by our resident storyteller, Victoria Stewart

Like many good things, the best ideas usually come after a good dinner.

So it’s been a joy to have delicious hot food given to us by four of Brixon’s local restaurants, Lounge Brixton, Franco Manca & Wild Caper, Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen and Satay Bar, for everyone to eat at every Monday evening’s Open Project Night over the last month.

A few weeks ago, we talked to Franco Manca & Wild Caper about why they decided to partner with Hub Brixton. This week we talk to Clover Eziashi, owner of Lounge Brixton about Caribbean food and what the area means to her.

Lounge Brixton, Atlantic Road

Lounge Brixton’s jerk chicken with plantain and couscous (pic: Lounge Brixton)

What’s the lowdown?

Lounge Brixton is a family business owned by husband-and-wife team, Clover and Maynard Eziashi. Maynard, a British Nigerian film actor who originally started it 17 years ago before moving to the current premises on Atlantic Road four years later, had spent time in LA, and found that the cafe culture so prominent over there wasn’t so much in Brixton in 1999. According to his wife Clover, who has been running the business for eight years, “he wanted to bring arts, crafts, good coffee and good food together to Brixton. It was a challenge at the time because people wondered why we wanted to be in Brixton, but it’s grown ever since.” Clover describes their food as a mixture of things: “it has a Caribbean influence because my stepmother is from Barbados so we have the authentic Bajan salt fish fritters and jerk chicken as well as some other fusion food. We also still do the all-day breakfast.”

Lounge Brixton also serve an all-day breakfast at the restaurant (Pic: Lounge Brixton)

What food will you provide at Open Project Night?

Last time it was really hot outside, so I did a Mediterranean salad with homemade falafals, hummus, and a cous-cous salad.

Why did you want to partner with Open Project Night?

Bex suggested we get involved because of our longstanding time in Brixton and I was really eager to get on board. As an independent it’s difficult to juggle everything, but we have agreed to give dinner once a month.

What does the area mean to you?

It means everything to me. I’ve been brought up here – I’m a South London girl – and I’ve always found it so welcoming, hospitable, and I’ve personally never had any problems. I think if you’re in the area people get to know you.

I like the friendliness, the community spirit and I do believe that it’s not like anywhere else in London. Whenever I go away and come back, I feel like I’m coming home. I truly mean that, from my heart.

Do you work elsewhere within the local community in Brixton?

We have worked with Brixton Soup Kitchen, and when we close every Christmas for two weeks, we give all our available food to a charity run by The Jerk Centre round the corner that gives food for the homeless around that time. That’s something I’ve always wanted to be involved with, as he’s an amazing guy.

Lounge Brixton is located at 56-58 Atlantic Road, Brixton, SW9 8PY; loungebrixton.co.uk

To find more information on Open Project Night, read the blog, or visit Impact Hub Brixton

The post Feeding Open Project Night: meet Lounge Brixton’s owner Clover Eziashi appeared first on Brixton.

by our resident storyteller, Victoria Stewart

Hub Brixton wouldn’t be the lovely place that it is without its Member Hosts.

Often the first person you’ll meet if you walk through the door of our shared workspace in Brixton, a Hub host is someone who will be there to point you in the right direction, connect you with other members, answer your questions or tell you a joke, if that’s what you need. Morning or afternoon, Monday to Friday, there’s always someone on the desk.

But our hosts don’t only hang out at the Hub. Each work on their own projects throughout the week, which vary from leading workshops on sustainability to coaching black-owned businesses, they are also a fantastically talented bunch.

Here we talked to three of them to hear why they joined the Hub, and what makes them tick.

Rachael Palmer

RACHEL PALMER – Thursday morning host

What do you do?

I’m a full time mummy and part-time entrepreneur, and currently I’ve got my hands, head and heart full with focusing on organising African Ladies Day at Ascot (see main pic above) which runs on 22nd June. In January I also started my own consultancy firm working with small, black-owned businesses helping them develop growth and best practice.

How did you hear about Hub Brixton, and why do you like being part of it?

I joined last August because I’d just had my third child, and I wanted to find something local as I’d been made redundant from my youth worker post and I wanted to keep active and busy. After I did a business growth course and they held the awards ceremony at Hub Brixton, I came across the host job. I really love hosting, because I’m secretly a little bit nosy, so it’s fun getting to know people and what they do, and I love linking people together. So if someone’s looking for a graphic designer, for example, or when other opportunities come up, I love putting people forward.

What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you at the hub?

A gentleman came in once claiming to be a world famous DJ, called DJ Clive, and he just wanted to announce it, but then he couldn’t tell us when his shows were on. I’m not sure if it was amusing or strange but I remember it!

What are you most proud of?

My five children, who are aged 15 years old down to 18 months. I’m proud that I’m still here and haven’t yet run away!

What are you looking forward to in 2017?

Expanding my business and learning a bit more about myself so what makes me tick, what excites me and what upsets me.

Rachael’s book recommendation

What have you watched/listened to that has inspired you to make change?

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is a book I always recommend. It’s kind of like an insight into human behaviour that I’d never thought about before. It’s all about what makes the next great people, and the key people that you need in order make your idea really pop. It’s really natural and easy to read, and it’s very enlightening.

Simona Campli

SIMONA CAMPLI – ad-hoc host

What do you do?

I’m a counsellor coach specialising in innovation, so my aim is to work with innovative business entrepreneurs, especially those that focus on change and sustainability, which is my biggest passion. I started in 2012 with my private practice and started doing therapy work and moving towards coaching more recently in the last couple of years.

How did you hear about Hub Brixton, and why do you like being part of it?

I found out about Hub Brixton via the Hub Kings Cross where I’d been to some talks about sustainable fashion, and then realised there was one closer to home – I decided to become a member as soon as I could. I enjoy hosting partly because the majority of my job is done by myself or with clients and I never really have the opportunity to chat about inspiring things as part of a group. And since I align so much with the values of Impact Hub Brixton, I knew that through hosting I would definitely have a chance to meet people and have those conversations. It’s a privilege to do.

What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you at Hub Brixton?

I’ve been quite lucky because the only bad thing that’s happened was when the internet cut out in the middle of the day before lunch time. Actually everyone reacted really well and took the time to have an offline lunch together and chat. It eventually came back at 4pm, and maybe it was because it was sunny or a Friday but people were great about it.

What are you most proud of?

It’s not a particular thing, but I have found myself shifting towards an attitude in recent years which is being more open to new things and adventures and throwing myself into the mix much more than when I was younger. I think it’s really helpful in finding me new opportunities – throwing yourself in is one of the best things you can do.

What are you looking forward to in 2017?

I’m trying to start a few workshops on what I do, especially in collaboration with Impact Hub Brixton. I’ve also been working on a book for a long time, which is a collection of articles and essays that I’ve written for my blog and in other places. So I’d like to submit that with Unbound by the end of the summer.

A talk by Ed Gillespie from the sustainability change agency, Futerra, has inspired Simona

What have you watched or listened to that has inspired you to make change?

This doesn’t apply to creating change but actually living it. A few months ago I read the last few articles Oliver Sacks wrote for the New York Times on finding out about his deadly illness and living his last few months. It really supported me going through some tough life adjustments in my personal life. On a brighter note, Ed Gillespie of Futerra made a speech at 5×15 Talk in Bristol which has been a great source of inspiration for the power of storytelling to promote positive change for the environment, and humanity at large.

CHLOE DYSON – Friday afternoon host

Chloe Dyson at the refugee march

What do you do?

For 4.5 days a week I work for Futerra, a sustainable change agency whose thing is to ‘imagine better’, something I’m drawn to. I’ve been there since January and I specialise in sustainability reporting and the geeky number crunching of sustainability. I’ve been at the Hub since November – I didn’t have a job then, and I’d been trying to freelance, and I was keen to make sure I had access to a community where I could still explore other projects. The opportunity to do this has been amazing.

How did you hear about Hub Brixton, and why do you like being part of it?

The Hub’s Community Lead Olivia came to an event that I run called the League of Pragmatic Optimists – it’s like a jam in a pub for people who want to do something about the future, and Olivia came and pitched her project, The Before I Die Network, and from there I was introduced to Hub Brixton. It’s so great being around so many likeminded people, which sounds like a cliche, but it’s nice to find your home and to feel part of something where people are guided by something bigger than themselves. Then of course it’s also really nice hanging out with people with great senses of humour, and being able to laugh a lot.

What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you at the hub?

I remember one Friday afternoon, someone had come in with a request for a paper guillotine and for some reason that turned into it being crowned Guillotine Day. At the same time the fusebox had gone so we needed to get the site manager to come in to help us. And he started tutting – jokingly, though – about women not being to do it, and so I said ‘off with his head’ and it was so funny in the context of Guillotine Day – and also very out of character for the Hub.

What are you most proud of?

I’m proud to have made a commitment to a couple of things and kept up with them, in terms of being at the Hub and keeping that going well, almost having a full-time job, and still doing The League of Pragmatic Optimists, which is quite a few balls in the air. Having The Hub gives me a little boost and helps me gain perspective. I can often get into one thing too much and it takes over everything, whereas being here has forced me to establish a balance, which I think has made me better at my day job.

What are you looking forward to in 2017?

I’m actually most excited about seeing how things play out. I’m trying to let go a bit and stop forcing things, and go with the flow, and enjoy the way things are. I’m excited about enjoying the summer and really that’s enough! So I’m looking forward to more of the same I think…

Chloe’s inspiration is from Climate Take Back by the carpet company, Interface

What have you read or watched that has inspired you to think about change?

There’s a thing that has just launched called Climate Take Back, which is a really fascinating slide deck presentation that I just want people to know about. It’s been done with Interface, the carpet company, which is not the first place you’d think of for inspiration and change but they have been trailblazers when it comes to sustainability because they set a mission to achieve complete sustainability in the way they produce their products back in 1994, and to have zero negative impact on the environment. They are getting close to achieving that now because they have completely changed their business model. [The way they run their business and the positivity of the guy who runs it] really appeals to me because it’s trying to providing some optimism and hope to say that we can change the climate in a positive way. It provides a plan, and it’s hugely inspiring, because we’re so constantly fed with negativity and fear, which shuts down action. But I think if we can tell ourselves that we can do something, even on a personal level, then that’s where the change happens. That’s exciting.

For more stories from Hub Brixton, take a look at the blog page here; for more information on the team at Hub Brixton, have a look here.

The post Meet the Hub Brixton Hosts: what makes them tick appeared first on Brixton.

by our resident storyteller, Victoria Stewart

Every so often on this blog we interview a Hub Brixton member to hear what drives them on to do the work that they do. This week, in the wake of the Grenfell Tower catastrophe, we felt it was the right time to hear what Hubber Amelia Viney and the young people she works with had to say about it.

Having worked in politics as a parliamentary researcher in Westminster, and as a legislative assistant in Washington D.C., Amelia, who was born in America but lives in Brixton, is now the founding director a social enterprise called The Advocacy Academy whose programme aims to give young people from marginalised and low-income backgrounds in south west London the confidence and skills and to have a voice and stand up for the change they want to see in their area. Applications to the programme come from visiting 12 schools, reaching over 1000 kids, and from kids who have heard about the programme through word of mouth.

