Photo: Yersinia's photostream

The Queen’s Speech which unveils the governments legislative programme contained 15 bills and four draft bills.

Key legislation includes

• Children and Families Bill: Mothers in England, Scotland and Wales will be able to transfer maternity leave to their partners. There will be better support for special needs pupils and improved access arrangements for divorced fathers in England. The adoption process in England will also be reformed to end delays and making inter-racial adoption easier
• Banking Reform Bill: Splitting banks into separate retail and investment arms
• Draft Communications Bill: Making it easier for police and intelligence agencies to access, store and share data on private phone calls and email communications
• Crime and Courts Bill: Moving towards televised court proceedings and creating a specific offence of driving under the influence of drugs. Establishing a National Crime Agency
• Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill: Curbing the power of large supermarkets and ensuring suppliers are “treated fairly and lawfully” through a new independent adjudicator
• Electoral Registration and Administration Bill: Introducing individual voter registration to cut down on fraud

Briefing note from the Cabinet office:

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Queens-Speech-2012-briefing-notes.pdf

Photo: Minifig

Last week’s race to become London’s new Mayor saw Boris move into his second term. Whilst the Conservative candidate rose to success in the Mayoral elections, Labour gained 823 councillors nationally, gaining control of 32 councils.

Nationally this year also saw the worst turnout percentage of voters since the year 2000, according to the Guardian, with only one out of every three eligable voters participating.

Today Boris Johnson has announced five new members of his new team. They include:

• STEPHEN GREENHALGH Deputy Mayor for Policing (to be confirmed)
• KIT MALTHOUSE Deputy Mayor for Business and Enterprise
• EDWARD LISTER Chief of Staff and Deputy Mayor for Planning
• MUNIRA MIRZA Deputy Mayor for Education and Culture
• RICK BLAKEWAY Deputy Mayor for Housing

Read more about the elections here.

Further reading:

• BBC: At a glance: Elections 2012
• BBC: London mayor: Boris Johnson wins second term by tight margin
• Evening Standard: Boris Johnson announces his new team and says: I’ll boost jobs and growth
• London Elects: Results 2012
• The Guardian: Local elections 2012: fed up, not fired up

It is worth noting that amidst all the public discussion about how important young people are to our society, youth services are almost always among the first to go when cuts are made. Some of the reasons for this are fairly obvious. Young people have always turned out to vote in far lower numbers than the rest of the population, as have people from lower socio-economic brackets, giving politicians less of an incentive to take their preferences seriously. In fact, studies have repeatedly found that the effects of youth and class are compounded, so that if you are both poor as well as young, you are far less likely to vote than if you are one or the other. Youth services are also first on the scrapheap because they have less immediately measurable outcomes, meaning, as Laurie Pennie has argued, that “by the time the damage done can be properly tallied, the political careers of the current administration will be beyond scrutiny”.

The young and the poor also have no economic clout. Teenagers and young adults from low incomes typically cannot hire a lobbyist, or go on strike, or donate to political campaigns; and as a result of our social position, we inhabit a world that could not be further away from the wealth and privilege of mainstream policymaking circles. As a consequence, issues that are of great importance to young people are barely even on the agenda, even in the face of widespread protest. The BBC Mayoral Debate is a case in point. It is no secret that the accountability and conduct of the police has been a major concern for young people (and many others) for a long time. And not without good reason: The Economist notes that “no policeman has ever been convicted of murder or manslaughter for a death following police contact, despite more than 400 such deaths in the past ten years alone”. In spite of these concerns, and the fact that an audience member specifically asked about police accountability, the mayoral debate about crime and policing barely extended further than promises to put more officers on the streets, to build stronger relationships between the commissioner and the mayor, and vague statements about getting communities more involved in how they are policed. It is awareness of this kind of thing that produces a great deal of the indifference to formal politics that commentators so often complain about.

The implications of this lack of representation for people are not small, and are getting worse. Journalists Shiv Malik and Patrick Butler have documented nine areas, from jobs to housing to youth services, where youngsters appear to be disproportionately affected by the funding squeeze. Meanwhile, throughout the UK, the number of young people having claimed the dole for over a year has increased by 745% since 2007, a stunning number. As a side note, links between unemployment, inequality, and mental and physical health are also well documented, and worth noting. Researchers like Richard Wilkinson have shown how unemployment, and the great gaps in social status that follow from it, are bigger risk factors on our health than smoking. It is maybe not a coincidence that suicide is one of the leading causes of death among 18-24 year old males in the UK, with one of the highest rates in Europe.

