hangleton & Knoll Project) to deliver the REBOOT programme across Sussex.
In December, the REBOOT team at the Sussex PCC produced their first newsletter, which included a comment from Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne alongside information about the project and feedback from some of the first participants. You can read the newsletter by clicking here, and to find out more about REBOOT, the PCC has summarised the programme in numbers on the Sussex PCC YouTube channel.
At the end of each year, we ask our team for their highlights of the year, and TDC’s REBOOT Youth Coach Adam Welton told us about his:
“Enabling a young person who was refusing school to make a really positive change in his education. Communication between the pupil, his parents and the school had broken down. In my role as REBOOT Youth Coach I was able to listen to the young person’s needs and concerns about school and advocate on his behalf. Subsequently the school offered him a placement in a third sector school inclusion project. After his initial reluctance and anxiety I supported him to meet with and attend the project. He has now started attending regularly and it was lovely to hear him talk about his educational achievements there and hear him proudly recount that he had been called ‘smart’. Something undoubtedly true but also something he had not heard from anyone for many years and that he had forgotten about himself.”
You can read more about REBOOT on our website and blog and for more information about our work with young people, head to our Youth Team page.
Please join us at our AGM on Thursday 20th February from 6pm at Brighthelm Community Centre. You will have the chance to learn about TDC’s work across Brighton & Hove and to get involved in shaping our plans for the future. For information prior to the AGM, please refer to our 2018/19 accounts →
In November we welcomed a new Chair, Jan Chmiel, to our Board of Trustees. Here are a few words from Jan by way of introduction:
“After a number of successful leadership roles in international business the second half of my career has been focused largely on leading ‘not for profit’ organisations in areas of sustainable energy, environment, health and safety and most recently supporting social enterprises working in the local community.
The breadth of my leadership experience has shown me the importance of maintaining a culture of openness, integrity and trust to delivering on organisational goals. This is particularly important in charities which are focused on improving lives through values based objectives. In that respect TDC represents, through its approach of supporting community-led solutions to tackling inequality, the very best example of such an organisation.
Strong and diverse communities are the foundational fabric of any healthy and thriving society. They can also be the solution to many of our current maladies; from loneliness and mental health, to addressing inequality, effective local services and sustainability. I believe the work of the Trust is ‘in the right place at the right time’ to play a major part in delivering on this most critical mission of our times.
I look forward to working with the other TDC Trustees, the wonderfully committed staff and many valuable volunteers in continuing this important work of supporting the communities across Brighton and Hove to strengthen and grow. Longer term I look forward to championing this model of support for communities as an example for other parts of the country, to showcase the power of positive bottom-up societal change.”
This year, TDC is honoured to have been chosen by Brighton & Hove Buses as one of the official Santa Bus charities. Since November, the Santa Bus has been travelling to different neighbourhoods in the city bringing festive joy and fundraising for Martletts Hospice and 10 other local charities:
The MND Association provides care, support and equipment to people with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and their families and carers. MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. There is no treatment and no cure.
Say Aphasia is a charity which provides supportive drop in groups for people with aphasia. These groups help to improve the welfare of people with this condition.
Amaze is a charity, and a community which helps families with disabled children and young people to tackle some of the problems they face.
YMCA DownsLink Group (YMCA DLG) is a charity that provides services for vulnerable young people across Sussex and Surrey.
Chestnut Tree House cares for around 300 children and young people with life-shortening conditions across Brighton & Hove, East and West Sussex, and South East Hampshire; as well as around 200 bereaved families.
Take Shelter is a dedicated volunteer community group who runs the only school air raid shelter open to the public in the UK located under the playground at Downs Junior School in Brighton.
Moulsecoomb Forest Garden is a small charity working primarily with young people struggling in the classroom and adults with learning disabilities offering everyone an outdoor education on their community allotments.
East Sussex Credit Union Foundation is a charity that aims to improve financial resilience and well-being for individuals and the local community. This includes promoting financial education and encouraging family and individual financial planning.
Ronald McDonald House Charities UK, enable families to maintain a degree of normal life while their child in undergoing medical treatment in partnered specialist children’s hospitals across the UK.
And last but not least – at TDC (Trust for Developing Communities) we deliver community-led solutions to tackling inequality. Our work involves community development, youth work, research and training. We believe that strong communities are the key to health and happiness and that community-led solutions produce longer lasting and more meaningful change.