Amelia Viney, founding director of The Advocacy Academy

“We started this because there wasn’t anything,” she explains. “I’d get on the bus to Westminster every day and I’d hear these kids who were interesting and vibrant and funny and pissed off, and they were on their way to parliament but they never crossed the river. And all the white middle class people who make the decisions on their behalf went on to Westminster. So I wondered how we could get these kids to have a voice? So part of what we do is to give kids the ability to go on and do things themselves that will enable them to win, to have tactics and a strategy to make an impact. And it’s such a great thing to see what they’re doing in the world.”

What do you think the Grenfell Tower catastrophe highlighted in terms of community action, both from those within and outside the community there?

I showed these quesions to the kids and they and I both agreed that the response from the community in west London was totally typical of what to expect from an inner city London community.

Sometimes the media is shocked every time a community gets its shit together to help each other, yet as one of my kids said this morning: ‘We do this all the time.’ There’s an incredibly strong community spirit and an amazing sense of solidarity particularly among people from low income backgrounds, where there are people of colour or migrants.

One of the kids said that when she lived in a council flat, they shared a kettle with their neighbours, and people would knock on the window and pass it around. So it’s a beautiful thing to see the community come together, but not in any way shocking – what’s shocking is that they were having to do this in the first place. [Looking at the volunteers] from outside the community, I think it’s interesting to see how people feel powerless to use the channels that exist. I know people that physically got up from their seats to march or to volunteer because there isn’t another avenue they could go down. So it’s been really inspiring and it’s shown that London is one community, no matter how many neighbourhoods we are.

In terms of how society is set up, what lessons can be taken and learned from what’s happened?

Grenfell Tower is a terrifying call to arms for those people who like to pretend that it’s not a problem. They can’t ignore it any more. In the same way that 9/11 brought down the Twin Towers and brought extremism and really scary radicalisation into focus, the bringing down of this tower brought into focus what inequality looks like.

And we know intellectually that the world is getting to a tipping point where the insane wealth that exists is a physical representation of profit over people, and what it looks like to live in a neoliberal capitalist country that allows people to burn in their own homes because they couldn’t afford market rate rents. That to me is criminal. So it brings into very sharp focus: ‘who do we hold responsible for the structures that we have?’ A lot of people [in government, in the council, lawyers, people who make cladding] will be held responsible for this, and yet it will come down to the people who are actually least responsible holding the biggest weight… But the only thing is mass culpability – everyone looking at their shoes, wringing their hands, saying ‘we could have done more,’ and I hope it doesn’t take as long for us to get to that realisation that we are all responsible for this, every single one of us.

More young people than ever voted in this year’s election. Does that tell us anything in terms of the influence they hold and how things might change?

The kids I spoke to said how interesting it is that people feel voiceless – that they don’t say anything because they don’t know how or what, and they don’t know their rights. Anyone who does say anything – in this case the ones at Grenfell – are completely shut down. So reflecting on how to fix the system, the two things the kids came up with were a bottom-up approach and a top-down approach. How do we make sure that the next generation can cause a huge ruckus [so that working class people, of colour, or who are women, can get into politics and social change and justice], and then how do we create systems that do not rely on people being voiceless? For that they decided it was too late for adults as you’d have to teach too many people too many things, so instead they said we need to make sure that people know who their good MPs are and how they can be represented.

Do you feel the young people you work with are starting to make a noise?

Yes, they already do. One of them got Lib Peck, the current Lambeth Council leader, to agree to build a CRP or Community Resource Program; another is an amazing black British feminist who spends her time talking about racisim; someone else is helping Latin American women not to be exploited. They all came on the programme because they wouldn’t have otherwise had the skills to do these things.

Is there anything in particular that the young people you’ve worked with have learnt?

Yes, there are two great examples. The first is Amal, who is a 17-year-old Muslim woman who is pretty angry about Islamophobia, and particularly about not being able to go and buy a newspaper because she’s afraid that if she opened one up she’d find things that were at best misleading and at worst inflammatory about her community. Her idea was to get in the room with the editors, to make them understand her experiences and how it affected her when she read stories like they knew to be misleading. So she made a video with all these different Muslims talking about Islamophobia which got seen 200,000 times and she showed it to an MP called Helen Hayes, who loved it.

Eventually Amal took this cohort of very well-prepared young Muslims to hold a meeting with the editor of The Sun newspaper, Tony Gallagher, without any adults in the room. It was great, and there’s another meeting coming up, and it’s about building a relationship with someone of real power who can’t ignore you because you’re 17 and you’re sad.

A smaller example was with Imha, who grew up with five kids in one bedroom in Stockwell and whose mother – for various reasons – was constantly going to her housing association and [being treated like dirt on someone’s shoe]. She decided she want to bring more compassion to frontline services because people who work in those jobs are also from low-income backgrounds that aren’t paid well and are often people of colour who are being treated like shit too. So on Valentines Day this year she and 30 kids brought boxes of chocolates and gave them out to the service providers just to say ‘we recognise that things are super hard, but try to be patient with people who are coming to you, because this is their life.’ Later she met with the head of HR at Lambeth Council, and soon she is going to be delivering some training to them about how to be compassionate and loving people. She’s an amazing young woman.

Can you suggest any ways that young people who haven’t or can’t get onto your programme can learn some of these skills from it? Could you also suggest any ways that anyone working with young people can help them develop them too?

To me the answer is not to try and nationalise this programme but for people to be supportive wherever they are, and to build whatever their community needs. We have 250 volunteers, and they are all in their 20 and 30s who recognise that things are broken and are willing to give their time and energy to the kids who would never get it without our help. So the message I have to anyone who is frustrated or angry about the way the world is, is to figure out and hone in on the thing that makes them most angry, whether it’s immigration or environmental or gender stuff, and to get really geekily knowledgeable in that thing, and work out where the battles are, and figure out how to do something about those. The other thing is of course to reach out to us, and come see the programme, come replicate it, do what you can with what you have. Just start doing stuff where you are. Don’t wait.

If you were going to design an ideal Lambeth, what would it look like?

There are a lot of other things I’d change, such as the schooling system, but mostly it’s about just wanting a more fair, just, and equal society.

One of the big things about me for London is that London does not belong to Londoners – it belongs to property developers and foreign investors. And it didn’t used to. My dream for London would be that we ban all purchasing approaches from foreign investors, that every house owned by them is brought out by local people who can afford it, and that they can live in those houses that they buy. If you want a second a home, then it has to be in the city you live in, and I want us to stop demonising the people who can’t afford to buy a decent house. When I look at the list, Kensington and Chelsea have 2500 people on their waiting list, and even more on temporary accommodation. In Lambeth there are 22,000 people on the housing list, and yet in Nine Elms we have empty homes that are going to diplomats. So I would rather that be changed.

To hear more about the Advocacy Academy, read here, and to read more about what other Hub Brixton members do, have a read of the stories on the blog, or come to Open Project Night which is held every Monday evening.

The post Hub Chat: meet Amelia Viney, founding director of the Advocacy Academy appeared first on Brixton.

by our resident storyteller, Victoria Stewart

One member said it was an example of resilience in a time of unexpected change. Another agreed because it proved people could deal with adversity. Then someone offered up that they didn’t think resilience was the right word to be using at all.

For those of you that don’t know, back at the end of May, when a water pipe burst one Sunday afternoon in the HQ of Impact Hub Brixton, it left such significant damage that the whole community using the space has had to up sticks and move to a whole new shared workspace for two months while repair work is carried out.

In the end, things have worked out OK. Members temporarily settled in London’s different Impact Hubs, while others moved to the Shakespeare Business Centre in Loughborough Junction that we’ve made our temporary home, and overall there have been very few complaints about the glitch – bar a few swear words due to the intermittent internet signal.

In fact the whole community came together, accepted the change, and learnt to adapt to its new surroundings: lunches are now shared inside an open kitchen, while events have either carried on or have found different homes around Brixton.

Which brings us back to that that word resilience, and it got us thinking about what it means to different people. So allow me to pass the baton to three of our members – coaches Andry Anastasiou and Jawad Al-Nawab, and business co-founder Hannah Parris – to see what resilience means to them…

Hubber Hannah Parris

HANNAH PARRIS

Who: co-founder of Mighty Good Undies, an ethical underwear business.

I think resilience means… being able to cope with change and the unexpected in a way that maintains your sanity and maintains your ability to function doing all the things you need to do – and hopefully being happy, too. I think it also means being absorbent in lots of ways.

I think the biggest thing that happened to me that required a lot of resilience… was the move to the other side of the planet, from Australia to the UK, aged 40. I was planning a life around the status quo, and I’d made that deliberate decision with somebody else, and then his circumstances changed, and that was quite unexpected, and I had to rip my whole life up. I didn’t think any of that was going to happen.

To maintain my sanity, I did a couple of things… I focused on the good things about coming over here. I didn’t say it was all OK, I actually acknowledged that it was tough, and actively planned for those tough things. So, for example, we gave ourselves 6 months to prepare for that transition, because that takes time. I focused on self-care, and not feeling guilty about that. So one of my things is that I need quiet time, otherwise I go bonkers and I remember it was December in Australia, so it was blazing hot and we had packed up our house in 35-40 degrees, we had no time to say goodbye to the city, and we were just running around. And at the time there was this movie that I hadn’t found the time to go and see… and in the end I just went to see it, even though my husband said we had too much to do. I walked away, saw it, and came back and got on with everything. I think you have to create that space when you need it.

Now I’m better at doing these things… I make sure I work from home at least once a week, and I’m better at saying no and not taking on too much, and I’m really careful about how I spend my time.

Hubber Andry Anastasiou

ANDRY ANASTASIOU

Who: director of The Learning Moment, which provides professional coaching, workshops, focus groups, educational consultancy and wellbeing services.

Resilience means a lot to me both in terms of myself and the organisations that I work with… It’s really caught on as a term in the public eye. For me it means to bounce forward from adversity and challenge with new wisdom, new insight, and to create a strength. It’s been on my mind a lot lately in a lot of my work. In fact I was working with St George’s, University of London, where we did a programme on Career Resilience and how to stay personally and professionally resilient – so how to maintain your strength, energy and focus – in the face of challenges or things not going your way. I’m also doing a programme in Skyros in Greece in the summer about wellbeing [which feeds into this]. In my coaching work [I’ve had to be resilient] when staff in organisations I’m working with have left their roles. People are always dealing with the issue of ‘how do I find my way forward to my goal through this difficult time?’

I think a good personal and professional example was when… I first went full time with freelance work and it was the beginning of the recession.

I had some amazing work with government organisations doing learning projects and then my client base disappeared overnight and in a nutshell, the whole landscape changed for me. It took me up to a year to find my feet, plan, and trust my approach, which is that ‘I really like people, and I really like conversation’ and know that I could build business that way.

I also spent time with my own coach, thinking through my approach, strategy, and next steps, and over 6 months looking for small signs of success emerging and celebrating them. I think resilience is also about taking the lessons forward consciously, and from that I learnt two important things: I can pretty much survive any financial difficulty, and stay flexible and persistent, within the unknown.