This is part of the human backdrop that looms over the upcoming mayoral elections, which – far from a high brow personality contest – could well decide how vital resources are distributed, what is spent, hiked and cut with our money, and whether living conditions for the majority in London will improve or continue to get worse. For young people, particularly those young people of low income, the stakes are high indeed, and the incentives for casting an informed vote couldn’t be more compelling. Yet the lack of a widespread vote on the part of young people reinforces the incentive for politicians to ignore them, leading some to propose compulsory voting for first time voters as a way of combating this cycle.

While both of those ideas have merits that ought to be looked at, neither of them, I think, get to the meat of why turnout is so low among young people, which is something that often gets interpreted as a lack of interest in politics or in society itself. At the 99% campaign, we have made the contention for a long time that many young people (along with others) are not disenchanted with political issues but with politicians, and the electoral system, which is not the same thing, much as political leaders would like to think it is. Indeed many of the very same people lamented for their lack of interest in politics have been out protesting hikes in tuition fees. Far more are totally cynical about the apparent pantomime of party competition, and suspicious of the political profession itself. There is a very strong feeling among young people that a large part of electoral politics is based on dishonesty, the endless looping of carefully marketed party slogans, and saying whatever you think will win votes, irrespective of your real plans.

If political leaders and others are really interested in what young people have to say about the issues, the answers are not hard to find, and the 99% campaign – despite working with many young volunteers – has no special insight on this. Public attitudes, including those of young people, are regularly polled. Yet mainstream coverage of elections, including the upcoming mayoral elections, continues to stress the personality of candidates without properly revealing their stance on major issues. This is part of the reason why new-media, and resources like the London Civic Forum, along with VoteForPolicies.org.uk and others are so important; since people can use it bypass the vacuous, non-political culture that is a big part of celebrity politics, and figure out who (if anyone) they support based on what their views are.

While voting is certainly not the limit of civic participation by a long way, young people can only change the way they are under-represented by putting pressure on the political system, rather than withdrawing from it. This certainly includes casting an informed vote in the elections this May, particularly since the differences between candidates are significant. Those who are keen on finding out how candidates are lined up with their views should look through the London Civic Forum website, or take this survey.

Matthew Corr

99% Campaign Intern

If you havent had an opportunity to read through candidates manifestos you can find links to them here (although be warned some are longer than others). Also worth looking at is London Civic Forum’s camparsion of the candidates proposals with our own manifesto the ‘‘The Londoners’ Plan’

If you want to find out  whether Boris fulfilled his promises from his 2008 Manifesto you can have a look at his progress report or have a look at Full Facts analysis of his progress report here

If you are still unsure who to vote for you can try any (or all) of the following to discover how your priorities match with the candidates
Votematch  http://www.votematch.org.uk/
or
LSE   http://www2.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2012/04/mayor-for-london-.aspx
or
The Guardians build a mayor questionnaire http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/interactive/2012/apr/27/london-mayor-candidate-chooser

Just as important as voting for the Mayor is your vote for the London Assembly members – the people whose job it is to hold the Mayor to account – information on the both the constituency member and London wide Assembly candidates can be found here

A recent poll showed that many voters still do not understand how the voting system works so for more information please go to here and if you are curious as to how the votes are counted then try here

And finally if you need to know where your nearest polling station is you can find out here

Image: Petesimon's photostream

With less than three days to go until Londoners hit the polls to elect their new council representatives, the social media world is abuzz. As an aside, hopefully you have all registered to vote, and understand the process of voting. If you need some more information on what the ballots will look like and how your votes will be counted, look at the informative London Elects website (http://www.londonelects.org.uk/im-voter/how-vote).

Back to it… I came across a ‘dynamic infographic’ of social media activity surrounding the London 2012 election that has real-time information on who and what Londoners are talking about in the run-up to polling day. It can be found here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2012/apr/30/london-mayoral-election-2012-twitter

While examining the data, some surprising trends were underway. For example, the most mentioned twitter handle in the last 24 hours was @siobhan4mayor – Boris’ twitter handle did not even make the top five! Also, perhaps not as surprising, but still slightly disconcerting was the fact that housing and education were at the bottom of the list of number of conversations by topic. Perhaps Olympic buzz is growing as the games near, accounting for its third place title after politics and business; however, it is more of a short-term issue in comparison to housing and education, which impact Londoners on a daily basis and in a range of manners. It may be the case that Londoners are genuinely concerned with Olympic affairs and see it as a serious election issue, particularly in regards to the PR role that the mayor plays for Greater London in a large-scale international event.

