Our online map has been up and running for about two months now and we already have branches of EAT, Subway, Tesco Express and Cafe Rouge signed up.  Lotti and Chris met last week with Henry Brosi, Executive Chef at The Dorchester Hotel, who is very keen to donate their surplus food to nearby charities

Take a look at www.planzheroes.org and become a zero food waste hero yourself by encouraging your local food business to sign up to the map – it’s very quick and easy!

The event was held at St Mary’s Church, Somers Town, the parish of the 1920s housing campaigner, Fr Basil Jellicoe. Community leaders from across London revealed a series of proposals, which London Citizens will ask the candidates for Mayor of London to commit to at an Accountability Assembly held a week before Election Day.

The Citizens Agenda came out of a 9 month Listening Campaign, which included thousands of one-to-one meetings with Londoners and voting by members of over 220 schools, faith groups and civil society institutions. The Agenda contains proposals on 5 key areas relating to the major hopes and concerns of citizens – governance, housing, crime (CitySafe), poverty (Living Wage) and opportunities for young people.

These range from ideas to boost existing campaigns like the Living Wage to exciting new requests for a summer talent scheme and solutions to the London housing crisis. However, London Citizens have not left it all to the Mayor and, in exchange for these “asks”, have committed to do a number of specific actions to support whoever is elected in tackling these issues.

You can view the Citizens Agenda for London 2012 here in full

Alongside seeking commitments on the specific proposals in the Citizens Agenda, London Citizens aims to increase the participation of our communities in the governance and democracy of the capital. This is London’s fourth Mayoral Election and the fourth time the alliance has run such a campaign, by listening and voting on a common agenda before holding an exciting Accountability Assembly.

Back in 2004, London Citizens secured commitments which led then-Mayor Ken Livingstone to establish the Living Wage Unit at City Hall and enshrine our ethical guarantees in the Olympic bid and legacy. Later in 2008, Mayor Boris Johnson backed all 5 of our proposals in front of a packed Methodist Central Hall. He then opened CityHall as London’s 200th CitySafe Haven. Each time, the Accountability Assembly was the highlight of the election season, demonstrating politics at its best – authentic, engaging and led by citizens.

This year’s Accountability Assembly will be held on April 26th in Methodist Central Hall. Between now and then, our member institutions will be reaching out to their neighbours and raising awareness of the Citizens Agenda in their communities.

For more information about the campaign contact Stefan Baskerville (stefan.baskerville@londoncitizens.org.uk); Neil Jameson (neil.jameson@londoncitizens.org.uk); or Tom Chigbo (tom.chigbo@londoncitizens.org.uk).

On Wednesday 30th November, 1600 TELCO leaders met at the Troxy Centre in Limehouse to celebrate 15 years of successful Community Organising in East London.

Community Organising in the UK is at its strongest in east London, where 1000s of leaders have been trained in the art of public action over the past 15 years. East London is where the Living Wage campaign began, and where CitySafe was launched.

Over the past 15 years, TELCO has transformed the way politics happens in east London, and has revived the tradition of public Assemblies, where diverse communities come together to hold the state and the market to account.

On Wednesday 30th November, Delegations from 65 dues-paying member institutions gathered to welcome Lord Sebastian Coe and his Chief Executive Paul Deighton to negotiate on the commitments made to TELCO 7 years ago as London was bidding to host the Games.

Some of the agreed ‘People’s Guarantees’, as they are known, asked London 2012 to make sure that at least 30% of jobs are set aside for local people and that the Lower Lea Valley is designated a ‘Living Wage Zone’.

Lord Seb Coe came to our Assembly to recognise TELCO and our Living Wage campaign, and he gave ‘Living Wage Certificates’ to 50 TELCO leaders who’d been offered a job for next summer, as part of our Olympic Job Recruitment Actions.

Paul Deighton, Chief Executive of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), also attended our Assembly and Fr Sean Connolly, an experienced leader from Manor Park, negotiated with him on jobs for young people after the Games.

Paul Deighton praised TELCO for the great Jobs Actions we’d organised recently – getting 100s of TELCO leaders jobs for next summer – and agreed to work with us to build relationships with some of the top Olympic sponsors in the view to get an agreement from them to invest in our young people. We want to get them to offer 10,000 6-month paid work placements over the next 5 years.

On the night, TELCO also made public its intention to build a relationship with McDonald’s. The largest McDonald’s in the world is currently being built on the Olympic Park, and we’re keen to get Ronald to be a kind employer which means he’s got to pay the Living Wage!