Resilience isn’t this society’s idea of toughness, where everything’s meant to go over your head and you get on with things… It’s also not ‘I’ve climbed a mountain’ resilience. It’s the everyday resilience that you need, especially as a company director, where you often need to cope with change and challenge. Recently I had some personal challenges and I decided that I wanted to work part-time for a while. I had some really great projects so I decided to leave the facilitation and coordination and delivery of workshops to my team, which I’d never done before. So I stepped back, took two months to rest – I did a lot of nourishing self-care things like gardening and sitting about and eating good food – and then project managing things and doing some coaching. And my team stepped up in a way which blew my mind, and I came back feeling more physically and emotionally resilient. I learnt that I can trust my team to be there for me, and I can support them, and my clients were really happy too. It was an understanding of the relationship between self-care and personal resilience.

Hubber Jawad Al-Nawab

JAWAD AL-NAWAB

Who: A mindfulness teacher who also teaches cycling, and who previously also worked in education and as a researcher at the national addiction centre.

I think resilience is a word that feels very loaded… I thought I didn’t really want to talk about it, and I found the term loathsome… but I looked up its etymological root because I wanted to see why resilience is a term that has been valorized. You see, the definitions that come up for resilience are: an ability to return to the original force, or an ability to recover readily from adversity, illness, depression. And these etymological roots are all about bouncing back, toughness, and being flexible. But implicit in these things is that if we’re not resilient, then what? Does that mean you’re a failure or incapable? My feeling is that we need to be careful that by using this word we’re not creating some sort of emotional prism. Where and when did resilience enter society and become valued? Because if resilience is synonymous with strength and toughness, perhaps we risk drifting into that ‘man-up’ kind of expression that everyone uses, and perhaps we actually need to unpack and interrogate that.

Jawad Al-Nawab’s sketch about resilience

A big part of my backdrop is that I’m Iraqi-English, so I’ve had an ongoing journey with the dynamics of race, ethnicity, religion, post-Brexit, pre-Brexit, and the changing world and modernisation…

I’ve travelled extensively around the Middle East, lived in Jordan and Algeria around periods when there has been intense confusion and anger and hostility and suffering, some of which we see on the TV. And some of it’s connected with globalisation, modernisation, imperialism, and people being uprooted from traditional societies. I grew up in a community that prioritises virtue, charity, non-competition and selflessness, but then I also grew up in a culture that was dog-eat-dog-survival-of-the-fittest, and from the age of 9-10 I’ve suffered from what some people might call a debilitating weakness, which is anxiety, but which I think is actually a strength in the context of a social group. For example let’s say everyone goes swimming, I might be looking out for safety precautions where other people will be diving straight in. And we need both types of people, I think. Because there are many different types of humans, and who decides what the norm is?

I think I’d much rather be discussing and championing things and words like kindness, care, generosity, compassion and connection which…

I think in our culture takes courage, and which I think is underpinned by ethics and values. Evidence shows that we have increasing rates of self harm and suicide among young men in particular, and you could say it’s all about something having gone wrong in their brains, or you could say it’s the lack of fitness between what we’ve been evolved for, and the environment we’re now in. But, really, a lot of us share the same emotions and things that we find precious, like hope, fear of dying or loneliness or not having friends or not being valued, wanting the best for ourselves and the people around us. But where does that fit in the resilience model? I feel this old-school, cold-shower culture [that we know about from history] filters things in the wrong way.

Hubber Jawad Al-Nawab’s sketches on resilience

In my own experience it took me, as a man, until the age of 40 to ask another man for help… I had a really bad injury and I asked a friend to stick around with me, which felt like a really embarrassing thing, because I was exposing myself – but he said of course. So is that resilience? It was a real human moment where I learnt something. Because I could have just said: ‘oh, I’ve only ruptured my kidneys, I’ve only passed out once, I’m only worrying about work for a month, and I’ll be back at work in a few weeks.’ So is one of those resilience and one not?

Finally, I thought about resilience in terms of something I saw after my mother died… A woman said to me that when something like that happens to you, it does leave a big impact on your life, and it’s emotionally charged, but that people can grow bigger, and begin to have a healthier relationship with that event. And I think it’s true in my own life because that grief is there and some things will trigger it, and it feels vivid and alive, but I’ve also learnt that it will pass, and that maybe it’s ok to just have that moment, or maybe to tell someone about that. And maybe that’s resilience, because those are the things that make me feel more human.

For more posts and stories from what other Impact Hub Brixton members do, think about, or are getting up to, visit our blog page

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By our resident storyteller, Victoria Stewart

We all know that just about every social venture needs more funding. And at some stage, we’ve probably all also been in a position where we’ve had to rope in friends or family to help us out with something, whether that’s brainstorming branding ideas, proofreading press releases or setting up an accounting spreadsheet.

Last month the clever folks at the Brixton £ Community Cafe and those behind the skills sharing platform Echo (never heard of it? Read up here) joined up to combine a version of both of those things in one.

Not following?

Well, some of you may be familiar with The Brixton Fund, a community-funded pool of money (given out in different-sized portions) raised every season by The Brixton £ Cafe and granted to people or projects that ‘work to create positive solutions… and allow effective local interpretations of the Fund’s aims of employment, social justice and community benefit.’

Echo (which stands for Economy Of Hours), meanwhile, is a platform that started in East London and also runs out of Impact Hub Brixton, allowing anyone to share their skills not for money but for time. The ‘currency’ is Echoes.

Back in June, the Brixton Fund whittled 30 applicants down to a shortlist of six who were each awarded grants of up to £1500, but this time each one was also given 10 Echoes to spend.

Two of the winners included The Spacecraft, a social enterprise started by former Hubber Kim Stanway that aims to reduce isolation among the elderly through craftmaking and enterprise (awarded £1,500), and BDT PressGang, a training and practical journalist experience for 16/17 year olds set up by Hubbers Abigail Melville and Brixton Bugle editor Linda Quinn (awarded £700).

Here we talk to the Hub’s Echo brains, Georgina Wilson about why Echo decided to partner with the Fund, and to Abigail Melville about how she’s planning to spend her Echoes.

Georgina Wilson talking about Echo at the Brixton Fund evening

Georgina Wilson, Echo lead

Why did you think Echo and the Brixton Fund would be a good fit? 

We wanted it to be something that went further than Hub Brixton, to get other organisations in the local area to identify with the sharing economy that’s associated with Impact Hub Brixton. Since all of the groups applying to the Brixton Fund have a social impact, we wondered whether we could support them with Echoes that ultimately would help to bring their project forward as an extra bonus. So every shortlister now has 10 Echoes which is the equivalent of 10 hours to use on the platform for whatever they needed.

How was the judging process?

It was really inspirational as there are so many people trying to create positive change and social impact, and it was nice to read their stories. I liked how much there was around art – some groups talked about how they’re using arts to bring people together as a conduit to stop isolation and allow communities to do something creative and support each other. One of those winners was Kim Stanway from The Spacecraft.

What do you think people can get from Echoes that they can’t get from the Brixton Fund?

It’s difficult to say because some things are really high value – a business coaching session might normally cost up to £200 for an hour – so it’s difficult to quantify it in that sense. But the winners can use their Echoes for anything, and if they are used to support either the project or the people directly involved on the project then that’s great. There are amazing things offered on there like massages and tennis partners, all of which contribute to people’s wellbeing, for example.

Why did you want to get involved with Echo?

I’ve always wanted to support other people and their projects, anything that I think is adding value to society really. Echo is a brilliant way of sharing what you have.

I’ve mostly spent my Echoes on things like coaching and copywriting, and then I’ve received them for delivering training and workshops. Last night we did a skill sharing event, and one of the comments was about the fact that people are often giving and don’t often think about what they need or could accept. Then after 2 minutes of speed-networking, one lady agreed to sew a zip on this guy’s jacket for him, and he was going to set up her social media for her. That was lovely.

https://brixton.impacthub.net/echo-faqs/

SHORTLISTER:

ABIGAIL MELVILLE, RAW TALENT & BDT Press Gang

What’s the background to your project?

My company is trying to revolutionise work experience by offering kids – we tend to recruit around 7-12 at a time – the opportunity to work on a real project over one week. For this I really wanted to do something for the Brixton Design Trail because I’m keen to connect kids with the creative sector in Brixton. I’d also had a conversation with Linda Quinn who edits the Brixton Bugle newspaper and who was interested in getting young people writing for the paper. So we came up with this idea of a Brixton Design Trail Press Gang and I’m hoping we can establish it as part of the Trail on an ongoing basis.

Why did you decide to apply for the Brixton Fund?

The BDT has a very community-oriented approach, and a real desire to have young people involved. But given that BDT doesn’t have a lot of money, the Brixton £ Cafe seemed like the logical place to go, as it’s the community who back the fund.

How did the project go?

We asked for £800 and we got £700, and we ran the project out of the Brixton £ cafe, using the basement as our editorial office, and we had a really diverse group of 11 young people, boys and girls from a mixture of backgrounds and schools around Lambeth. Linda gave the kids coaching about how to write for the paper, how to take pictures, and how to do interviews, and then they did some in groups of 3 with people who had done headline installations for the Trail. Their natural instinct was to do videos, and all of it was really good experience – finding offices, meeting and interacting with professionals, and finding out their stories. After that they came back and worked on their story with Linda.

The idea was that they would work really hard and it would be a bit of a rollercoaster but that they’d have fun with their friends. And they had so much fun.

Will the results of the project be used anywhere?

The BDT team will be using a lot of it on their social media, and The Bugle will do a big feature splash which talks about the Press Gang and also the stories of things that are happening. All of that will be revealed and previewed in September with the next edition of the Bugle.

Finally, how are you planning to spend your Echoes?

I don’t know what I can get for 10 hours but I’d like to spend it on getting my website made, as I’m re-branding the company, which the kids came up with a new name for. It’s really amazing, and it will be such a help to us.

https://rawtalent.london

To read more stories about the members of Impact Hub Brixton, have a read of our blog

The post The Brixton Fund: a new kind of prize appeared first on Brixton.

by our resident storyteller, Victoria Stewart 

Open Project Night. Know the thing I mean? The one that happens at Impact Hub Brixton (now fully back on track following the flood) every Monday evening? Well anyway, it’s great, and if you’ve got an idea for a great community project up your sleeve that you want to discuss, then that’s the place to bring it.

One small thing that has made OPN even lovelier over the last couple of months is the fact that four of Brixton’s local restaurants agreed to partner up with the Hub to provide hot food for everyone to share. So for any newbies out there, that means pizza once a month from Franco Manca & Wild Caper (see our interview with Vicky Barber here), or rice and stew from Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, or nibbles from Lounge Brixton (see our interview with Clover Eziashi here) or lately pan-Asian pots from Satay Bar.

We’ve already talked to two of our partners, so this week it’s time to hear from long-time Brixonite Elly Foster, MD of Satay Bar, Nanban and Market House, on what she thinks about Brixton and the future of its community.

What’s the lowdown?

Satay Bar, started in 1996, is a pan-Asian restaurant and bar situated around the corner from Brixton’s iconic cinema, The Ritzy, on Coldharbour Lane. It serves dishes such as chicken and peanut satay, roti canai, vegetable gyoza dumplings, chicken katsu and variations of wok noodles. According to its managing director, Elly Foster:

“Satay Bar does not do fancy cooking, and it’s not particularly authentic cooking, but it’s hearty and it’s plentiful, and popular. We have a very loyal customer base and have had for a very, very long time.”