Every election has a different focus on varying issues that shift with the times, which may account for the prominence of the Olympics in the 2012 London elections. However, there are a significant number of issues that London Civic Forum, and we like to think Londoners too, are concerned with. We have outlined those priorities in our Manifesto: The Londoners Plan, which you can find on our elections page at: http://www.londoncivicforum.org.uk/elections/.

An interesting project that we undertook with both ours and the main Mayoral candidates Manifestos was to compare how their priorities align with ours as set forth in the Londoners Plan, identifying whether candidates have managed to develop the necessary policies to meet the needs of Londoners (as well, found on the page linked above). Alas, our blog failed to make the list as a main social influencer in the blogosphere; however, our comparison merits a read nonetheless, as it concerns Londoners with the issues that their future Mayor will help to overcome, whether it be Boris, Ken, Siobhan, Brian or Jenny.

Of course, Boris dominates the overall talk on social media outlets – although not necessarily in a positive light, and we will soon see if the e-chatter translates similarly at the ballot box. We look forward to seeing the election results and holding our new Mayor to account on their Manifesto promises.

Don’t forget to VOTE on May 3^rd, 2012!

Blog post by Bright Pryde, volunteer at London Civic Forum.

LONDON NEWS

Building new school places
London Councils has warned that the capital’s local authorities face an enormous challenge to keep pace with the demand for school places over the coming years. With pupil numbers set to increase in London at more than double the national rate, London Councils’ research carried out last year forecast a shortfall of 65,000 primary school places between 2011 and 2015. More than 200 new classrooms are being built in London in time for September and the government recently announced that London local authorities would receive half of the £600 million additional capital basic need funding it is allocating to create additional schools places. While this funding is welcomed, London Councils has warned that a significant financial shortfall remains, with the cost of meeting additional demand for school places across the capital predicted to rise to more than £1.7 billion over the next four years.

• Read London Councils presss release
• Contact Caroline Dawes , Head of Children’s Services

Big jump in B&B figures
The number of homeless people placed in bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation by their local authority in London increased by 26 per cent last year, figures published by London Councils has shown. A report to London’s council leaders highlighted that a shortage of affordable properties in the private rented sector was forcing councils to place more people in B&Bs. In the first three months of 2011 there were 1,330 people recorded by their councils as living in B&Bs, by the final three months of the year that figure had jumped to 1,680.
Read London Councils’ press release

NATIONAL NEWS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiceaux/147480142/

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) released
The final version of the National Planning Policy Framework has been released he National Planning Policy Framework was published on 27 March 2012. The plan is a key part of government’s reforms to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, to protect the environment and to promote sustainable growth.

Right to Build and Neighbourhood planning come into force
The Localism Act officially came into force as of 6 April.The Department of Community and Local Government (DCLG) has developed a separate website that provides information about the progress of the Community Rights – http://communityrights.communities.gov.uk/

Two Community Rights came into effect in April 2012:

• Community Right to Build – giving communities the right to build small-scale, site-specific projects without going through the normal planning application process
• Neighbourhood planning – giving communities more say about what can be built in their area

Two more rights are expected to come into effect between May and July 2012:

• Community Right to Challenge – giving communities the right to challenge to take over a council service they think they can run differently or better
• Community Right to Bid – giving communities the right to bid to buy and take over the running of local assets that are important to them

Health and social care act passed
After months of controversy and debate the Health and Social Care Act received Royal Assent on 27 March 2012.  Key areas include:

• establishes an independent NHS Board to allocate resources and provide commissioning guidance
• increases GPs’ powers to commission services on behalf of their patients
• strengthens the role of the Care Quality Commission
• develops Monitor, the body that currently regulates NHS foundation trusts, into an economic regulator to oversee aspects of access and competition in the NHS
• cuts the number of health bodies to help meet the Government’s commitment to cut NHS administration costs by a third, including abolishing Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities.

EHRC publishes strategic plan
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its strategic plan for the next three years. Its three strategic priorities will be: To promote fairness and equality of opportunity in Britain’s future economy; to promote fair access to public services, and autonomy and dignity in service delivery; and to promote dignity and respect, and safeguard people’s safety

Standards regime
As part of the government’s plans to reform the standards regime for local government, Standards for England (formerly known as the Standards Board for England) was formally abolished on 1 April. Remaining provisions of the Localism Act that will, for example, introduce a criminal offence for deliberately misrepresenting a financial interest and allow for local codes of conduct, will come into force on 1 July 2012. The House of Commons library has recently published a briefing note that explains the main provisions of the new regime.

