Amina works as a Personal Assistant and has previous experience in Human Resources, Payroll Management and Youth Work. She plans to setup her own Childcare social business to help support parents in the local area to be able to work and pursue their own personal development. She has already started delivering creche facilities to enable parents to attend resident-led ESOL for Parents classes run by fellow Thames Life Steering Group member Pierre.
Amina’s first passion is working with children and young people. The challenge for her is getting young people off the streets and the computer by getting them active and engaged. Her other passion is elevating the whole community and leaving no one behind. She loves talking to people, getting to know their stories and hopes for the future, and using that understanding to identify new opportunities for her diverse community to solve its own problems and achieve more by working together. She has always worked or volunteered for companies that make a difference to people’s lives and tried her upmost to do better for all types of people in her daily life, with Thames Life being no exception!
Amina’s goal for the Wards is for it to be united and healthy, a safe place to live for all residents, and most importantly for there to be local jobs for local people, allowing them to pursue their dreams and utilise their talents, while earning a real Living Wage.
Profile coming soon
Hafizur has been a resident of Thames View since 2005. He is a college lecturer, teaching students who are between the ages of 16-19 with some adult provisions. He knew he would live in the area for a long time so was keen to get involved at a community level in various projects.
He has been involved with Thames View Muslim Association since 2013, helping the organisation engage with the wider community and establish facilities for worship, children’s education, and various community awareness programmes. Over the years TVMA have organised Eid in the Park, Jummah, educational programmes, free food events, and more.
He is also a keen gardener and member of the Thames View Community Garden. Further in the summer of 2021, he became involved with the Tenants and Residents Association aiming to work with the residents, council officials and other bodies to have the tenants voice being taken seriously.
Most recently, he joined The RiverView Newspaper resident editorial board to share his skills as an English educator and passion for community.
Josiah is an international Wedding & Events DJ, Musician, Producer and Master of Ceremonies who has provided his services at places such as TEDxEuston, BBC Radio London, Insanity Radio and closer to home, the Barking Riverside Fireworks Display. He has also worked for several years as a Learning Mentor for West Ham United Foundation delivering workshops in schools on campaigns for the Premier League and Show Racism the Red Card.
He is passionate about seeing young people within the local community be able to develop and grow to their full potential. He runs music workshops with young people to teach them how to DJ and produce music because he is passionate about passing on his skills to the next generation and offering more music opportunities for young people in the area.
Josiah’s goal for the Wards is for it to be a safe and vibrant area where young people can express their creativity, build skills and connect with opportunities that lead them to greater heights in future. He hopes to spearhead the creation of a music studio to act as a hub space where young people could attend workshops, learn about the music industry and record their own tracks, supported by local musicians who could act as mentors while also supporting the facility by using it themselves.
Lai is a Project Officer in the Health Team at the Greater London Authority (GLA) in the Communities and Intelligence Unit and a publicly elected governor for the North East London NHS Trust (NELFT) for Barking and Dagenham. He set up his own company ‘Resilient View’ in November 2018, with the aim to eventually run a pilot Social Prescribing project in partnership with Care City. He has a fledgling mental health podcast which he hopes to expand and also plans to setup a resident-led support group to work with men in the community to improve their wellbeing.
He is passionate about mental health being taken as seriously as physical health and wants to empower local residents to have a greater influence on health service provision in the locality.
Lai’s goal for the Wards is to increase levels of physical activity and ensure that more residents have the confidence, skills and opportunity required to access the services, tools and support networks they need to maintain good physical and mental health.
Natalie works in the Civil Service and moved to the area with her daughter 2021. She first came into contact with Thames Life after searching for local groups who were trying to make improvements in the wider area. She has since started attending resident meetings and is part of some working groups.
She is passionate about the local environment and spaces and keen to ensure that issues such as littering and a lack of investment in maintaining local spaces is addressed. She also loves gardening and visits the Barking Food Forest with her daughter.
Natalie’s goal for Thames View and Barking Riverside is that everyone can feel the benefits of the changes happening in the community.
Matt is CEO of Thames Life and has led the organisation since its inception in 2017. He has over thirty years experience working in a range of policy and community leadership roles including work with national charities and central government. He is on the leadership teams of BD Collective, Barking Sports 4 Change and the Citizens UK London team. Matt has a PhD on the role of community development in addressing the local democratic deficit and teaches at Goldsmiths College, University of London and London Metropolitan University.
POL_thesis_Scott_2012.pdf (gold.ac.uk)
Lucy is responsible for:
Zainab is responsible for:
Prior to this, she was working in the legal sector and has experience in community engagement. Zainab holds a Law degree from the University of Greenwich.
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