Satay sticks from Satay Bar, Brixton

What food are you providing for Open Project Night?

I’ve arranged to partner up every quarter and so far we’ve handed over a couple of pots of our popular dishes, and a few snacks.

Why did you want to partner with Open Project Night? 

It was the first time that Satay had been asked to do anything like that, so I said ‘Great, yes.’ It’s another opportunity. I suspect that came about because of Devon Thomas, who is a big figure in Brixton and used to be a founder member of the Brixton BID, and also spends quite a lot of time at the Impact Hub Brixton. I think there must have been a discussion about who they could approach. The thing is that Satay Bar doesn’t get approached that much for drinks deals and and other things like that. It tends to be the newer, shiny businesses who are keen to make sure they have a positive impact on the community, given that they are partially responsible for the fast-paced gentrification and need to give back something. But Satay isn’t often asked, and it was really nice to be.

What does the area and its community mean to you?

Despite the fact that I have lived here pretty much for 40 years, what it means to me is probably significantly different to what it means to other people who’ve lived here for 40 years. It is a community, but there are lots of communities within communities in Brixton.

For me it’s always been home, it’s familiar, it’s interesting. You could always see and do things here in Brixton that there weren’t happening anywhere else – it was unique on that basis.

I personally never felt unsafe but then I was raised here. I went to school in Clapham but friends weren’t allowed to come and visit me in Brixton; in fact I remember two of the riots here, and hearing it all, and being a child and not really understanding it, but knowing that something really important was happening.

Penang fish curry from Satay Bar, Brixton

I love Brixton, I’ve always loved it. But I don’t live here anymore because I can’t afford to live here anymore, which was such a shock and a blow.

I love Brixton now, it’s great. There are lots of different types of people coming, and so many other things to do and enjoy here, like eat. There are sooo many good places to eat! But there’s also this inexorable fear that we’re all being pushed out – for example the split in residents is now more white middle class and then social housing, with nothing in between, and that’s a shame – and because we don’t own any of these buildings I don’t know how much longer we’ll be here for.

My dad Patrick Foster re-opened The Ritzy in 1978, and he was a former film editor with very strong entrepreneurial urges. And I want to be clear that Brixton has given us everything that we have, and I feel very blessed and happy that our family has been provided for very well. I just also have this current background sadness about whether it’s all possibly coming to an end.

Are there green shoots? Well, we’re in a better position than most because we have fully renewable leases, but our problem will be whether we can afford those rents, staff wages, pensions and rising food costs. Our business rates got doubled at Market House, for instance. These are not cash cows for us, but we do make a living from them, and I want to keep on employing 75 people. My passion is still there, and it’s good to be here, but who are those people going to be after Brexit? There are so many variables.

Satay Bar works with the Black Cultural Archives

Do you work elsewhere within the local community in Brixton?

We’ve been part of the community for 20 years and we’ve contributed to all sorts of projects (see the Satay Giving page). We’ve helped with funding in kind to the Black Cultural Archives (BCA), and when the Brixton Improvement District (BID) was starting up it was quite low on money so we lent it some to keep it going, and all sorts of other things like that.

Satay Bar is located at 447 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8LP; sataybar.co.uk

To find more information on Open Project Night, read the blog, or visit Impact Hub Brixton.

The post Feeding Open Project Night: meet Elly Foster, MD of Satay Bar, Nanban and Market House appeared first on Brixton.

Impact Hub Brixton is excited to be recruiting a new Community Development Manager to join our team.

The Community Development Manager will be the driving force of setting a collaborative and connected culture at Impact Hub Brixton, and will be responsible for designing and delivering our community programmes including Open Project Nights, already a hotbed of community-led change in Lambeth.

They will play a key role in the next chapter at Impact Hub Brixton, by pursuing community development opportunities and fundraising to continue to grow our reputation for community-led change.

For more information and details of the role, see our Community Development Manager Job Description.

If this role interests you, please submit:

• A CV (max 3 pages) outlining your relevant skills and experiences
• A cover letter explaining why this role excites you (max 2 pages), why you are the right candidate for the role, when you’re able to start and confirming that you are a British/EU citizen or have the right to work in the UK

All documents and links must be sent to Dave.Ahlquist@impacthub.net by 12th September 2017, Interviews will be conducted the week beginning 18th September.

The post We’re recruiting! Are you our new Community Development Manager? appeared first on Brixton.

By our resident story teller, Victoria Stewart

One of the coolest things about the people who are members of Impact Hub Brixton is the sheer range of skills everyone has. One person’s ability to make – and subsequently to teach someone else how to make – a delicious sweet potato salad is someone else’s ability to make the best of Excel spreadsheets, give a presentation, or draw a picture.

It’s a constant source of joy for us seeing how many of you connect through these things – sometimes it’s a planned thing because someone on the Hub X team has put you in touch with another member, and sometimes it’s absolutely coincidental that you overheard the people on the desk next to you talking about knowing how to code or build websites… and now they’re creating one for you.

The other nice thing is that all this sharing shizzle doesn’t just go on among people who come to the Hub all the time; it also extends to our Connect Members. People who might not come hot desking, but who are part of the network, able to come to Hub events (the lunches, the parties, the business helpdesks, and so on), or just come in for a chat and a piece of cake.

And because everyone likes meeting other Hubbers, we thought we’d introduce a few of them – one a creative whirlwind, one a support to young people, and one supporting budding media makers.

Enjoy

Illustrator Elena Blanco in her studio

ELENA BLANCO, Dreamy Me

How would you describe what you do?

Sharing the joy of creativity with others! I’m basically a producer as I’m an artist and illustrator, and I also sell what I make online. I do my own paintings which I sell as prints and originals, and I also take illustration commissions. Very often my commissions are for kids, or people’s portraits, and it’s often got a playful sense to it – or a graphic novel style.

What excites you about what you do?

There are lots of things but mainly it’s the fact that I don’t have to pretend anything. I am able to be very authentic, to be very much what I am, and be doing what I want to do. So I think I’m so lucky, really, to be so creative.

If there was one thing or skill you could ask for from a Hub member, what would it be? 

I’m sure there are loads of things, but my immediate thing at the moment is some advice on pensions – anything relating to money I’m not very good at.

If there was one thing you could offer as a skill, what might it be?

It’s difficult to pinpoint it really, but what I thought I could really help people with is selling online and running a business for visual artists. I think for creative people, that’s a very practical help. I do have an Echo profile, and that’s a version of what I’m offering.

Info: Twitter @dreamymeisme; Facebook; dreamyme.com; plus I sell online at Etsy (the rest can be found on my website).

Winston Good with 16-year-old Alfie Gates, who Good describes as “an incredible young man whom I sponsor, and he wears many hats at Leatherhead FC including press, marketing, media officer and TV presenter at Tanners TV”

WINSTON GOODE, Juvenis

Winston runs the charity Juvenis, which exists ‘to benefit disadvantaged young Londoners at risk of criminal involvement (but not exclusively), by enabling them to improve their life chances and contribute positively to their communities.’

How would you describe what you do?

In a nutshell, we support young people, and the whole ethos around that is giving them more than one chance to fulfil their potential, whatever that is. We’re just here to support them if they’re having any difficulties at school or within their communities, or even if they don’t have difficulties, young people always need some kind of support, sign posting, encouragement – and we try to develop that ethos of positive change. I do a lot of the delivery myself, but I also have a big network of connections and other agencies that I can refer young people into. So as much as it’s just me doing everything, there is a strong network of support which is an important atttribute in being able to do what we do.

We also work with schools via the Apples and Pears Project, and with the Black Youth Achievement awards. We help young people right across the board – the good, the bad and the ugly.

What excites you about what you do?

It’s a different challenge every day. You wake up with a renewed sense that today you’re going to make something happen, you’re going to create that positive change for that young person. That’s the rewarding part of it. It does have its downfalls in terms of what we see with young people, serious youth violence like knife crime, attacks on mopeds and acid. So it does have its ups and downs.

If there was one thing or skill you could ask for from a Hub member, what would it be? 

The skill I would want from Hub members is to find out from them how they could create opportunities for young people, so how you can give them the opportunity to enhance their skills to develop career pathways and better learning opportunities for them. And in terms of the Impact Hub more generally, how can we get the next generation of Hubbers – young people – into that building? In another 10-20 years’ time, some of them will be there but during the course of that journey, how do we do something now to shape their thinking and their future to enhance their skills even more? For me, I’d like someone to think: how could I utilise the skills of these young people?

If there was one thing you could offer as a skill, what might it be?

That’s a difficult question, but I would probably say I have skills around project management as this is what I have been doing over the last two years and looking to develop more… especially around projects that support young people.

Info: Twitter @juvenis; Instagram @juvenis_youth; juvenis.org.uk

Charles Adeyemi working on a production with one of their creatives, Josh Birch

CHARLES ADEYEMI, Echo Your Sport C.I.C

How do you describe what you do?

We are a youth-led creative agency that produces video and photography content of social value. We adopt a unique and creative approach by collaborating with a range of experienced professionals and young creatives to produce our content for things like community projects, campaigns, events and learning materials.

What excites you about what you do?

Providing opportunities for others excites me!

It is so difficult to find opportunities in the creative sector so we provide a platform for young people (14-30) to showcase their creative talents by engaging them in projects and productions that enable them to have practical experiences in video production and photography. Whilst doing so they are developing their experience, skills portfolio and job prospects.

If there was one thing or skill you could ask for from a Hub member, what would it be?

Business Sustainability. It would be interesting to hear from others who have now moved on from the start-up stage of their business to the scale up stage on different ways they have kept running.

If there was one thing you could offer as a skill, what might it be? 

Project and People Management: when working on commissions and projects as a creative agency it requires you to keep both the client and your creatives happy and updated. Having successfully achieved this on several projects that I have worked on where this has been crucial I would like to think that I possess this skill.

Info: Twitter @EchoYourSport; echo-your-sport website; Buy Social Directory; our blog post for Love Lambeth

The post Who wants to meet… Hub Connect members? appeared first on Brixton.

By our resident storyteller, Victoria Stewart

Something that has cropped up in Hub conversations lately is how life feels very back-to-school-like at the moment. It’s a time when we mentally clear away some of the year gone by, and start looking ahead through the Autumn and eventually towards Winter.

But another lovely image is that of harvest, which we are rapidly approaching. Harvest is a time when people and farmers are gathering crops from the fields, and when people are picking ripe fruit and veg, and in some cases bottling or pickling it up ready for winter. Certainly there has been a bright crop of apples and pears in the People’s Fridge (see image above) in the past few weeks.

But with those ideas in mind, we thought it would be fun to do a harvest version of last year’s Christmas reflection, and instead talk to Hubbers about their year so far to consider what has worked, what could change, and what’s coming up.

Here we talk to Danna Walker who through her own business aims to diversify the construction industry and Sue Sheehan, who runs the voluntary organisation Incredible Edible Lambeth.

Hubber Danna Walker

DANNA WALKER

Who: director of Built By Us, which helps businesses to find the right skills and helps individuals develop their careers in construction.

Looking at the ‘season’ gone by, which bit of your work – your crop! – has gone well recently?