• Download the House of Commons briefing note

Story Time with the London Mayoral Teams
LVSC is part of the Family Friendly London coalition which is challenging the next Mayor to build a more family friendly city by tackling our city’s serious shortages of flexible jobs, childcare, advice services, and affordable housing. On 1 May 2012 we’re giving London parents the chance to have their say directly at a ‘Story Time with the London Mayoral Teams’ event.

Safer Future Communities London VCS Network
LVSC is working with Clinks to develop a network of VCS organisations in the capital with an interest in the criminal justice system and/or community safety. The network will engage with the new Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and other cross-sector bodies working in London to address criminal justice and community safety issues. More info on the network.

Big Squeeze phase 4
Next month, LVSC will seek evidence from London’s voluntary and community organisations about the impact of the economic downturn and public spending cuts on the sector, in the fourth annual ‘Big Squeeze’ survey . It will build on the evidence we have gained over the last four years. Watch this space on our website for the launch at the beginning of May.

Seminar: It’s time to move on from ‘race’
30th April 2012, from 11am to 2pm,Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London, N7 6PA.
Dr Yasmin Gunaratnam of Goldsmiths, University of London is chairing a seminar to celebrate the a launch of a new book from Policy Press. Understanding ‘Race’ and Ethnicity: Theory, history, policy, practice edited by Gary Craig, Karl Atkin, Sangeta Chattoo and Ronny Flynn refute the claim by politicians that the issue of ‘race’ is well covered by the present policy and political context.

The seminar is on the 30th April 2012, from 11am to 2pm with refreshments and a light lunch provided.
To attend please contact sally.stephenson@york.ac.uk by the 16th April.

Restorative Justice Training, Shakespeare Business Centre, 245a Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, SW9 8RR.
Community Empowerment Network are hosting a 2 Day Restorative Justice Awareness course (Saturdays 5th and 12th May and a 4 Day Restorative Justice Facilitators training course (Saturdays 5th, 12th 19th & 26th May 2012 )

Restorative Justice is ‘…a process whereby all the parties with a stake in a particular offence (or incident) come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and the implications for the future’ (Marshall, 1999).

The two day (RJ Awareness) and the four day (RJ Facilitators) training courses are aimed at anyone who wants to either familiarise themselves with RJ principles and background as well as those who want to be able to provide RJ conferencing and includes school staff, youth workers; youth offending services; social care services; residential care; community and voluntary services; probation services; police forces; local authorities; and human resource personnel.

For further details and to register, please contact Deuan German, Training Officer at Communities Empowerment Network deuan.@cenlive.org T: 020 7733 0297 M: 07958 546 113 www.cenlive.org.

RESOURCES

City Bridge launches Older Londoners website
City Bridge Trust and Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) have launched a website providing demographic information about older people in London and the services they use. They hope it will be a useful resource for organisations working with older people in London, including those involved in service delivery, advocacy and peer support. In 2009 the National Audit Office found that only a third of councils were prepared for an ageing population. The data available on the website enable users to understand how the older population is expected to change in different parts of London and how London’s councils are responding to needs of their older residents. See the Older Londoners website here.

The website forms part of a broader IPPR project supported by the City Bridge Trust, looking at how London’s older population is changing, with a particular focus on people over the age of 75, who are the fastest growing age group, have the highest need for services and support, and face the greatest risk of social isolation. The project produced four reports:

• Dementia care in London by Alice Sachrajda
• Home care in London by Laura Bradley
• Social isolation among older Londoners by Jonathan Clifton
• Older Londoners: Final report by Jonathan Clifton.

IPPR Report  “Wellbeing, choice and sustainability: What should economic policy target in a new era economy?” –The IPPR report argues that the causal links between GDP growth and income, and between income and wellbeing and opportunity, have broken down. As a result, policy should now focus directly on the wellbeing and choice of current and future generations. Rather than being directed at maximising GDP, policy should seek the highest level of wellbeing and choice for the current population that is compatible with offering at least the same level of wellbeing and choice to future generations.