A great night for TELCO. A great 15 years, with an even clearer focus for the future.

For more details about our work across East London, contact a TELCO organiser.

This year the National Union of Students (NUS) enter a partnership with Citizens UK and have launched a new project called I Am The Change to encourage and support students in campaigning for positive change.

The change can take place on campus, in colleges or in the community, and NUS’s partnership with Citizens UK will help bring students into closer relationship with faith, education and civil society institutions around them.

Students interested in getting involved can visit www.nus.org.uk/iamthechange and check out the brand new I Am The Change animation video.

Video:  NUS: I Am The Change

Mitzvah Day 2011 saw a dozen members of the synagogue, which has recently begun working with South London Citizens, meeting with local shopkeepers and elders at nearby New Covenant Church of God to hear concerns about crime and safety in Streatham.

In small teams, members of the synagogue had one-to-one conversations with local shopkeepers, managers and security staff. As a token of their friendship, shopkeepers were presented with gifts of Fairtrade chocolate (South London Liberal Synagogue is a Fairtrade synagogue) and will now receive regular visits from the synagogue. The walk had a strong interfaith element, with the links made between New Covenant Church and nearby Hyderi Mosque set to flourish into future CitySafe walks in the Streatham area.

This walk on Streatham High Road is just the latest in a long line of CitySafe actions, which have resulted in over 250 shops and businesses becoming CitySafe Havens - by offering their premises as places of refuge for people who are in immediate danger and reporting 100% of crime and antisocial behaviour to the Police. In return, police teams prioritise these premises for early response.

This success is the result of TELCO’s relationship with London 2012 officials since 2004.

In 2004, as Lord Sebastien Coe and then-Mayor Ken Livingstone were trying to convince the International Olympic Committee to award the 2012 Games to London, TELCO negotiated with the London 2012 Bid Team and got them to agree to work with us and include some ethical guarantees into the Bid.

The People’s Promises, as they are known, set out our demands for:

1)  affordable homes for local people through a Community Land Trust and mutual home ownership;

2)  money from this development to be set aside to improve local schools and the health service;

3)  University of East London to be main higher education beneficiary of the sports legacy and to consider becoming a Sports Centre of Excellence

4)  at least £2m set aside immediately for a Construction Academy to train up local people;

5)  that at least 30% of jobs are set aside for local people;

6)  that the Lower Lea Valley is designated a ‘Living Wage Zone’ and all jobs guaranteed a living wage

More details about the commitments made to TELCO by the London 2012 Bid Team here.

On Tuesday 15th November, St John-at-Hackney Church hosted an Olympic Contractor Fayre, negotiated by TELCO leaders a few months ago, as we met with the Paul Deighton (Chief Executive of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games). Amadeus, a Catering contractor working with London 2012, came to interview our people and because Hackney is full of talents, ALL OF THEM GOT JOBS.

The young people came from member institutions working with TELCO: Skinners’ Academy, Our Lady’s Convent High School, Cardinal Pole School, and Clapton Girls’ Academy. The schools were involved in the organising work that led to the fayre and this great success. Change happens when people get stuck in, and getting involved pays clear dividends.

The jobs will be paid £8.30 per hour (the London Living Wage) when they would normally have been paid the Minimum Wage (£6.08 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over, £4.98 – the 18-20 rate, £3.68 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18). The difference and the impact this will have on our communities is staggering.

Other contractor fayres are coming up in some more TELCO institutions, and we look forward to welcoming more of them and more jobs to East London!

On 30th November, we will celebrate this achievement at TELCO’s 15th Anniversary Assembly (details here).

For more details about our work in Hackney, get in touch with Sebastien Chapleau, TELCO Community Organiser.

These Citizens organisations need to be owned and therefore funded, as much as possible, by local community institutions in order that they are fully able to honour the agenda and interests of their people  and their sector – civil society. Building an organisation such as this takes time, patience and requires the work of skilled technicians. The craft of Community Organising is best learned in action – which of course does not always go smoothly, inevitably there will be disappointments, let downs and frustrations along the way. However, thanks to the tenacity of Organisers and leaders Citizens UK’s 22 year history has been marked by success in community building, leadership development and systemic changes. This revival of the tradition of broad-based Organising in the UK moves us a little closer to the world as it should be.