I’ve been really pleased with the way that Built By Us is attracting support, and I feel like I’ve got a group of people that are becoming champions. And that’s incredibly pleasing.

A meeting at Built By Us, taken by Susanne Habuka

Are there ideas – ingredients – that you have been gathering and working on?

Always! The big thing that I’ve wanted to develop is around mentoring, which is something I really advocate and am passionate about. In the background, I’ve been running a [mentoring] programme called FLUID that launches at the end of September. I’ve also got an event called Inclusive Intelligence which is really about people being able to make change in their own organisations, and to make change to their businesses. One of the exciting things for me is about approaching the issues that Built By Us is there to deal with, but from lots of different angles.

So if you are looking at diversity in the construction industry, it’s not as simple as saying ‘we’re going to bring more people in,’ it’s about using inclusive strategies to really manage that well, and to better understand challenges that everyone faces in making this happen and how things can be improved for everyone.

Looking at how you’ve been working, are there things you want to keep working on, and strategies that you want to stick to, or some that you want to do less of or throw away?

There isn’t anything I want to chuck in the bin, as such, but I do think that often you try and create change just as change is happening to you, which therefore means it’s happening to your business, which means you’ve constantly got to review and revise. So using that harvesting and growth terminology, it’s all about knowing when to sit down and prune things back so that you don’t strangle the rest of your ‘plant’ to make sure that overall it grows in a way that’s manageable. It’s something that I’m tring to do constantly.

Are there things that you are looking forward to about the coming season Autumn moving into Winter?

So there is the FLUID programme that I mentioned above, but I’m also taking part in an Open House event in September (general info on the Open House workspace here) where I’ll be running a fun and interactive workshop for all ages for anyone who has ever thought: ‘I could design a city!’ People will be able to come along and get their Blue Peter on, and create things. I’ve also been invited to take part in a Women in Architecture event, which is going to be a conference in November and will be really interesting and I’m looking forward to. So this is going to sound really cliched, but at the moment it really feels like all that work that you put in back in January does kind of bloom. Here it all is. Maybe it’s just one workshop, but all of it has been months and weeks of planning and thinking about how and where to go.

builtbyus.org.uk

Pic: Hubber Sue Sheehan From Incredible Edible Lambeth

SUE SHEEHAN

Who: co-founder of Incredible Edible Lambeth which among other things maps Lambeth’s community food projects.

Looking at the ‘season’ gone by, which bit of your work – your crop! – has gone well recently?

We’ve done a great Blooming Lambeth Awards which we had 60 gardens apply for. We’d never done it before so hopefully we’ll be able to do it again next year. We’ve met some amazing gardeners and seen some great stuff going on. It keeps getting bigger and better. It’s testament to the urban gardening movement that continues to pick up momentum.. and there are still so many more opportunities there! We also ran Create, a start-your-own food business programme, helping 30 potential food entrepreneurs work through their ideas. Some of them have now started trading. We did it before in Gypsy Hill and Loughborough Junction.

So we’ve deepened our connections to local food entrepreneurs, looking at people who are happy to support start-ups, and work together to build a better food system that really works for local people. All in all we engaged with over 100 food businsses and we’re now looking at what we can do going forward. We’re having some interesting conversations with big, well-funded organisations.

Are there ideas – ingredients – that you have been gathering and working on?

Yes, the idea of being networked – being connected to other people – and working collaboratively is still very much at the heart of what I think is important, but sometimes it’s hard to make that feel real or tangible. There’s something that’s about being connected to other businesses that’s quite unique; businesses tend to compete with each other by their nature, but we’ve demonstrated this year that there’s a lot of willingness to collaborate, and that the competition, if you like, is traditional big business, chains or supermarkets. So what we’re fighting for is something very different, and we can do that best by supporting each other and working together, as we certainly can’t do that on our own.

Looking at how you’ve been working, are there things you want to keep working on, and strategies that you want to stick to, or some that you want to do less of or throw away?

The big thing that we have pruned is applying for core funding. Last year I spent a lot of time applying for funding to be a networking organisation, i.e. to be able to do that core networking and communications, publicity and so on, but we didn’t get it. While we still think that’s a valuable part of our role we’re going to have to look of doing it in other ways. As people don’t want to fund us for that – they want to fund core deliverables – we’re stopping that for the moment.

Are there things that you are looking forward to about the coming season autumn moving into winter?

It’s obviously very seasonal when you’re involved with growing, so in the summer I do find I spend a lot of time in the garden – often a lot longer than I really mean to. So actually I am also looking forward to spending more time out of the garden, and to planning next year and getting organised for 2018.

incredibleediblelambeth.org

To read more stories about the members of Impact Hub Brixton, or topics relating to what they do, have a read of our blog.

The post Harvest: time to take in 2017 so far, and look ahead to new things appeared first on Brixton.

Last weekend saw the first-ever Offline Festival, two days of people coming together to go camping, do yoga, try storytelling, listen to talks and participate in workshops – but mostly to share news and knowledge of community building. Various Hub Brixton members attended, and even gave talks, so we asked its marketing honcho Melanie Vella to tell us what happened.

As the smell of the campfire still lingers in our hair and with mud still stuck to our wellies, we’re now back at our table with huge smiles on our faces from all the satisfaction following the success of the first Offline Festival weekend.

What is the premise of Offline festival?

Project Dirt (a network that connects grassroots community projects), in collaboration with Power to Change (a Big Lottery Funded endowment that supports community businesses), and the Eden Project Communities (known as a national social action platform), believe in the power of building communities and sharing knowledge about community business. With their help we were able to bring together leaders in the field of community business, committed community projects, organisations investing in their local community to discuss the needs, gaps and opportunities in working together to build the power of community.

The Hangout area at last weekend’s Offline Festival (pic: Offline Festival)

Why and in what way were you involved with the Offline Festival?

I am a proud member of the Project Dirt team, and I’m mainly focused on Comms and Marketing. Helping to share the news about a festival focused mainly on community and sharing the power of community business was a career goal come true for me. When we first met, Nick Gardner, the co-founder of Project Dirt, spoke to me of his dream to host a festival that brought the online Project Dirt community, social enterprises, community projects and purpose-driven businesses together for one weekend. A year later and this dream has  become a successful reality.

Did you hope to achieve a particular thing with Offline, or did you want to see what came about during the weekend?

We hoped this weekend would help people there make the right connections to grow their plans, to inspire new projects and to ignite new ideas, whilst of course being able to have a lot of fun. One comment from a man before he left the Offline field captured it perfectly: “This was the perfect weekend,” he told me.

“The festival setting stripped away all the staged atmosphere of typical networking events. The connections happened organically. I had more fruitful conversations around the campfire than I’ve had at most other events.”

What he said here is what we aimed to achieve. Meanwhile another person said she went to the Impact Reporting session and she planned to use one of the models they shared in the session to write one of her reports at work this week. People walked away with practical tools to improve and accelerate their work and their impact. Finally, another massive thing for us was that people learn about the value of coming together to use the model of community business to invest in their community and add value to their community.

So do you think Offline a success, and if so, in what way?

Offline was a massive success on so many levels. It brought together many stakeholders in the community sector who do not usually have the opportunity to meet, chat and share knowledge and ideas. So many of our interactions happen online through email or phone calls.

This was a great opportunity to spend a weekend getting to know like-minded people all passionately working towards the same goals, who are eager to collaborate.

The Patchwork tent, at last weekend’s Offline Festival (Pic: Offline Festival)

Great! Finally, what was your favourite moment from the festival?

I was participating in a workshop led by The Eden Project Communities on how to tell your story in a captivating way so that people listen. We were learning how to perfect our pitch and how to tell our story and then ask for the things we need support with. Devina, a lady running a project in London, mentioned that she was looking for an indoor space to continue running her gardening and juicing project over the winter months too. Someone immediately told her he had a space he could put her in contact with for the project. She also needed help to find solutions to an issue she had been struggling with and by the end of the session someone who had tackled a similar issue recently helped her figure out a solution.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about the festival?

It’s hard to capture all the highlights in a short blog! Stay tuned for our official Offline Festival video and images that will be shared soon on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages. offlinefestival.org.uk

For more stories about people doing great things at Impact Hub Brixton, or in connection with Impact Hub Brixton, take a look at the blog’s homepage here.

The post Offline Festival: it was off-the-hook appeared first on Brixton.

By our resident story teller Victoria Stewart

Let’s play a game or two. Before we start which Hubbers have been upstairs to the spare shipping container? If you have what did you use it for, and why? If not, what’s stopped you?
Now for the first part of the game. So I’m going to throw a list of five activities at you, and you have to guess which ones actually took place in the shipping container. Feel free to let us know which ones you think are real – the answers will be revealed at next Wednesday’s tea and cake session…

1. A singing rehearsal led by Dolly, shortly before Bex and Olivia’s leaving party a fortnight ago.

8 members featured. There were crisps. There were nerves. Alcohol beverages helped (and they pulled off the singing bit afterwards).

2. Several naps.

No names mentioned, but this container has been the resting place of many a Hub member over the last few weeks.

3. A Hub date between two members.

Again, no names mentioned, but we think they had fun

4. The beginnings of a new social enterprise.

Ideas were thrown. Things were set in motion. Notes were taken. Big things are coming.

5. An open-mic night for upcoming Hub talent.

The Hub’s finest budding guitarists/singers/comedians//tap dancers/graphiti artists turned up to perform their best tricks. Did you miss this? Well you should pay closer attention to the newsletter, then…

Now for the second part of the game. We’ll shout some facts at you, and you have to recite them and sing them to all your friends and colleagues, the idea being that together we can find someone great to fill the container space – just think of all the things that have come out of the Hub already, and imagine what more could happen if 8-10 brilliant new people turned up.

1st fact: the space can hold between 8 and 10 people

2nd fact: anyone’s welcome, whether you’re a start-up, a small business, or a charity.

3rd fact: the container at Impact Hub Brixton provides the perfect space for a team to work, network, and collaborate within this Hub and with the 100+ Hubs around the world

4th fact: If you sign up, you’ll get discounted meeting room space and access to our programme of events and support

5th fact: it’s located at the back of POP Brixton, a complex of vibrant businesses and entertainment

6th and final fact: the number to call is 020 7926 3032, the address to email is brixton.hosts@impacthub.net and the link to share with friends is this.

All together now: LET’S FILL THE SPACE!

For more stories about and interviews with our members at Impact Hub Brixton, have a read of the blog here

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Hub Brixton folks, Hub London folks, new folks, and other folks, it may be of interest to you all that a month-long fundraising campaign has begun in earnest for a new Impact Hub Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

David Pierre-Louis, filmmaker

Co-founded by the American-Haitian entrepreneur David Pierre-Louis, who splits his time 50/50 between Port-au-Prince and Seattle, Impact Hub Port-au-Prince is one part of the bigger projects that his social impact organisation Kay Tita is currently working on.

The plan is to make a “space to work, run events, hosting and curating programs for those committed to positive social impact and building a better city, together. Locally rooted & globally connected to over 90 amazing communities across the world.”

The month-long fundraiser running from 17th October-17th November will take the form of global screenings of David’s brilliant and moving film, Kenbe Fem, in which he travels to Haiti in search of his mother following the devastating 7.0 earthquake on January 12 2010.