Report published on tackling inequality for Gypsies and Travellers
Government commitments to tackle ingrained inequalities and promote fairness for Gypsy and Traveller communities were unveiled by Communities Minister Andrew Stunell in a report published recently.The progress report by the Ministerial working group on tackling inequalities experienced by Gypsies and Travellers contains 28 measures from across Government that will improve outcomes for Gypsies and Travellers across education, health, accommodation, employment and in the criminal justice system. http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/planningandbuilding/2124329

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/4860344045/#/

Heritage Lottery Fund
The Fund has launched a new £1 million small grants programme to support charities, community groups and heritage organisations explore local history, e.g. by researching local landmarks or using archives to discover the origin of street and place names. All Our Stories will make grants from £3,000 to £10,000. The deadline for applications is 31 July, and groups will be told whether they have been successful by October. Organisations can apply.

To support the grants programme, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is funding research support for community groups interested in exploring their heritage through these grants. Researchers will be available to support community projects from the beginning of the application process through to the research itself. Researchers will be funded to support a wide range of activities including: holding open days to initiate new collaboration or to develop existing partnerships with community groups; helping groups understand the historical, cultural, social context of proposed activities; advising on and helping support the activities themselves and their wider dissemination; working with groups to evaluate the projects; and helping to sustain partnerships beyond the timescales of the projects where appropriate

London Community Foundation
The Foundation is working with Localgiving.com, a not-for-profit website, specifically designed to support small, local charities by providing easy-to-use online marketing and donation tools that help to promote groups to local donors, engage with supporters and raise donations. Localgiving.com enables those charities that are too small to register with the Charity Commission to claim Gift Aid, thus boosting donations by 25%. Organisations also benefit from fundraising challenges, match funding promotions and training from the community foundation. £1.7 million has been raised through the site so far. For more information on the registration process, contact Anna Horsley, 0207 582 5117.

London Community Foundation and Localgiving both provided keynote speakers at a recent joint event, Philanthropy in the Community.

Big Society Capital
Big Society Capital was launched at the start of April with a mission to build a social investment market so that there is a better flow of loan finance for charities and social enterprises. It is capitalised with some £400 million from unclaimed cash in dormant bank accounts with an additional £200 million lent by four high street banks (Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and RBS). It is independent of Government and intends to lend to social investment intermediaries for them to make direct loans.

First information is available for such intermediaries on how to apply for loan investment between £500,000 and £15 million for core equity capital, risk and working capital, etc. Expressions of Interest (EoI) forms may be submitted at any time for investment related to specific areas of work anywhere within the UK. Aspects of work in each of the following may be covered: children and families, community regeneration (including engaging the community in using, running and owning community assets), disability,  education, employment, financial inclusion, health and social care, housing and shelter,  infrastructure (finance, support, advisory services and market infrastructure to social sector organisations), mental health, young people and children. There are a further two application stages if an EoI is followed up. Details here http://www.bigsocietycapital.com/social-investment/ or from Enquiries, Big Society Capital, 72-78 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1HY, tel 020 7186 2500.

Chesshire Lehmann Fund
Grants up to £5,000 for academic researchers and up to £2,000 for community groups (which work directly with low income households in their community) to support research and investigation into the relationship between fuel poverty and energy efficiency. Funding priorities for 2012 are:

• Delivery of Take Part Champions programme benefitting 399 residents in 18 London boroughs
• 400 VCS organisations supported to understand and influence policy through the London Councils funded project
• 450 participants at our Empowerment Roadshows
• 73 publications including research into barriers to participation for BME lone mothers and the Roma community
• 10 e bulletins reaching 2,700 people
• 400 community leadership learners
• Big Opportunity programme legacy of a LOCOG hosted VCS Advocates Group and support for investigating the feasibility of a Legacy Fund to follow the 2012 Games.

Andrew then went on to talk about the use of the Tran sitio n Fund grant which was awarded to us to enable us to see how we could be more sustainable and less reli ant on public funding in the future. As part of this we have redeveloped our Take Part Community Learning offer, undertaking detailed research into the need for and provision of Active Citizenship learning – something that has been at the heart of LCF for a long time. Building on this we have developed a new learning framework and have been piloting learning programmes in different boroughs in London, with for example, intergenerational work in Tottenham, supporting Asian elders in Croydon and helping local residents prepare to run their own libraries in Waltham Forest.