Please come out and say hi if you’re in the area and if you’re unable to get there in person, please donate to the fund (which will be split between us and the other 9 charities listed above) online here:
It’s been a busy year at TDC, with so much activity within the communities we work with and lots of new projects to get stuck into. We asked our team for their highlights of the year and this is what they said…
Then, after you’ve heard from our team, please scroll to the bottom of this post for an end-of-year message from our Chief Executive, Athol Hallé.
Our Youth Team
“In July we held a mini prom to mark the closing of our Young Women’s Group in Moulsecoomb. It was so lovely to be a part of what had become such a supportive community and to see how much the girls had flourished as individuals. We threw a party and all came together as a celebration.”
Evie, Youth Worker
The Moulsecoomb Young Women’s group Prom
“Enabling a young person who was refusing school to make a really positive change in his education. Communication between the pupil, his parents and the school had broken down. In my role as REBOOT Youth Coach I was able to listen to the young person’s needs and concerns about school and advocate on his behalf. Subsequently the school offered him a placement in a third sector school inclusion project. After his initial reluctance and anxiety I supported him to meet with and attend the project. He has now started attending regularly and it was lovely to hear him talk about his educational achievements there and hear him proudly recount that he had been called ‘smart’. Something undoubtedly true but also something he had not heard from anyone for many years and that he had forgotten about himself.
Another highlight has been starting work at TDC – I’ve had a number of employers over the years, many of them good but none as good, supportive and generally all round lovely as TDC.”
Adam W, REBOOT Youth coach
“This year has been a busy one for the Youth Team at TDC. As I reflect on this year I am really proud of the hard work the new East Youth team has done in Whitehawk, Woodingdean and supporting the volunteer led Friday Saltdean Youth Club. We have started to embed ourselves in the local community, develop new and existing youth sessions and have continued supporting lots of young people.
A moment that stands out in particular was getting some lovely feedback after a substance awareness session at the Saltdean Youth Club: ‘We love you coming here as we learn so much from you. We have learnt more from you about drugs tonight than we have in 5 weeks at school’.”
Caroline, Youth Manager (East)
Caroline and members of the Saltdean Youth Club
“The skate ramp building project was my highlight because we were able to bring together members of the community and young people to build much wanted skate ramps for the young people. They will not only enable the young people to have regular skate sessions in the area, but the building of them was also hugely beneficial for those who took part – team work, learning new skills, and confidence building.”
Kate, Youth Manager (North)
Moulsecoomb Skate Jam participants
“My highlight of 2019 has been bringing together our TDC Youth Work handbook because it represents the values and beliefs of the whole youth team as to why our youth work is worth shouting about!”
Adam M, Director of Youth Work
Our Neighbourhoods team
“This year I particularly enjoyed promoting the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund at the Tarner Festival during the heatwave at the end of June. It was a chance to see the community coming together, and to be there celebrating and promoting HNF in the area was a privilege”
Cal, Community Development Support Worker
Cal at The Tarner Festival in June
“This year my highlight has been working with small groups in the Moulsecoomb and Bevendean area to help them constitute and raise funds for their activities. Becoming constituted can give groups a better sense of structure, help them move towards independence, formalise their aims and purpose and can even increase their access to funding sources. The groups are Noor-ul Huda (regular meetings for Muslim women & children), the Dementia Cafe, The Arts & Craft Project (Moulsecoomb & Bevendean), the Moulsecoomb Skatepark Group and On your Way (Moulsecoomb & Bevendean Job Club).”
Anke, Community Development Worker (Moulsecoomb, Bates Estate & Bevendean)
The Arts and Craft group Moulsecoomb and Bevendean
“My highlight is working closer with other fantastic organisations in the Brighton & Hove Voluntary & Community sector; from physically being in Community Base and making more informal contacts to starting delivery of the Ageing Well partnership and the excitement/ trepidation at the new community development & engagement partnership, which awaits its funding decision in Jan 2020. None of this would be possible without the fantastic relationships and trust built up by frontline staff. You are all amazeballs!”
Kirsty, Director of Neighbourhood projects
“My highlight of the year was beginning the Ageing Well project and the warm welcome given by Woodingdean residents as we began our work in the area. Ageing Well will bring TDC development skills to Woodingdean, which will encourage new groups and activities, bring support to existing opportunities for the over 50s and provide information about citywide resources.”
Sue, Ageing Well Project Manager and Participation Worker
Ageing Well event in Woodingdean in October
“My highlight of the year was the launch of the Hollingdean mini library and digital hub at the Hollingdean Community Centre. A project led by Hollingdean Development Trust, in partnership with the Library services, for all Hollingdean residents.”