In London, there will be a screening of the film at 6pm on Tuesday 17th October at Impact Hub Islington, hosted by Isabel and Jenine (from Impact Hub Brixton), and if you’d like to donate to the fund, you can do so here. Ambassador Bocchit Edmond of the Embassy of Haiti will also be in attendance on the night to open the London screening.

Here we chat to David about what the project means to him.

Filmmaker and Impact Hub Port-au-Prince co-founder David Pierre-Louis with his mum

Congratulations on all the work you’re doing to fundraise for the new Impact Hub in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, including organising global screenings of your film, Kenbe Fem. Why do you think it’s important that people see the film?

Thank you for taking the time to share our story with your community.

It’s important that the global community understand that there are other narratives happening in Port-au-Prince. For as far back as I can remember, the narrative of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere has defined how we are viewed and how we tend to view our selves. Kenbe Fem helps to reshape that narrative and gives us an opportunity to portray our very active and strong community.

Knowing how much has happened in Haiti since then, and having told the story about you looking for your mum, how does it make you feel when you watch Kenbe Fem now?

It’s definitely surreal that this tragic situation 7 years ago has brought me to this current place. I never thought at that time that this could be the actual outcome. The reception of my story has been humbling and affirming that every step matters, every relationship has a purpose.

Pictures from Startup Week

What stage are you and your team at with the creation of the new Impact Hub in Port-au-Prince? How much money have you raised of the proposed total, and when’s the proposed completion date?

We are in the fundraising phase. We spent the earlier part of this year cultivating our community by sharing our story, learning and listening. We just finished organising our annual Startup Week event and we received a strong affirmation from the local entrepreneurial community that Impact Hub is needed and wanted in Port-au-Prince. As for now we’ve raised just over $6,000 of our $100,000 goal. We are planning to open our doors on 1st January 2018.

Will anyone be welcome to join the new Hub there? Will it be for Haitians, or also people from outside who might also want to work for and within the local community there?

Impact Hub Port-au-Prince will be open to all walks of life. Our space will serve the general public and members. In order to create an accessible space we’ve added a juice bar and cafe that will assist in off setting our overall expenses.

You’ve said your focus there will be on innovation, strength and optimism (rather than negativity and disempowerment), among other things. Why do you think that matters in 2017?

In every thriving community innovation is at the core. Strength and determination allows us to thrive. Optimism is what every successful entrepreneur pumps through their veins. Innovation, Strength, Optimism are three of the basics that we believe Port-au-Prince must have in order to be a thriving force in this world.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about Port-Au-Prince that you don’t think people know or recognise?

1. “Our Informal markets provide agility that formal processes lack. Haiti drives mobile phone adoption in the Caribbean. Mobile phone lines cover 61% of the population. There is a growing movement of innovation with events like Port-au-Prince Startup Week and the Haiti Tech Summit.” David Harris, Design Constraints and Affordances for Kay Tita Mentor Platform
2. Port-au-Prince is alive, vibrant, and with the right investment has a lot to contribute and teach the global market. We exist to move the movement forward. If you want to join us or stay informed please go to our website Kaytita.org

Follow Impact Hub Port-au-Prince on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date on future programs and ways you can get involved.

For more stories about and interviews with our members at Impact Hub Brixton, have a read of the blog here

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By guest writer Dan Ebanks

Dan Ebanks is the founder of Firesouls which makes digital products that drive innovation within and get more resources to the public and community sector. Their latest product is something called the Social Value Exchange, what he describes as an online marketplace that gets more resources into local community projects. Here he discusses the importance of holding councils to account when it comes to getting more funding.

Dan Ebanks of Firesouls

In 2017 money has never been more valuable. In fact, between 2009 and 2014, community organisations had their funding cut by 40%.

Convinced that there was more funding to be had, we carried out some research earlier this year, where we asked community projects and social enterprises what they needed the most. Unsurprisingly, the need for ‘more money’ came out on top.

Here are some other things that people asked for:

• Business and organisational ‘infrastructure’ – a new database, PR support, administrative support, help with the accounts
• Staff – to support these key areas of the businesses
• Networks – being plugged into partners or customers
• Space – for meetings, general office space or access to more specialised space (a kitchen, for example).

‘Research shows funding cuts have hit small charities the hardest,” I said earlier this year, after we partnered with Genesis Housing Association to maximise community benefits from a £1bn procurement framework. This framework enables government to buy goods and services from a pre-qualified group of suppliers – prices (per unit of good or service) are agreed up front, and then buyers ‘draw down’ what they need and pay at the agreed price.

“We have seen how these organisations can be the lifeblood of local communities. At Firesouls it is our priority to help these organisations continue providing valuable services for people who depend on them.”

We use something called the Social Value Act with which we make sure that councils and housing associations are leveraging their spending power in order to get as many private sector suppliers as possible to put more back into the local community.

Quite simply, during the procurement process that I explained earlier – where government is buying from the private sector – we put accredited community projects up for auction to suppliers. The more resources the suppliers offer the community projects, the more contracts the suppliers can win. And because we accredit the community projects, those that are delivering outputs that meet recognised local need stand to receive the most resources.

Since 2016, we’ve put £20m of procurement contracts through our platform and have raised £450k for local communities.

But is there anything else out there that government can do to get more resources into local communities?

In 2014 a study by Savills revealed that, since 2010, the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) had generated £57 million.

Great, so what is the Community Infrastructure Levy?

Essentially it’s a planning charge; it ensures that when (most) new developments are built, the private sector developers are charged and the monies can be redirected back into local community infrastructure and projects.

If you think about how much more development has there been in your area since 2014, this levy is really necessary.

Now alongside CIL, there is also something called Section 106 (s106), which is an agreement between a developer and a council about the measures that the developer must take to reduce their impact on the local community. s106 has been in use for many years, and has resulted in a significant amount of local community infrastructure being put in place.

Finally, there is another tool that government can use, which is civic crowdfunding – organisations like Spacehive and Crowdfunder provide platforms that enable local people to make a financial donation to projects they think are important.

So there is a lot of potential here. Having looked at Social Value, CIL, s106 and civic crowdfunding, have you ever wondered if any or all of them are being used in your local area to get resources to where they are most needed?

Looking at our own projects, we spoke to Hannah Sloggett, Neighbourhood Planning Manager for Plymouth City Council, prompted by a conversation we’d had with Crowdfunder.

Hannah and the team in Plymouth set up the City Change Fund, a great initiative that brings together civic crowdfunding with the Community Infrastructure Levy in order to get more cash into important local organisations. We think this approach is one that local government should take more notice of.

As I said earlier, money is more valuable than ever. So here’s an idea: why not check in with your local council now to make sure it isn’t leaving money on the table?

Read more about the work that Dan Ebanks does at Firesouls and Social Value Exchange

For more stories relating to our members or the work they do at Impact Hub Brixton, have a read of the blog here

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Noriko Tanaka, Impact Hub Brixton member and chef/director of SAKEYA.London, Pop Brixton’s newest eatery talked fish, sculpture and paper with Ann Eve-Storr.

Noriko came to London to study sculpture at UCL. Looking for part-time work to support her, Noriko landed what she thought was a part-time job at Nobu Park Lane, a Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine, also very popular with A-list celebrities. For three months she thought each day would be her last, and even hanging out with customers like Victoria Beckham didn’t help. However, suddenly something clicked, and Noriko fell in love with creating the delicate, mini, edible sculptures. Ten years later, Noriko made the leap from sushi chef to business owner.

Why sushi & sashimi?

There’s not a huge difference between sushi & sculpture.  Both require delicate tool work, where the smallest incorrect cut makes a huge difference. The standards of Nobu are really high and Noriko wants SAKEYA.London to surpass them. The suppliers are the same, but instead of serving the Beckhams, it is us who get to enjoy some world class sushi on our doorstep.

Why your own place?

Noriko quit Nobu after ten years of working 9am-12pm shifts. There were no particular jobs on the horizon until a friend suggested to her to strike out on her own. A few business plans later, SAKEYA.London came to Pop, and both us and Noriko are much happier for it.

How’s it going?

Great!  People are telling Noriko she’s making the best sushi in London.  She’s just started serving home-made coffee and cake, all of which are wheat free, use brown sugar over refined, and rice oil rather than butter.  Healthy eating is essential to what Noriko does, and when I visited she was serving a beautiful Japanese chiffon cake.

What’s life like at Pop Brixton?

The community of high quality and creative cooks is amazing – Noriko particularly rates the Steak guys and their grass-fed beef.

The future of SAKEYA.London

Maintaining quality, healthy food for her customers is Noriko’s main aim.  A happy and productive workplace is key to the working environment she’s creating.  Kitchens are notoriously macho, aggressive places, and Noriko wants to change this in her kitchen.   She enjoy teaching people the art of sushi and sashimi, too.  With the hope of more SAKEYA.London venues, Noriko wants to expand her positivity and her skills.

Today, Pop Brixton: tomorrow, London, the world!  Hopefully SAKEYA.London will expand, but Noriko will maintain its roots in superior quality.

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One of the first things I noticed when I joined the Impact Hub community was its love for a large, square refrigeration device, just outside the doors of Impact Hub Brixton. It didn’t take me very long to understand why. This coming February, our People’s Fridge will celebrate its 1st birthday, and already it has achieved much more than almost any fridge could have in a lifetime: helping inspire a network of nearly 50 community fridges in the UK. As 2017 is nearing its end, I took the opportunity to speak to Mala and Ben about the project, to reflect on its growth and to pull out some key learnings from this first year.

Whilst team works on getting its processes right – The People’s Fridge is still a prototype and work in progress – the energy around the Fridge is still buzzing with a team volunteers, a local network of businesses that regularly donate food, and a rota of Pop Brixton traders who open the Fridge in the morning and lock it up at night.

Some days the fridge can look a bit empty – 800 litres is a lot to fill and good food moves quickly – but on others it teems with food. Local fruit and veg delivery company Oddbox, a former Impact Hub member – regularly supplies surplus. An event in May with Brixton-based pizza chain Franco Manca saw the fridge team shifting three tonnes of food in 24 hours. Supported by the Brixton Pound, who lent the use of their basement, local organisations from across the borough came and filled up their shopping trolleys.

A highlight from the last few months was another load of surplus vegetables sourced from a local London market in late October. It attracted interest from regular fridge users, passersby, and distributed food to Brixton Soup Kitchen, Afewee Boxing Club from Brixton Rec and a charity in Norbury.

Mala fondly remembers a family from Shepherds Bush touring Brixton and discovering the People’s Fridge. They helped themselves to apples and carrots, and were keen to find out more information in order to set up a similar project in their community.

‘It was supposed to be just this easy system to allow distribution of surplus food, but it has managed to become so much more’, reflects Ben. Simply by looking at the diversity of people coming through everyday, one can tell that the People’s Fridge has a bigger job than feeding people, and that is changing people’s minds about food surplus and food waste.

People stop, take a minute. They read the description, and look at the food. When they walk away they will have engaged with the issue of food waste and surplus food, they might feel motivated to do something or change their consumer behaviour. Even if the People’s Fridge cannot feed the whole of Lambeth, it is helping educate it!