Andrew explained the other part of the work involved LCF Trustees commissioning work to scope different business models for LCF – specifically looking at social enterprise potential, corporate social responsibility support from businesses, grant funding from charitable trusts and greater collaborative working and possible merger with another organisation. This built on the 2010 review, reported to the last AGM which clarified our role as a hub for civic participation in London. While the scoping and follow-on work identified a lot of interest in, and need for the participation support we provide, it did not identify a source for the funding required. LCF have some funding for next year, and are looking at all options for maintaining our work. LCF  staff remain positive and committed and are delivering some great projects, and the trustees are grateful for this and hope it bodes well for the future.

Members at the AGM expressed support for the work of LCF and then were further inspired by a keynote speech by OBV Chief Executive, and LCF Founder member Simon Woolley, who reminded us all of why the role of LCF is so crucial at this time.

The Londoners' Plan

Launch of ‘The Londoners’ Plan: A roadmap to a better, more participative London’
London Civic Forum launched its Manifesto, ‘The Londoners’ Plan’ (pdf), after its AGM in March. The Manifesto is based on a series of roundtables held with a range of community and voluntary sector organisations which focussed on key policy policy strands for which the GLA (including the Mayor, the London Assembly, Transport for London and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority) is responsible. Speakers at the event included Rachel Orr (Shelter), David Fell (Brook Lyndhurst), Simon Fulford (Khulisha), RobinBrown, Lianna Etkind (Transport for All) and Alex Bax (London Pathways) who spoke about their priorities for London and how we can ensure that Londoners continue to have their voices heard post election.

A comparison of Mayoral Manifestos & The Londoners' Plan

We have now compared the Mayoral candidate’s manifestos and our own (pdf) to identify whether candidates have managed to develop the necessary policies to meet the needs of Londoners and have

1.    Civic Participation
2.    Policing and Crime
3.    Economy
4.    Housing
5.    Transport
6.    Health Inequalities
7.    Planning and shaping London’s spatial development

Sharing the Learning from Growing London
From Sept 2011 to March 2012, LCF’s Growing London project supported 40 Londoners to develop new skills, knowledge and confidence in both active citizenship and gardening. Between them, they created more than five new community vegetable gardens on disused land. Growing London ran further active citizenship learning sessions for over 40 more residents.Click on this link to read our Growing London Evaluation Report, which assesses the impact of the project and identifies learning points for practitioners. If you are interested in running a similar project, check out our new online Growing London ‘Project in a Box’ page. This page contains lots of useful information, resources and materials to help you plan a successful project along similar lines.

Growing London was part of LCF’s Take Part Learning Programme. For more information about Take Part, contact Kate Burls, Take Part Learning Manager, at kateb@londoncivicforum.org.uk.

Take Part: What’s On in May
Take Part is a community based learning approach which helps people gain new confidence, skills and knowledge for social action and community participation. Each of LCF’s Take Part projects is unique, responding to the needs, passions and interests of each learner group. In May, we’ll be supporting a new team of residents in Ealing to come together to plan a successful Jubilee Street Party, and helping the trustees of a disabled people’s organisation; running a series of learning sessions for library staff to help them better support youth participation; and running a skills-sharing session for volunteer-led network London Disabled People Against the Cuts.

For more information about these projects, or to discuss a new Take Part idea, contact Kate Burls, Take Part Learning Manager at kateb@londoncivicforum.org.uk or call 020 8709 9773.

Report: Taking Part Event, 3^rd April 2012
75 delegates from across the UK came together at this event led by London Civic Forum, the Take Part Network and the Taking Part Research Cluster.

With an emphasis on sharing learning from both academic research and on-the-ground work, participants explored the connections between active citizenship learning and community development, looked at how community learning can have a hugely positive impact on intergenerational solidarity, and identified the impact of projects working to support social action through neighbourhood-based learning. In workshops, delegates discussed the resilience of community sector organisations at present, achievements and challenges for active citizenship learning projects in the current political climate, and the potential of sports volunteering beyond the Olympics.

An event report will be published in early May at www.londoncivicforum.org.uk.

Your Voice, Your City programme news
LCFs Your Voice, Your City programme ended the year with two fascinating seminars.

