More than Mentors is Community Links’ innovative, evidence-based model of peer mentoring that supports young people and offers an Early Action approach to addressing mental health needs. It has been hugely rewarding to see the recent significant findings from a July 2018 evaluation report by the Anna Freud Centre. This has found that the More than Mentors programme has measurably improved mental health, family connection, built self-esteem and directly improved well being among participants. We’ll have plenty more exciting news to share with you in the New Year!
Learn more about the broad range of programmes we offer on our brand new website.
Over the summer, we launched our Digital Hub. Our vision is to increase the digital empowerment opportunities available to our community and reduce the ‘digital divide’. This programme is supported by one of our brilliant corporate partners, BNY Mellon, and encompasses two strands:
Click Start is for people 50 and over to increase their day-to-day digital skills and reduce social isolation – we’ve had some great feedback so far! The other, Tech Know is an employability focused programme to enhance the digital skills of young people aged 18+ and provide a route to work.
In September, we had the fantastic opportunity to participate in Open House at 105 Barking Road for the first time. Although we were not blessed with the weather, we had a great turnout as people came to learn about the history of our building, from its connection with the East London suffragettes and labour movements to the present day with Community Links.
This November, Community Links hosted a public evidence-gathering session with the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Professor Philip Alston, as part of his inquiry into poverty in the UK. Over 100 people joined us at 105 Barking Road to talk about how government policy has impacted them.
Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz attended and welcomed the testimonies she heard. She shared her perspective on how the Newham community should come together and react to these challenges. Alston’s team will be presenting the findings from his visit in a report to the UN next year.
Read media coverage about Prof. Alston’s visit to Community Links here and here.
Last year, in honour of Community Links’ 40th anniversary, we started compiling the stories of people we’ve worked with over the years. These stories celebrate 40 years of Community Links; read the latest four here and look out for our publication of all the stories in the new year! Their voices provide powerful illustrations of our innovation, impact and ambition.