At the moment the volunteer team is building up a People’s Fridge Advent Calendar with recipe contributions from local restaurants and cafes, including Wild Caper, Cafe Van Gogh and Home Grown. It has also helped design and publish a guide to using food surplus in Lambeth, packed with recipes and food saving tips. It will also feature on the BBC’s One Show tomorrow (1st December).

So how does one make this happen on nothing but a shoestring budget?
‘Passion!’, says Mala.
‘You need a great attitude, and enthusiasm. The Fridge Dream Team is very interactive, constantly communicating on Whatsapp and meeting on a weekly basis at the Open Project Night at Impact Hub Brixton.’

‘What’s essential in working as a successful team of volunteers is establishing a clear decision making process’, says Ben. ‘You want each member of the team to have ownership. If we centralise decision-making too much, people will lose buy-in. However, we also need to be careful of making lots of decisions without any actual follow up. The key is to run an organisation with a clear purpose and sense of what that means for what we do.’

It’s a balancing act The People’s Fridge hopes to keep getting right.

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Guest Blog by Sarah-Nell Moullier

This November the School Ground Sounds team launched the second year of The Grit School.

The Grit School is an opportunity for a selected group of 19 young musicians in Lambeth to take part in 6 weeks of intensive artist and musicianship development.

We were able to bring together a host of industry professionals, artists, songwriters and A&Rs to lead cutting edge workshops and seminars to guide the group with the best possible advice and tools to develop their skills and confidence as the next generation of industry leaders.

In partnership with Raw Material the group where given time to write, jam and rehearse which was a crucial part of how they collaborated and supported each other throughout. The SGS team alongside the guest professionals where particularly moved and inspired by the talent and drive of the young musicians involved this year.

We marked the end of The Grit School with a showcase at Pop Brixton. This was an opportunity to celebrate the end of an amazing and transformative 6 weeks for the young musicians involved and a chance to perform in front of an audience within their community.

The Grit School Live was live streamed via our Twitter and Instagram pages. It was a great night of promising and exciting new talent.
We are thrilled with how the Grit School 2017 has gone and we would like to thank everyone who took the time to support and make it happen with us!

With special thanks to Youth Music, Orbit Sound, Brixton Pound, The Impact hub, Raw Material, Brixton community base and Pop Brixton.
Here’s to next year!

The next Grit School starts in April 2018 and registration is now open!

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As you’re all cuddling up on your sofas to survive the cold month of January, we took the opportunity to take stock. There is no better time than now to reflect on some of the difficulties we faced as the year went passed, and to refine our vision for a greater 2018.

Learn from the experiences of some of the Hub’s most inspiring leaders!

(By Ann Storr)

Selina Charmaine Dyer is a Hub Brixton Host and founder of Charma Communications, a business and brand consultancy, offering support with digital Strategy and implementation, as well as web design.

Reflections on 2017

I’ve started to get myself back out there; I hadn’t been clear about the full list of services that I offer.  Making that clear has helped my business to grow. Joining the Hub was so helpful as it meant I started to build a network, and get referrals. I was isolated for 5 years, so it’s nice to have somewhere to go and meet new people.  I started working with a mentor who suggested that I had been waiting far too long to get testimonials from clients. Working with her has changed how I work, and I will carry that forward into 2018.  For example I now send my clients a draft testimonial that they actually edit and return.  This type of proactive approach is saving me time and money, and keeping my momentum strong.

Vision for the New Year

So many people just sit unhappily at their jobs, knowing that they’re really good at something like writing or music, but they don’t know how to turn that into a job.  I’m hopeful that freelancing can be a legitimate source of income for more people: you really can live the life you want doing what you want! I’ve made this happen for myself: I lost my first job in the recession and was on Job Seeker’s Allowance for ages.  I’ve built a career by myself with Charma Communications, and I want to help others to build their dream life. This is why Charma Communications will be launching the programme ‘Idea to Launch Academy’ in March to help others fulfill their career dreams.

I’d like to see more accessible work space and business support in 2018. I’m fortunate to work at Hub Brixton whilst being a member at the same time. It’s not always easy to afford office space when you’re starting out on your own. Seeing more opportunities for people to trade, connect and barter is essential and particularly helpful when you don’t have capital to invest.

Samantha Holdsworth is a producer, facilitator and theatre-maker. She is the founder of award-winning Nimble Fish in 2006, a leading cultural producing company.  Clowns without Borders takes play and support to children who are living through war, natural disasters or conflict.  In addition to bringing joy and laughter to children, CwB also combine psychological help and therapeutic messages, supporting wider aid missions.

Reflections on 2017

I had two big challenges in 2017: I became a mother to a baby girl and sometimes it feels like I have not one, but two babies; Matilda, who is 8 months old now, and Clowns Without Borders. Being a mother and running a start-up is extremely challenging, I suspect it has a lot to do with lack of sleep. Whilst I am very lucky to have both my daughter and to run an organisation I am passionate about, I certainly haven’t got the work/life balance figured out just yet.

The importance (and impact) of genuine and authentic communication is essential. It’s tempting to try and be overly efficient, when I have both a demanding schedule, and I am being covered in baby vomit at the same time. I then often find myself firing off e-mails and keeping phone calls and meetings particularly brief. Whilst this is sometimes necessary, it’s also necessary to put time pressures aside and just be fully present and available for someone.

This is at the very core of Clowns Without Borders work and it enables us to gain the trust of the children we work with.

Vision for the New Year

2018 is going to be a busy year for the clowns. We’re heading to Bangladesh on 19th January to work with children from the Rohingya community, and have a tour to the Zaatari Refugee camp in Jordan lined up for March.

There’s a glorious defiance and playfulness to our work that fills me with incredible amounts of hope. We simply do not accept a situation where crises deprive a child from the essential experience of feeling free, happy and without any concern. It’s becoming harder for us to access the military run refugee camps in Europe, for example, but we continue to find ways to do so because we simply believe all children deserve an opportunity to engage in imaginative play and laughter.

What I want to see is an end to children’s lives being destroyed by conflict. 2017 was a terrible year with on-going fighting in Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, parts of the Congo and Somalia. Clowns Without Borders has a role to play in raising awareness as well as advocating for the rights of the child.  We are launching an Affiliates Schools programme in 2018 that will help us to do both. If you are an educator and interested, please get in touch.

Miranda Park is a one-woman show performer and co-founder of Mainspring Arts. Her show is about identity, authenticity and the murky area between the two. Mainspring Arts is a theatre organisation that seeks to increase diversity of voices and stories in the theatre.  

Reflections on 2017

Taking on the role of producer for my one-woman show was new to me in 2017. I had to book my own gigs, learn the best ways to approach venues. It was definitely a learning curve.
I gained experience in working with theatre techs, and to explain the effects I needed them to create without necessarily knowing the technical terminology. I am definitely more confident now.

My biggest challenge in 2017 however was moving into a camper van.  Small problems have come up, like a leak in the air-conditioning unit that’s made everything a bit damp. Adapting to move around in such a small space has been a good but challenging experience.

Vision for the New Year

I’m taking my show on tour in 2018-2019. I’ll start with a mini tour during May and June, then on to the Edinburgh Fringe. After that I’d like to explore overseas fringe scenes. The response I’ve received to my show so far has given me reason to hope, and I am excited to see where the production might take me.

My vision for 2018 is a reduced number of homeless people on the streets, better social housing, as well as greater diversity in the arts.

What I want to change personally? Definitely the amount of time it takes my van toilet tank to fill up. Emptying it is less than pleasant.  

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By Ann Storr

Pret a Manger has descended upon Brixton, Sports Direct is on its way and the Village is up for sale. Conversations about change, progress, community and gentrification are more charged than ever.

I met with a handful of community leaders to understand their take on the future of Brixton and how to bring about positive change.

Huge thanks to Binky Taylor, Shane Duncan and Linda Quinn for their time.

Shane Duncan is a director and cinematographer whose latest short explores the impact of gentrification on Brixton:

Opening my short film with a Sunday morning drone shot of Brixton challenges the viewer’s idea of Brixton.  It’s calm and peaceful, and you get to see how big Brixton is as well as how close it is to the centre of town.  I see the beauty and potential in a block of flats, and each person living there.  I think it’s beautiful.

I learnt a lot about Brixton by making my film. My interviewees are hugely knowledgeable about the area and its people.  Lincoln from Brixton Cycles is a great example: Brixton Cycles would have been forced to shut down after the rent hikes – a consequence of gentrification.  The local population came to their rescue because Brixton Cycles have looked after them in the past.  That’s real community.

It’s becoming impossible for born-and-bred people to live here.   A lot of people are living with the sense that tomorrow can only bring disappointment.

It’s easy for people to make lazy assumptions about what a business looks like from the outside.  ‘Dip & Flip’ have been around for ages, but they just re-vamped to appeal to more customers.   Don’t jump the gun, do your research.  A black Rastafarian man could own that fancy cheese shop that you’re criticising.  My film presents a variety of opinions on gentrification because there are different opinions out there, and I wanted them to be heard.  Solomon Smith, Karl Loco, Alex Wheatle MBE: I wanted to use relatable voices that don’t always agree, like life.

As individuals we can’t do anything alone, but together we’re strong.  There are more people ‘downstairs’ than ‘upstairs’.  If we really started talking with our neighbours there would be change.  If we fully cared, not kinda cared, we would work together.  Brixton is slipping through our fingers, so let’s band together and protect it.  We can do this together.

More spaces like Pop and the Village would be great to see.  Tourism is good for Brixton – if people shop at local businesses that brings money into the community, and we need that.  Let’s have more communal spaces and places. Let’s join together the people who want change and the people who can make change.

Linda Quinn, Editor of Brixton Bugle and local journalist.  Linda’s been a local for a long time, and has seen Brixton change over the decades.  She is editor of the Brixton Bugle.

There used to be a variety of local papers, but that’s all gone now.

Brixton has had a troubled past. Once, it wasn’t safe to walk home alone from the Tube at night.  Back in the Victorian era, Brixton was actually very genteel, so it’s come full circle.  The danger is that we go the same way as Hoxton or Hackney: After the young creatives come, businesses cashes in and alter the character of an area.

The local press is the voice of the community; without us no-one would have heard of Sports Direct coming, the Ritzy living wage campaign, the sale of the Village and the new hotel. Time doesn’t stand still but the community needs to galvanize to bring the changes they want to see. They can only do that if they know what’s going on. That’s where an active and knowledgeable local press is essential.

Young working-class kids used to be able to learn their trade on a local paper and then move on to a national.  I’d like to see that to be a possibility again.  The Bugle is trying to fund an apprentice who can learn the trade and carry the paper forward.

Binky Taylor is the producer and curator of Brixton Design Trail, owner of Snugg, and somewhat of a community legend.  

We need to move the conversation on about gentrification.  People often fear change, but change happens organically.  The job is to help engender a more positive and responsible community.

The reason we aren’t having the robust conversations needed is we’re all protecting our reputation. We’ve got heroes and villains, Us and Them. This type of dialogue leads to isolation.  That’s why I decided to work together with Network Rail over the Arches; I wanted to understand the situation from all perspectives and not rest on assumptions or other people’s conjecture.

If everyone got to grips with the issue, rather than seek information that simply agrees with their worldview, we would have more powerful conversations.  It’s not easy but it’s the only way.