Ceza, Community Development Worker, Hollingdean and Saunders Park
Launch of the Hollingdean Pop-up library
“This year I really enjoyed working with the Craven Vale Biodiversity Project a group of volunteers who got local people involved to look after the plants and wildlife in the area and to help with the beekeeping. We held a Blossom Day in June with nature walks, craft activities and some of us even got into fancy dress as bees and caterpillars. We also planted 4 trees on Pankhurst Ave on International Women’s Day (in March) and Caroline Lucas MP came along to help with the planting.
I was particularly struck by the community spirit following the fire on Pankhurst Avenue in September. One block of 12 households was damaged and another 10 households were displaced. Luckily, no-one was hurt. The response from the local residents was incredible – the local community centre was kept open to support those affected and people offered comfort and friendliness to each other at a very difficult and distressing time. Residents organised a fundraising page, and planned and received practical donations including clothes, food and toiletries. The residents affected were overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity shown by their local community and the wider Brighton and Hove community.”
Amy, Community Development Worker, Pankhurst and Craven Vale
Amy and local volunteer Nick at Blossom Day
“My highlight has been getting two Tarner newsletters successfully printed and distributed- the 2019 Summer and Winter editions. I was also very pleased to support the Phoenix Estate Community Association on their journey to creating their own mini NAP booklet. The journey included constituting, forming regular stakeholder meeting and creating a very strong monthly resident meeting.”
Emma, Community Development Worker, Tarner
Tarner Newsletter
“My highlight of the year has to be recently seeing the Purple People Kitchen receive a £5,000 grant from the Sussex Community Foundation via the Lawson Fund. This will assure the foodbank can continue operating well into 2020 with no financial worries.Over the past few months the demand has increased as local agencies have been referring larger numbers to the service in Portslade. Over 50 people collect food for their family groups every week; but due to the hard work and dedication of a team of volunteers the Purple People Kitchen make sure they are well stocked and are able to serve a hot meal every Friday for those that attend. Times may be hard but the true spirit of Christmas is alive and well in Portslade.”
Mark, Community Development Worker, Portslade and Portland Road
Our Equalities and Inclusion team
“I loved Ricky’s wheelchair basketball session at the East Brighton Coffee & Croissant networking, it was a bright sunny morning and everyone had a go at trying something new.”
Kaye, Director of Equalities
Coffee & Croissant on wheels in Whitehawk
“One highlight for me was the Kit Car project that we ran earlier this year. A group of young people from Brighton & Hove built an F24 kit car from scratch and raced it at Goodwood Motor Circuit as a part of the Greenpower Education Trust Formula-24 races. I really enjoyed this collaboration between TDC, Sussex Police and St Giles Trust, especially as the team won the best newcomer award!
Another important event was the citywide Community Week of Action in June this year. Organisations from across Brighton & Hove came together to raise awareness of organised crime, and in particular the threat of “County Lines” which involves the transportation of drugs across the country by children and vulnerable adults. This collective week of action by so many organisations had a huge impact on people’s understanding of the issues.
My last highlight has been supporting the ADHD Aware Group, a Brighton based charitable organisation that runs peer support groups for adults with ADHD. At their Annual General meeting in October, they were pleased to announce that they have produced a film that explores what it is like ‘Living with ADHD’. The challenges, unique skills and the impact of peer group support. It has been an absolute pleasure being a part of this project and I’m looking forward to what exciting plans lay in the pipeline for next Year!”
Claire, Citywide Manager
The F24 Kit Car
“This year has been particularly exciting with the completion of the first year of the new Social Prescribing Plus Project. This is the first time we have been delivering one to one work within the BAME community. Through the work I have come to know the diverse community in Brighton and heard a lot of positive things about the city. I felt pleased to be able to support the clients with their health and wellbeing. I have had a lot of positive feedback about the project. The following quote is from one of the clients: ‘I was pleased to talk to Sayanti and discuss my issues. This is a new country and culture and I did not know about the help I could get. I now have someone to ask if I am lost’.”
Sayanti, BME Engagement Worker
“A very recent MESH highlight was supporting a Syrian refugee and her family to run a delicious felafel stall at the Patch Winter Warmer, a community event in William Clarke Park. It was a great success, as is her academic progress: she’s now on her Art Foundation at MET, and planning to do an Interior Architecture degree.
