Valentines Day
Written by Rosa High, Project Manager, Education Works
February already.
As February rolls around, as does Valentine’s Day; a day of love, romance and chocolate. Whether you celebrate the day or not, sometimes we all need an excuse to express love for others.
Here at ELBA, we are taking the opportunity to express our love for east London and look at some of the work we are doing with the communities of east London.
ELBA’s Connect team delivers a number of skills-based volunteering projects supporting east London organisations across a number of key focus areas.
- Everyone’s Business provides young people from disadvantaged and marginalised communities opportunities to improve their employment skills and access sustainable careers. Everyone’s business is funded by the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit, and works across a network of organisations in Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.
- My Ends focuses on tackling serious youth violence at hyperlocal level. Working with the Hackney Wick Ward network, ELBA will collaboratively support at-risk young people into alternative pathways to violence.
- Leaders in Partnership is designed to strengthen the leadership of the third sector by creating 1:1 coaching-style relationships between senior employees and their third sector peers. Leaders in Partnership enables the development of community leaders and their organisations, allowing participants to explore professional challenges and identify solutions.
- The Evolve project aims to build the capacity of community organisations across Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Haringey, particularly in response to the effects of COVID-19. It is a collaborative partnership between Linklaters, UBS, Societe Generale .
- NHSX/Digital Divide aims to engage young people, parents and carers, and health professionals in codesigning a digital platform to provide disordered eating early intervention pathways. It is a 12 months collaborative project with East London Foundation Health Trust and Barnardos.
Within all projects, ELBA’s connect team enrols the skills, talents and expertise of business partners to build the capacity of key third sector partners across east London. We are so grateful to work with so many inspiring east London organisations with the support of our corporate partners.
In the spirit of love, here is what some of the ELBA team love most about east London:
“I love the sense of community in east London. It feels like home and I’ll always be an east London girl!”
“As someone who isn’t from east London, you come to realise that it’s quite different to all other parts of London. I would say east London is more culturally diverse than other parts of London, which makes it incredibly unique.”
“East London has been my home for nearly 3 years now, Hackney to be specific, and I love it. The restaurants and food places are amazing, the parks and green spaces are a joy and a complete life saver during COVID, and the venues for music or anything social are so much fun. Living and working here has been great, especially all the people I have met and gotten to know in the area!”
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