There’s a pejorative view that any progress is bad, but we all have the capacity to shape progress rather than stop it.  If small businesses in Brixton are going to survive, we need people with money to spend.  You may object to Squires, but they opened up their space, brought the community in, and now there are an extra 250 people coming into Brixton who want to buy lunch or have a drink after work.

Every person with a Brixton Pound in their pocket is making a statement about their desire for change. Impact Hub shows a different way of working. But look closely at barriers: who isn’t seeing you and why is that?  It’s okay to not know, to be confused.  We all think we’re doing the right thing, so learn to listen. Being equally clear about what makes a place attractive and unattractive to others is vital, so that you begin to break down these invisible barriers.  Keep the dialogue open.

Brixton Design Trail has proved to Lambeth that there is a burgeoning creative scene and that we can deliver. We’ve a community committed to positive social change.  One of our most touching pieces in last year’s BDT was by AWMA; they wanted to communicate the love and reflection at the heart of Islam.  Islam and Muslims are becoming demonised, so these men tried to change the conversation and give a voice for a community that isn’t often reflected in the creative sector.  Anyone can get involved in BDT and through creating and listening, we can make change happen.

Sports Direct?  Maybe it could be good, if it brings people here to shop and socialise.  Whilst one can abhor Mike Ashleigh, don’t make that your focus. What we should be doing is asking Lambeth Council why they allowed this.  And ask yourself: is this the future that you want for Lambeth and Brixton?  If it isn’t, then what is your hope?  How can you help to make that happen?  It’s easier to blame Network Rail than it is to ask the shop owner about selling his/her store to Sports Direct.  I don’t like this ‘poverty tourism’, – people thinking that they are living a ‘real’ life because they walk past a quiet shop that sells orange double breasted suits that no-one wants to buy any more.  I don’t want one, you don’t want one.   Ask the big questions, don’t create victims and baddies. Get involved.  

By Ann Storr

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Last week, Jennifer Aikins-Appiah (Close Brothers Merchant Bank) explained the new General Data Protection Regulations to a container crammed full of Hubbers, as part of Danna Walker’s brilliant Business Helpdesk Series.

Whether you’re a writer, a business consultant or marketeer, you need to be in line with these regulations come May 2018..

What is the GDPR?

The Global Data Protection Act (GDPR) has been enacted since it became apparent that the Data Protection Act (1995) wasn’t fit for the data-rich, interwebbed world that we live in. To put it into context, 1995 was the year that Richie Manic went missing, Shaggy hit No.1 with ‘Mr Boombastic’ and Amazon sold its first book.

Why?

Remember the woman who’s Just Eat driver used her contact details to ask her out on a date?

Hear about the Carphone Warehouse data breach? It took them *months* to alert customers and landed themselves a £400K fine; should a similar lapse in reporting time occur under GDPR, the fine would be likely to be much greater.

Think about all the online accounts you’ve opened here and there. Do you want that florist to have an eternal record of a bouquet you sent to that ex?  And a record that your card bounced?  And your address, their address, your number … No, you don’t.

The GDPR is being thought of as “The Right to be Forgotten” (RTBF) legislation.  Anyone can make a “Right to be Forgotten Request” to you, if you hold their data and you will have one calendar month to comply.

RTBF is a helpful way to think of this legislation, its purpose and intention.

But there’s only me, so surely the GDPR doesn’t affect me?

Sorry my friend.  You are wrong.  If you hold any data for any purpose you need to get on board.  Small businesses are at particular risk by not preparing; our resources are already stretched, so please make sure you’re ready. And no, Brexit won’t make any change to this.  So plan ahead.

What type of info is affected?

The DPA protected information that identifies an individual.  This includes an opinion a company holds about a customer, their race, sexuality, etc. Under the GDPR, anyone is entitled, additionally, to know if a company is holding data about their genetic data, biometric data and sexual orientation.

What do I need to do?

You need to map your data. This mean you must know:

•         What information you are collecting
•         Who are you collecting this information from?
•         Why are you collecting this information?
•         What do you intend on doing with it?
•         Is your justification lawful?
•         Who will you share it with? e.g., icloud, dropbox.
•         How long will you keep it for?
•         How will you secure it?
•         How will you ensure that data is deleted irretrievably (hard & soft)

Consider the underlying reason why you’re using and holding the information: Are you saving it in the hope of selling to a customer again, even though it’s been 5 years since their last order?  Or is it because you haven’t considered that you maybe should get rid of it?  Under GDPR, that’s not good enough.

Do you outsource payroll?  Map that data.  Do you market using Mailchimp? Map that data.  Even if you outsource these tasks, the data and how those companies store it is still your responsibility.

Have a plan to report breaches; it’s due diligence guys.  Assume that a breach will happen. Plan how you will detect it and how you will report it.

Consent:

If you rely on consent, you must review how you ask for and record consent.  Implement systems to manage and record consent going forward. Put in place systems to verify individuals’ ages and to obtain parental or guardian consent for any data processing of minors.

Privacy Notices:

These are one of the most important pieces of your GDPR kit.  Word your Privacy Policy carefully.

Publish your privacy notice on your website and within any forms or letters you send to individuals. They must be concise, transparent, clear and plain language: Think reading age of 15.

Cloud Storage systems:

Mapping data becomes much more complicated when taking into consideration the operations that you’ve outsourced, e.g., bank details for payroll or the order form you sent to your supplier via DropBox or iCloud. Even though this information is outside of your company it is still your responsibility. As a person who uses data YOU must check that your cloud-based system is fit for purpose. Their security and data policies should give you adequate information.

And if I don’t??

Imagine: it’s September 2018.  You’ve taken a week off and you’re all relaxed and know how you’ll be working towards year-end targets. But a RTBF request comes in.  Fast forward five weeks: Have you delivered your deadlines and the data request?  Did you make it to your big conference? The accelerator event? Is your business left intact?  What about your reputation?   Can you afford that hit to the reputation you’ve spent years building?

Crucially, if you don’t comply with the RTBF request you could be hit with a fine as high as as 4% of your annual global revenue.

I’m scared!

Good!  Ha! No, but now I’ve got your attention, you need to:

-Map your data

-If you have a team, be the GDPR hype machine and get everyone on board

-If you don’t have a team, just get set

-Check to see if you need to register with the IoC and what a business of your size must do to be compliant

-Plan for how you will detect a breach and how you will report it

I’m lost!

Contact the IoC for help: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-blogs/2017/10/ico-announces-more-help-for-small-and-micro-businesses/

When?

By 25th May 2018.  No exceptions.

Keyboard photo by Courtney Corlew on Unsplash

Server photo by imgix on Unsplash

Huge, huge thanks to Jennifer for coming to the Hub and orienting us to the new landscape.  Have more queries?  Quick, short emails to Jennifer are okay: Jennifer.DPSME @ outlook.com

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International Women’s Day falls on 1^st March. Hub Storyteller Ann Storr spoke with Rachael Curzons, COO of Fearless Futures, an intersectional feminist non-profit working to challenge and change people’s beliefs around diversity in both schools and the workplace.  Fearless Futures takes individuals on a journey that enables them to uncover the systemic injustices that women face at work and beyond.

NOTE: when “girl” or female nouns are used, they refer to people who identify as female regardless of birth gender, or anyone who defines themselves as non-binary, as they are subject to similar yet different prejudices.

Fearless Futures was set up three years ago by Hanna Naima McCloskey, as she was frustrated with the narratives around diversity and inclusion.  She wanted to tell a different story that references the whole experience of an individual.  She researched in her evenings and weekends whilst working full time.  The project started out in schools, discussing inequality with an intersectional approach.  Traditional structures of inequality have siloed individuals.  Why should a person have to align herself to any one catagory to explain the difficulties she faces? Is her gender her largest barrier? That she is of colour? That she is queer?  Why should she have to choose, to rank?

Hanna’s research resulted with the understanding is that there is a false narrative around equality.  The sense that there needs to be a business case, that there needs to be ‘proof’, is wrong. There just should be equality.

Hanna Naima McCloskey, CEO and founder of Fearless Futures

Traditional learnings about diversity and inclusion have structured the conversation as though it will and is easily fixed with some unconscious bias training and recruitment strategies.

Since 1998 the the narrative around girls and education has been that girls are just fine; they have almost been accused of over-achieving.  But that’s not the whole story.  As individuals we need to look behind the headlines, behind the statistics, and see what’s really going on.  It’s often reported that white working-class boys are achieving the lowest attainment, but, when you look at the real stats, it’s Rommany children who are suffering the most.  Why are these children and this whole group being erased from the statistics? Ask yourself: Who is telling you this?  Who is erasing these groups?  What do they seek to gain?  Then look for the answers yourself.

Individuals we need to be more conscious consumers of information. If you are a white, middle class person, you need to be aware of how casual your thoughts and reactions to people or situations might be, why certain information is showing up on your algorithm.  What does that tell you about your assumptions and prejudices?

Our school work is funded by our corporate work; Fearless Futures isn’t reliant upon grants.  It’s ideologically important to us that we are non-profit and self-sustaining.  The corporate side means our programmes always have to be their best.  We know how it works, as we use data to inform our decision making.

The aims of our school work varies widely, depending on if we’re working in London or not.  In London our groups are made of around 85% people of colour. The conversations with these groups are mostly around sex, race, class, disability and sexuality.  The girls are articulate in expressing the opposition to the structural inequalities around them.  They learn that they aren’t deficient, it’s the system that’s broken.  They take with themselves leadership skills and a desire to make change.

In north Birmingham and the North East of England our focus is on enabling our students to learn about the ‘axis of oppression’ that exist.  These young people live in communities that have been decimated by the collapse of heavy industry, long-term unemployment, domestic abuse, drugs, etc.  To be told that you have privilege when your life is hard is not easy to hear and they continue to grapple with it.  We build their critical thinking so that they can interrogate their own beliefs.

Girls on a Privilege Walk

We also teach them meta-cognition and emotional awareness.  For example, they all believe that racism is wrong.  But taking that fully on board is not that simple a process when the vast majority of their communities are white.  We give them the language and leadership to challenge their own families.

Our corporate courses are completely different, for example including all genders.  We take people on an experiential journey to help them to see that the personal is political.  Alveda King said “They cannot face the truth of human equality because it reveals the horror of the injustices they commit.” It can be a hard journey to realise that you have been part of the problem, but then people learn how they can disrupt the status quo and make change.

White, middle class people are more interested in being good allies than they used to be.  I see hope in people taking on that role.  Educate yourself – read bell hooks, Audrey Lourde, ‘The Atlantic’, for starters.

Ask people of colour: what do you need from me?

There is now space for these conversations and there is action.  Whilst the Suffragette centenary referenced ‘100 years since some women got the vote’ there wasn’t enough discussion about the Suffragettes who have been erased from the discourse because they were of colour, were gay, disabled.  Sophia Duleep Singh is ignored.  Ask yourself: why?

It feels as though we’re at a tipping point but don’t celebrate the small successes there have been in gender and feminism.  Ask yourself: who’s being ignored?  You’ll then be able to find whole tranches of stories and people.  I hope that we get to a point where all voices can emerge.

http://www.fearlessfutures.org/

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