Community Links, part of Catch22, is rooted in East London, providing support and opportunity to thousands of people every year. We transform lives and were founded on two principles: to find new solutions to old problems and to deliver them with the whole community.
Our Vision is for ‘Ready for Everything Communities’: enabling people to support each other to overcome problems, prevent them from occurring again and to help each other to thrive and achieve their goals.
From our main Centre in Canning Town, a historic town hall and centre of social change, plus Asta Community Hub in Silvertown and the Rokeby Community Hub in Stratford, we apply the learning from our local work to influence and achieve positive national change.
We deliver a range of programmes in six key areas of work:
• Advice and guidance
• Young People
• Employment
• Health
• Community
• Learning & Policy
In this current year we expect to help 89,781 people directly in East London (our highest yet in a year), and to benefit countless others by sharing the first-hand experience and local lessons in public policy recommendations.
Our range of services enable young people to realise their potential by removing barriers to success, building confidence, and improving life skills. Current and recent examples include:
More than Mentors: a primary to secondary school transition programme that helps young people build strong peer to peer relationships, preventing them from falling through the gaps during the school transition. This improves wellbeing and prevents school exclusions, the single biggest factor towards subsequent social exclusion and risk of criminality and violence. It has been working intensively online as young people have encountered numerous emotional and educational challenges during the lockdowns.
TechKnow: for young people who struggle with using technology.
A Violence Prevention Pilot: for young people at particular risk of grooming by gangs, providing peer support and advice for the young people and their families. This was selected for support by the Youth Endowment Fund, who are recognised for their particularly rigorous approach.
Music in the Air: for young people who struggle in connecting with others and a remote Music Therapy Pilot for young people with mental health distress during this time.
Talent Match: supported over 400 young people to find employment, education, and training opportunities. This provided one-to-one guidance with particular emphasis upon enabling the young people not just to find a job but to find a sustainable career.
Knifefree: In 2019 we worked in partnership with the Home Office to train 18 Community Advocates on how to discuss youth violence and knife crime within their local areas in London. This led to over 450 community conversations, with 100% of the advocates feeling more confident in talking about this difficult topic.
In recognition of the creativity and impact of our programmes over the challenging past year Community Links were shortlisted for the Children and Young People Now Awards in the Mental Health & Wellbeing category.