On 9th November Battersea over 400 leaders from 50 member institutions of South London Citizens met at a Delegates Assembly, for their eighth year pledging to continue to work together for the common good. They publicly paid their dues, welcomed new groups into membership, ratified a new leadership team and voted on the agenda they wish to present the London mayoral candidates next April (prior to the election on 3^rd May 2012). The authentic testimony which supported each proposal was as strong and passionate from the primary school children calling for a safer London, as it was from overcrowded families arguing for better housing, as it was from our college students pleading for more jobs and opportunities.  At the evening’s crescendo South London Citizens voted safer streets as their top priority for the ensuing year and for the mayoral agenda. Over the last month across the Citizens UK network over one-thousand people have gathered in similar Assemblies to debate, discuss and vote for their own agenda’s – pledging to stay working together in order to achieve their ambitious aims. Delegates at TELCO voted jobs as their priority while for the new North London Citizens chapter and Citizens:MK safer streets came out top. Next week will see West London Citizens and newly founded Shoreditch Citizens define what working together for the common good means in their locale. Each of these governance actions gives our members an enriching experience of democracy and compromise, act as an opportunity for fellowship and builds our power.

Over the years we have learnt that it takes tension and confident character to organise for a mutually beneficial relationship with the power brokers whose decisions impact our neighbourhoods and families. While many organise for change without a relationship, worrying that relationships may contaminate or distract from their task, Citizens believes that it is only through relationships that civil society can be taken seriously and negotiate for change.

When TELCO began back in 1996 we analysed that a working relationship was needed with the developers and property company who were building Canary Wharf, so we invited them to our Founding Assembly. They did not come. An empty chair was places on stage and the next day headlines across the national press read “New Citizens organisation launched in east London but Canary Wharf spoils the party”! This tension and the continued work of TELCO leaders eventually achieved an effective working relationship with Canary Wharf which continues today and has steadily expanded to include most of the tenants on the estate. It is these relationships characterised by respect and tension which have resulted in the international headquarters of law firms and banks who call Canary Wharf home paying all their staff at least a Living Wage – this achievement which would have been impossible without this honest and continuing interaction of civil society and the market.

On 30^th November 2,000 leaders in east London will be celebrating the 15^th Anniversary of TELCO – Canary Wharf will be represented even agreeing to sponsor the anniversary brochure and add a message of congratulations. We will also be joined by the major power players of the 2012 London Olympics who have been working with us to ensure that next year will see the first Living Wage Olympic Games.

Leaders from South London Citizens were recently invited to meet the new head of the Tate Modern, Chris Dercon – in December 2006, 200 south London leaders accompanied by the BBC briefly occupied the Turbine Hall singing carols skewed to call for a Living Wage. Mr Dercon had heard of our creative use of gallery space and was a presented with a photograph showing the action which lead to the Tate paying a Living Wage. He pledged his commitment to working with us, give us access to the facilities of the museum and jointly plan to support the people who live the neighbourhoods surrounding the Tate.

Finally a warm invitation to all our friends and members to join us on Thursday 15^th December from 10.00 to 16.00 for London Citizens’ most original seasonal action – a historic Pageant through the streets of east London in celebration of the role civil society has played in making London great. The Pageant will start in Whitechapel and with the support of marching bands, Chinese Lions, drummers and delegations from across our membership we will walk to a Assembly in St John-at-Hackney Church just off Mare St to celebrate the three major seasonal festivals of Eid-al-Adha, Hanukkah and Christmas. Please register your institution with tricia.rich@citizensuk.org and check our web site for more information.

At the onset of a very busy period of action it is important that we reflect upon and take the lessons from history as it is this that prepares us for our future: Patience is a virtue but sometimes, so is a bit of tension.

Neil Jameson. November 2011

Citizens Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots

Launch

Saturday, October 15th 2011

11:00 – 12:30

Tottenham Town Hall (Map)

http://www.citizensinquiry.org.uk/

The Citizens Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots is a community-led response to the riots. The inquiry is an organised long-term response to the riots led by community leaders who will shape the way civil society rebuilds Tottenham and Haringey in the years to come. It is led by a board of commissioners all of whom are community leaders representing civil society in the area. They are supported by a board of advisors who provide expertise. There will be two open hearings where commissioners hear evidence from a broad section of the community affected by the riots. In between the two hearings, inquiry teams from participating institutions will go out to speak to local traders, residents, councillors, the police, gang members, young people, parents and teachers. In the end, a report will be written with a set of recommendations to civil society which will be published early 2012.

