News

Job Vacancy: Communications and Outreach Officer

We are recruiting for a Communications and Outreach Officer to join our team who will work with the Head of Communications and Programmes, resident trustees and the wider Thames Ward community to consolidate the communications infrastructure and ensure the promotion of resident voice through high quality communications, informed by regular community outreach. The post-holder will use strong marketing, social media and communications skills to enable residents to become active and enterprising citizens, working together for the common good of existing and future communities. This post is funded by Trust for London.

Reports to: Head of Communications and Programmes
Salary: £26,520 pro-rata (28 hrs per week, plus 17.2% pension contribution)
Location: Thames Ward, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Contract: Short term contract to 31st March 2021 (with plans for renewal)
Start date: As soon as possible.

Closing date for applications: 12:00 midday, 30th November 2020
Interviews: 7th December 2020

For further details please see links below:

Job Description and Person Specification

Application Form

Two awards for TWCP’s ESOL for Parents programme for ‘Improving Access to Services’

TWCP has received some incredibly positive feedback recently on the work it has been doing to strengthen and support the people of Barking and Dagenham’s Thames Ward. On 13 August 2020 the Barking and Dagenham Faith Forum announced TWCP had won their ‘Improving Access to Services’ award for the ESOL for Parents programme and shortly after on the 28 September 2020 was recognised for its work again with the same award at the Rotary Club of Stratford’s East London Community Heroes Awards.

ESOL for Parents Programme lead, local resident and ESOL Lecturer Pierre Epoh Moudio commented:

“Winning these awards means a lot to me. I have always believed in the idea of working with the less fortunate and those who are sometimes forgotten. The work I do enables them to have access to various services which are essential for their survival. I help them to build their confidence, make new connections and achieve their full potential. I know from personal experience that living in a foreign country without proper guidance and support is extremely hard and can sometimes lead to isolation, depression and a sense of worthlessness. All the support I got has allowed me to achieve most of the goals I had when I arrived in the UK, but it was not easy at all. There were times when I wanted to give up but luckily I didn’t.

Setting up the ESOL for Parents programme is a way for me to give back to society and winning these awards gives me the confidence that there are people out there who believe in my idea. Helping those immigrants improve their English and seeing a smile on their faces make me happy and pushes me to do more for them every day. Through these awards I have had a request from Stratford Rotary Club who would like to work with me, which is another big boost for my project”.

The Mayor of Barking and Dagenham Peter Chand, remarked “This project makes sure that no one is left behind” while Himanshu Jain (Chair, Barking & Dagenham Faith Forum and Charter President & Foundation Chair, Rotary Club of Stratford) remarked “Your project makes a huge difference to the local community”.

Congratulations Pierre, keep up the good work! If you or anyone you know would be interested in hearing more about ESOL for Parents or any other work that we do then contact us: info@twcp.org.uk

Click on the links below to watch the award ceremony:

Barking Faith and Community Award 13 August 2020 https://twitter.com/unmeshdesai/status/1293976078898335746?s=19

East London Community Award 28 September 2020
https:/youtu.be/cnNEAk4-h-A.

Pierre receives backing of B&D Renew

TWCP Steering Group and Skills & Enterprise Citizen Action Group member Pierre Epoh Moudio is our next success story when it comes to gaining some independent funding and support after receiving £800 funding from Barking and Dagenham Renew to run the next 12 week programme of ESOL for Parents.

If you live or work in Thames Ward and you or anyone you know is interested in improving you English then get in touch! The sessions are FREE and focus on offering support for parents, carers and wider residents of the borough to improve their English and with it their job opportunities and wellbeing.

Congratulations Pierre!!!

Local DJ/Producer, Thames View resident and TWCP Co-Chair Josiah Oyekunle receives £2,000 funding from Barking and Dagenham renew

Josiah has become the latest TWCP Steering Group member to successfully present one of his ideas to local funding body Barking and Dagenham Renew.

Throughout the Covid-19 lockdown Josiah has been running a weekly music show every Friday at 5pm on the TWCP Instagram, Facebook and Zoom channels.

Thanks to the funding he has received he is now able to continue to run the show even while the lockdown eases and be paid for the time he spends every week helping residents of Thames Ward and wider Barking and Dagenham lift their spirits up and feel positive despite difficult circumstances.

He will also be able to buy some much needed equipment to help him expand the Vibes & Bounce show to become even more interactive with the opportunity for Riverside School students (who have been attending Josiah’s DJ workshops prior to the pandemic) to appear as Guest DJs!

Well done Josiah and BIG THANKS once again to Barking and Dagenham Renew for empowering residents to solve #localproblems with #local solutions

Seven areas of support to boost resident leadership of health services across Thames Ward

Thames Ward has some of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the country and many other measurements of health and wellbeing that need urgent action. Local agencies have sprung into renewed action, firstly via the NHS Healthy New Towns (2016-2019) initiative which aimed to encourage healthier behaviours, develop new approaches and models of health care and build on innovation and learning.

Having been at the forefront of this new approach, Thames Ward became the first Health and Social Care Locality Board in the borough, set up with the purpose of developing a new model of care that is commissioned and delivered in a high quality and holistic way and responsive to the needs and aspirations of the local community.

