Update from Katy...

I joined Stepney Salvation Army in October as a Jellicoe Intern. The internship scheme is linked with TELCO and my aim is to facilitate community organising both in our group and in the wider Stepney area. Since October, I have been meeting SSA members as well as community members and representatives from many projects that operate in Stepney and Tower Hamlets. Through these meetings, I have built up an idea of some of the issues faced in the area, and what is already being done to address them. Youth provisions had been highlighted as an area for action before I joined SSA, and in December a group of young people and community members took action to ask the local youth centre to increase their opening hours and improve their provisions. In addition, Nick and I have been working with Stepney Green School to help their pupils engage more with the community. The pupils visited Edith Ramsay House last term, and we are hoping they will take an active role in some up-coming projects.

In the next few months I will continue meeting SSA members and community representatives. Through these meetings, I hope we can start to think about further actions that could be taken in Stepney, which might improve the services available to our community or help address some of the issues we face.