Photo: Tim Green aka atoach's photostream

The first, ‘Philanthropy in the Community’ was delivered in partnership with London Funders and provided attendees an opportunity to learn about:

• What are the current philanthropic initiatives and organisations working in London at both local and London wide levels e.g. London Community Foundation, Islington Giving, Local Giving
• Identify what resources and skills are needed to be able to access funding
• How to make the best use of these funding opportunities
• How to build a relationship with funders

You can find links to the report from the the event and presentations from speakers here. London Civic Forum and London Funders are currently developing a follow up seminar which will look at the role of SMEs in the their communities  – we will let you know when the event has been finalised

Photo: Www.CourtneyCarmody.com/'s photostream

Our second seminar, ‘Prevention is Better than Cure’ was delivered in partnership with LVSC,London Funders, NHS London and London Councils,  and aimed to:

• provide evidence of the business case for engagement withthe voluntary and community sector (VCS) to improve health and well-being and to reduce health inequalities in London; and
• discuss the opportunities for health and social care commissioning from the VCS under the new health and care system proposed under the Heath & Social Care Act 2012. The event brought together an audience from local authorities, the NHS and the VCS to facilitate better working between the sectors

A final report from the event has now been published and contains a list of recommendations developed from the days discussions.

Response to Revised London Housing Strategy
London Civic Forum and fourteen other organisations from across London’s voluntary and community sector organisations recently came togther to formulate a comprehensive response to the consultation on the Revised London Housing Strategy.

Together our overriding concern is London’s housing crisis, which exists as a result of: decades of failures to address the unaffordability of housing in the capital; the application of housing policy that in terms of supply predominantly meets the needs of the top third of households by income; the feeding of the property market and property investment rather than ensuring the provision of stable and genuinely affordable homes within communities, where household members can demonstrate a long-term commitment and might safely raise the next generation

Photo: manu_le_manu's photostream

In November 2008, the then new Mayor published his ambition for youth violence in the capital. “To reduce youth violence and anti-social behaviour we must ensure that young Londoners are a valued and important part of their communities and are able to contribute in meaningful ways” (Time for Action 2008). This was aligned with the 2007 recommendation of the Home Affairs Select Committee on young Black people in the criminal justice system asking for the direct involvement of young users in the formation of policy and criminal justice practice.

So, how well have we done? If we look at the Mayor’s website, things look extremely positive. The Metropolitan Police’s publications will generally say how soft policies still are, while the Treasury will look at young people as consuming huge resources from health and social care services, prisons, probation, education and rehabilitation. The media will sensationalise negative stories and turn them into generalizable conclusions for young Londoners.

And yet ask a young person and they will tell you that now there are fewer opportunities than after World War II. The unemployment rates among young people are sky high, while over the course of a decade, we increased the rate of imprisoning children and young people despite no significant increase in criminality (Orr 2008). In September 2010, there were 1,637 juveniles (15-17 years) in prison, 273 incarcerated children (12-15) in privately run secure training centres (STCs) and 160 in local authority secure children homes (SCHs). In addition, there were 10,114 young adults (18-21) in prison (Berman 2010: 7).

Ask any young person and they will tell you that they are not special. “Even affluent people know that they are not very special; most know that they are members of what some call ‘the lucky sperm club’, born to the right parents in their turn, or just lucky, or perhaps both lucky and a little ruthless” (Dorling 2011: 61). The EHRC’s Triennial Review bears evidence to this claim. The recent policy on university fees is also breeding the philosophy that it is normal to have a few elite groups in society that will do better than others. This philosophy is not based on young people’s ability to learn but their ability to pay. I have not come across any developing country where the teaching of the social sciences is fully privatised with no government subsidy.

So, what went wrong? Ask any first year psychology student and they will tell you that for any individual to develop their potential and thrive, first there needs to be a sense of self-pride and a set of personal goals. Remove these and independently of the social, societal, biological, political factors that may be evoked, we should expect to see a life of underachievement and likely criminality. We develop these goals and aspirations though a mixture of factors such as our parents, role models, our peers and teachers. But we first have to believe in ourselves. However, society and the modern educational, justice, social, healthcare infrastructures start from the premise that if we are accessing a public service, then we must have a problem; it is not because we are simply pursuing our ambitions.

This is particularly true for young people. If they are accessing healthcare services, then they are seen as “consumers” of public money. If they have come to the attention of the criminal justice system, then they are labelled as “criminals”. If they do not have a home, then they are “homeless”, or if they have been in state care, then they are “care leavers”. I call this “disadvantage thinking”.

Consequently, well-intended policy, including the Time for Action, are tailored to these labels/ “problems”. Even worse, the targets that are introduced to indicate the success of these policies are flawed. For instance, youth justice policies are measured against targets such as recidivism (e.g. how many young people do not reoffend) and saving public money (e.g. how many young people are incarcerated). Youth justice and equality are not measured against individual outcomes and positive stories such as reaching individual goals and benefiting the community.