The TWCP Health & Wellbeing Citizen Action Group (CAG) have held several large events and had regular resident-led discussions focusing on how local people can contribute and lead on what is being called a ‘new model of care’ which aims to transform how health services work.

We have identified seven areas of support and action:

Supporting local community groups to get more funding (including health commissioned funding) by raising project management, bid writing and delivery skills;
Supporting community groups to work with health agencies to develop a shared plan of action for the local area and helping the wider system become more transparent;
Ensuring greater levels of inclusion and widening access across the community;
Development of a resident-led social prescribing network where GPs can refer visitors to community groups;
Support resident groups and individuals on the Locality Board and Riverside Health Centre / Hub;
Securing a community health outreach worker – who will be managed by local people;
Assisting with a proposal to develop the Sue Bramley Centre as a local health and wellbeing hub and as a community-run asset.

TWCP partners with Community Led Housing London to research community-led housing sites on Thames Ward

TWCP has successfully applied for funding, in the form of an adviser from Community Led Housing London (Rowan Mackay) to work with residents to look at one of the most pressing issues of our time: genuinely affordable housing. This time we have a clear solution in mind – using sites locally for building property that can be community owned and community-led.

We know also that the council and Greater London Authority (GLA) are keen to promote similar innovation to empower residents, so this feels like pushing at an open door.

According to Trust for London the borough has worse than average rates of evictions, homeless acceptances and temporary accommodation rates in comparison with other London boroughs and despite a programme of 50,000 new housing units, only average housing delivery at present.

We will be working with our CLH adviser to continue our listening campaigns, researching the local need and aim to bring our findings together in a brief report of resident testimony on housing needs. We will then form a resident steering group to make a proposal to develop a specific site. Hopefully our proposal is successful, leading to further funding to enable us to develop a site in partnership with local partners such as the council (Be First) and GLA.

London City Airport Community Fund awards £5,000 for community gardening in Thames Ward

TWCP and the Thames View Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) have both been successful in applying to the London City Airport Community Fund for funding to support community gardening in Thames Ward with funding received for the Thames View Community Garden (£2,000) and new Barking Food Forest (£3,000) next to Riverside Campus in Barking Riverside respectively.

Both sites offer local people the opportunity to get involved in community gardening where you can learn how to grow your own fruits and vegetables and also connect with other residents. The funding will enable each site to expand and develop and be able to offer more opportunities to get involved in gardening to a wider number of people across Thames Ward.

Thames View Community Garden will be focusing on installing new raised beds to allow more members to join. Barking Food Forest is a new initiative and will be using the materials to pay for materials and labour required to design and build a brand new green space for all residents of Barking Riverside and the wider Thames Ward and borough to enjoy.

#EnvironmentandGreenBlueSpace #Gardening #ResidentLed #CleanUpThamesWard #GreenUpThamesWard

Youngest TWCP steering group members wins his first funding bid!

We are proud to announce that our youngest Steering Group member, 17 year old Barking Riverside resident and artist Emmanuel Oreyeni has just been awarded £1,805 from Barking and Dagenham Renew to continue the online drawing sessions that he started as part of our community response to Covid-19 for the next 6 months.

His ‘Learn to Draw with Emmanuel’ sessions stream LIVE on Zoom, Facebook and, as a result of winning this grant, will soon be streaming on Instagram too.

The funding from Barking and Dagenham Renew will enable Emmanuel to purchase some important equipment to make running the sessions each week easier including tripods for filming, a laptop to be able to communicate with participants and respond to questions as well the obvious paper and pencils. It will also pay for his time each week preparing and running the sessions where he teaches local residents of Thames Ward and the wider Barking and Dagenham community how to draw in order to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, learn a new skill and keep connected to the community.

Well done Emmanuel!!!!

#YoungLeader #YoungPeopleAreTheFuture #YoungARTivists #ArtsandCulture #ResidentLed #PeoplePower #BarkingRiverside

Sessions take place every Monday at 5pm to catch them LIVE on Zoom, Facebook and Instagram too.

Thames View Community Garden SGM – Sunday 7th June, 10am-11am Community Garden, Bastable Avenue, Barking, IG11 0QQ

Garden members from the Thames View Community Garden (TVCG) came together for an SGM yesterday to confirm their development plans for the garden including installing water tanks, rainwater harvesting, a dripping irrigation system, and to build new raised beds to allow more new members to join.

They also passed a motion agreeing to allow other local community groups to use the garden for meetings and small events in exchange for a small donation to the garden (email communitygardensecretary@gmail.com if you are interested).

Community responds to Covid-19

As a response to the Coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, several TWCP Resident Steering Group members got together to discuss a community response for their local community. They wanted to bring people together and keep them active and engaged despite the lockdown. They came up with a programme of weekly posts and livestreams on Zoom, Instagram and Facebook Live.

Using their skills and passions to teach, inspire, support and connect the local community. Most importantly, they wanted the sessions to be fun and to bring people together to keep them feeling happy and positive!

All of the sessions are led by local residents and take place throughout the week

Category: News