This Saturday, we will launch the Citizens Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots.

If you would like to attend, please register before 12:00 Fri Oct 14^th.

Send an email to alvin.carpio@londoncitizens.org.uk with your name and contact number.

Commissioners:

·         Hannah Adu, Youth Worker, Bruce Grove Youth Centre

·         Edward Badu, Student, St Ignatius College

·         Symeon Brown, Co-Founder, Haringey Young People Empowered (HYPE)

·         Patrick Cozier, Headteacher, Highgate Wood School

·         Reverend Bunmi Fagbemi, Parish Priest, Holy Trinity

·         Dawn Ferdinand, Headteacher, The Willow (formerly Broadwater Farm Primary School)

·         Pastor Segun Johnson, Liberty Church

·         Father Simon Morris, Parish Priest, St Mary’s Church

·         Father Peter Randall, Parish Priest, St Ignatius Church

Advisors:

·         Andy Hull, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

·         Michael Kelly, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, KPMG

·         Tunde Okewale, Barrister, Doughty Street Partners

The inquiry has been commissioned by North London Citizens (NLC). NLC is a broad-based alliance of 40 civil society institutions including schools, colleges, universities, churches, mosques, synagogues, trade unions, social enterprises and voluntary groups.

If you would like to get involved in the inquiry, please contact Alvin Carpio: 0207-043-9881.

http://www.citizensinquiry.org.uk/

The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, con-celebrated a special Mass at Westminster Cathedral on Friday 7^th October to inaugurate ‘100 Days of Peace’, a project designed to coincide with the 2012 Olympics. The Mass was attended by more than 1,000 school children, teachers, and parents.

He called on the 200,000 children attending Catholic schools in London, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent, to prepare for 100 Days of Peace and get into training like Olympic athletes, but to train themselves in the practise of virtue instead.

During his homily he said: “Let the Olympic Games be for everybody a lesson in peace. Instead of violence on the streets, which happens all too often, this might be a time in which together we build peace”.

He spoke warmly of the inspiring youngsters he’d met who are working to secure safer streets throughout London as part of the CitySafe campaign, organised by the community organising charity London Citizens.

Inez Sarkodee-Adoo, 17, a student from Our Lady’s Convent High School, in Hackney, spoke about her involvement in the campaign, which has become all the more urgent following the riots in August.

“We have to rebuild trust in our neighbourhoods and get our diverse communities to work together for the common good”, she told the congregation. “We have to organise our communities and take ownership of our streets. Many will think that young people are the problem. We need to show them that we are the solution.”

In a statement announcing the 100 Days of Peace, Archbishop Vincent said: “I am immensely proud of the character and leadership of so many young people in our schools as they work for peace and safety on our streets. This is a story that deserves to widely known as it will give hope and encouragement to many.”

The idea of ‘100 days of Peace’ came from the ancient Greek practise of pronouncing a truce for 50 days either side of the Olympics to allow competitors free passage through warring territories.

Explaining what will happen during the 100 Days, Sebastien Chapleau, Community Organiser for London Citizens, said: “On 9th June – 50 days before the Games – London Citizens will hold Town Centre and Neighbourhood Centre Assemblies to announce which zones we’ll be concentrating on. Then on 27th October – 50 days after the Games – we’ll announce which schools will manage and sustain those local relationships.”

Catholic schools who are members of London Citizens have begun organising teams of students, parents, and teachers tasked with re-building relationships in their neighbourhoods by talking to shop-keepers and listening to their concerns.

“Our schools need to engage with the outside world”, says Jane Gray, headteacher at Our Lady’s Convent High School in Hackney. “Issues of safety have a big impact on the well-being of our children. CitySafe addresses many of the issues that need changing.”

The CitySafe campaign sprang up in response to the murder of Jimmy Mizen in South-East London in 2008. It aims to “reclaim the streets” for young people by encouraging shop-keepers and other high-street operators to report all criminal incidents they witness and to become CitySafe Havens for children who find themselves in danger. There are now over 300 CitySafe Havens across London.

“The alternative to rioting is politics and politics is about everyone taking responsibility for our city. CitySafe builds trust between different groups – community groups, local businesses, and public officials – and shows people that change can happen when all work together for the common good”, says Chapleau.

Jimmy Mizen’s parents, Barry and Margaret from Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Lee, attended the Mass along with their 12-year-old son George. Mr Mizen said: “We remain determined that some good will come from our son’s death.”

By Matthew Wall