I argue that however much money is thrown by government, the Mayor, London trusts and donors for new policies, good schooling, textbooks, volunteering programmes, different curricula, improved parenting or even affirmative action schemes it won’t help address inequality and youth crime, if elitism and disadvantage thinking are not eradicated. Disadvantage thinking generates despair and feeds from prejudice and stereotypes.

To this end, policy makers and those in a position to determine how our society and lives are governed must endorse the idea of user-led (or youth-led) campaigning/ policy. Not youth policy drawn out of Google, but of youth-led evidence. The voluntary sector has been a pioneer in this area. For instance, IARS is an independent, social policy think-tank with a charitable mission to give everyone a chance to forge a safer, fairer and more inclusive society. IARS does this producing evidence-based solutions to current social problems, sharing best practice and by supporting young people to shape decision making.

User-led, evidence-based youth policy is not for the faint-hearted, but it is not a myth. It shows how to promote “positive thinking”; in return, “positive thinking” can gradually eradicate elitism, prejudice and despair. These solutions are not expensive; they just demand an element of “letting go” and trust. For instance, if statistics show that 1% of London’s young population commits serious youth violence, why not focus on the 99% by nurturing their aspirations and help them pursue their individual goals. Measure their success stories and use them as a positive way of also dealing with the 1%. Why spend £185,780 on keeping a young person in custody for a year, and not spend the same amount for keeping them in Eton College for six years? But this will mean letting go of our top down, “get tough” youth crime policies, and start believing in the potential of young people independently of labels. It also means trusting them that they will make good use of the opportunities offered to them. It also means that those supporting these young people have a responsibility to ensure that the opportunities offered to them are used positively.

To this end, the pan London 99% youth-led campaign was created. IARS has supported the Campaign’s young people to promote positive stories and through high quality volunteering opportunities create role models and inspire. With no financial support from the current Mayor, the 99% young people engaged over 900 volunteers and actioned its message through over 25,000 individuals.

In response to the August riots, they enabled young Londoner’s to balance some of the negative media coverage they endured by using the Campaign’s website to speak out to other young Londoners. A significant number of articles and filmed blog entries were produced for the website by young Londoners who had witnessed the riots. Two of the campaign’s volunteers collated these articles and video blogs and produced a comprehensive article on the riots and why young people believe they occurred.

As a result of the riots and the demand from young people to have their voices heard over and above the negative voice mainstream media, the 99% campaign now has a team of young journalists reporting on current events from a youth perspective through a multi-media blog, based on the citizens’ journalism concept. It acts as a platform for young people to express their views, debate issues that they feel strongly about, lobby for change in their communities, respond to current affairs and promote the positive contributions of young people in society. The blog is also used as a platform to work with other youth organisations to promote their activities. For instance, The Stopwatch Youth Group (a sub group of Stop Watch, run by the Runnymede Trust) plans to use the blog to update on their progress and latest work. Stockwell Academy and Northolt High School students also contribute to the blog as part of the Citizenship work and Media GCSE respectively.

To sum up, the problem stated here is the entrenched defeatism and elitism that surrounds current youth justice and equality policy in dealing with disadvantage, inequality and youth crime. The posited way forward is “positive thinking” or as otherwise called “the 99% thinking”. This can be achieved through youth empowerment leading to youth-led, evidence based policy and campaigning.

Where do we go from here? Despite the sense of pessimism underlying the paper, I think we are living opportune times. Institutions and policies are being reviewed globally (and nationally), and we are slowly becoming a bit more honest about our thoughts and feelings for each other. Public authorities are forced to become more accountable and partnership working is encouraged.

I also believe that it is through the result of millions of small actions that we change status quo. These are mostly undertaken by people not in government or with power. Examples include: votes for women, civil rights in America or Indian independence. Why not by young people too? It has been done in the past (see the 1969 student rebellion and taking over of LSE) and can be done again – the biggest march after the 2003 anti-war protest, was the 2011 student protest against the increase of university fees.

But working together does help to bring about changes quicker and without a revolution. Moreover, believing that we have to do all the thinking anew and alone is the wrong place to start. Any campaign or movement, by definition, needs to be carried out in partnership or with others. A Mayor who promotes positive thinking, endorses youth leadership and accepts bottom up structures and partnerships is a good place to start.

All views in this blog are Dr. Theo Gavrielides own and do not represent that of any organisation(s).