I am also proud of work done with a blind Bulgarian 17 year old MESH client. Local colleges were unable to offer ESOL provision and so she came to TDC. She now attends Look Sussex Youth Club, Amaze Young Women’s Group, and Hummingbird’s Global Social Club and Homework Club, and is making great progress with her English and other skills. She is receiving Braille, independent living and technology training from BHCC SEN (Special Educational Needs) team and Blatchington Court Trust. We are working together to ensure that she will be able to study English in a college with sighted young people as soon as possible.”
Cicely, MESH Case worker
And finally, an end-of-year message from our Chief Executive…
Dear all,
We have nearly made it to the end of 2019 and it has been a busy and exciting year for TDC.
We have started brand new youth work projects such as The Curiosity Club, The Kit Car project, new skate ramps for Moulsecoomb and Reboot. We have supported local neighbourhood groups including the community takeover of The Phoenix, Hollingdean Pop-Up Library and the launch of the Portslade NAP. We have delivered some great equalities initiatives such as launching the MESH project and running the city’s first ever BME Volunteering Fair.
All of TDC’s work is delivered in partnership with communities – we couldn’t do it without you, so thank you to everyone for your support, as we work together to tackle inequality in Brighton and Hove.
New national data on deprivation published this Autumn shows that there is still much work to be done to tackle poverty in our city. With your continued support, we hope to make an even bigger difference in 2020 to deliver community-led solutions.
On behalf of us all here at TDC, we hope you have a fantastic festive period, and we look forward to working together in 2020.
Best festive wishes,
Athol Hallé Chief Executive, The Trust for Developing Communities
This year, TDC partnered with Friends Centre and Voices in Exile to deliver the Migrant ESOL Support Hub (known as MESH) – a service supporting migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
The programme involves working with people one-to-one, focusing on access to ESOL learning plus signposting and referral to other support services and volunteer opportunities across Brighton and Hove. Cicely Lloyd is our worker on this project and told us some of the highlights of her work this year:
“A very recent MESH highlight was supporting a Syrian refugee and her family to run a delicious felafel stall at the Patch Winter Warmer, a community event in William Clarke Park. It was a great success, as is her academic progress: she’s now on her Art Foundation at MET, and planning to do an Interior Architecture degree.
I am also proud of work done with a blind Bulgarian 17 year old MESH client. Local colleges were unable to offer ESOL provision and so she came to TDC. She now attends Look Sussex Youth Club, Amaze Young Women’s Group, and Hummingbird’s Global Social Club and Homework Club, and is making great progress with her English and other skills. She is receiving Braille, independent living and technology training from BHCC SEN team and Blatchington Court Trust. We are working together to ensure that she will be able to study English in a college with sighted young people as soon as possible.”
When Cicely asked service users themselves, we had a selection of heartwarming feedback:
“Hi, I’m a client of Cicely. I am very happy and thankful to MESH especially Cicely for helping me in many important things such as learning English at the best institutes in Brighton and some volunteering which helped me to get involved in a respectable English society. Best regards” Syrian Asylum Seeking MESH Client
“I am happy for the help, I am a busy mum and Cicely helped me to found a English courses, I am taking at the moment.” Peruvian MESH Client
“Dear Cicely, Thank you very much for everything you have done for me. You have helped me find my way and develop my skills. You have introduced me to an association to support my blind daughter. I hope that we will keep in touch and that I can be with you to find a better chance in life for me and my family. Best wishes for the new year.”Jordanian MESH Client
“I am completely satisfied with the performance of the MESH” Iranian Asylum Seeking MESH Client
“I would like to thank the MESH team, which works daily to help immigrants get into Brighton, especially Cicely, who with dedication and vocation has been able to provide and help me in every situation that I have needed.” Argentinian MESH Client
One Egyptian Asylum seeker told us “I like it Cicely and thank you so much. Lovely. I’m very happy for the group and any way to speak English and helping me for English. I love this very much, very nice. Thank you so much.” The services and activities that the Egyptian Asylum Seeker has accessed via MESH include:
Attended Migrant Welcome Project at Voice In Exile
Received training from Community Works in using their online service
Volunteering at Rock Farm with One Church
Attending PTSD Support Group at Refugee Radio
Accessing Migrant English Project at Cowley Club
Accessing Real Junk Food Project lunches
This client was already a MET ESOL student and heard about our service through our visits to the college.
A MESH client enjoying a festive workshop at One Church’s Rock Farm which Cicely supported her to attend.
