Building up Community without a Community Building

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Jul 2, 2014 - Introduction. Tottenham Hale, in the Edmonton area of the diocese of London, is changing dramatically. Thr
Building up Community without a Community Building Introduction

By Elizabeth Harrison, Strategic Development Assistant, London Diocese

Tottenham Hale, in the Edmonton area of the diocese of London, is changing dramatically. Three summers ago, the shooting of Mark Duggan on the border of the Ferry Lane estate sparked riots which affected not just the whole of London, but other major cities across the UK as well. The area has high levels of deprivation dating back many years. It’s a place where English is a shared, but second, language for most, where many cultures rub shoulders. Hale Village has grown up from an industrial brownfield site three years ago, to become a residential area with 8,000 new homes, with a further 8,000 to come. The group of residents has appeared from nowhere, with no common history, and the mixed-use accommodation features housing for students, for larger families, and accessible flats built for people with disabilities. Council housing, privately owned, and rental accommodation make the estate a place of mixed incomes and lifestyles.

1 July 2014

Census data for Tottenham Hale, covering the well-established Ferry Lane estate, and the adjacent site that is now Hale Village, showed that in 2011 the area comprised over 5,000 households, including: • • • •

1,000 single parent households with dependent children 400 elderly people living on their own 700 households with dependent children but no adults in employment 25% of households included someone with a disability or long-term health problem.

Bridging the border between two parishes, but a fair walk from either church, the estate seemed to warrant a different approach to ministry. Because of its scale, neither neighbouring parish had the resources to cover the new site. The vision shared by the diocese and by local clergy was that something new would happen in this new place. It was decided to take the significant risk that, in due course, our vision would be shared by others, and to invest in community engagement work in the new development. With that in mind, two community workers were appointed. The work then formed three phases: 1. Engagement work, examined in this article. This was carried out without a building to work from. 2. Interim centre: In the light of the success of the engagement work, 18 months later we were offered the use of a ground floor flat as an interim community centre. At the same time, discussions began around the provision of a permanent space in the estate. 3. Permanent centre: In the long term, it has been decided that a multi-use centre will be built, housing a church, community centre, café and nursery, in the centre of the finished development. Fundraising for this centre is well underway, with building work expected to start in 2015. The church has a Bishop’s Mission Order 1 and will be positioned outside the parochial structure, with a view to forming a new parish based on the estate boundaries in due course.

Aims of the first few years • • •

to informally get to know local residents and create an environment to consult concerning local provision including activities in the interim and community centre; to help residents use their own open spaces; to strengthen relationships with local organizations through partnership.

Under the Dioceses Mission and Pastoral Measure 2007, a Bishop’s Mission Order enables a bishop to recognise legally a mission initiative that will lead to a new Christian community – a fresh expression of Church.

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July 2014

Within a year, Andrew and Martina Kwapong, the church community workers, went from knowing almost nobody, to a position where at the opening of the interim centre, 200 people attended. These were people they knew by name, who felt like neighbours. So how did they do it? Partnerships and negotiation They formed partnerships with at least eight local organizations already working on the estate – developers, charities, the local school etc. When they’d worked out the aims and motivations of each, they set about getting themselves known, and building trust. At first they attended events others were running, to serve them and meet local people. Through negotiation, they were able to make use of a Portakabin, housing centre, shop and grass open spaces owned by others, that had been empty, and collaborate with local charities to run activities for the community. Andrew said “The church isn’t as holistic as we think – we can’t do everything. But we can bring others together to make something new, to everybody’s benefit.” In all these partnerships, persistence and being present on the estate helped to build credibility, so that organizations began to trust the community workers and what they were doing. Meeting individuals and families Andrew said “Don’t think of your formal meetings only as your ministry time – the time chatting to a neighbour on your way to a meeting may be far more valuable. Start your journeys early to make time for these chance encounters, so you can always be available to whoever you meet.” Walking around the estate with Andrew and Martina, it’s clear that they get to know everyone they meet, from the concierge to the CEO. They certainly weren’t waiting for people to come to them and a non-existent community centre – Andrew recalls visiting an elderly lady one afternoon to dig her new garden, which both meant quality time getting to know her, and an opportunity to say hello to passers-by. There’s significance in spending time with people in neutral space, or in their own space, before asking them for anything. Andrew speaks of Jesus calling Peter by first spending time with him by his nets, and around his family. Understanding where people are from makes it easy to invite people to join in community activities. Family is very important – working with the Wildlife Trust, they organized a day of blackberry picking and jam-making. Andrew said “Some parents wanted to leave their children with us, but we encouraged them to stay. Those memories of quality time spent as a family will last for a long time.” Going to where people are already When the community work was first started, the houses in Hale Village had not yet been occupied. Reacting to the potential for future conflict between the Ferry Lane estate next door, and Hale Village, Andrew and Martina began their work in Ferry Lane, and since then all activities have been open to residents of both estates, wherever they are hosted. The best tool for beginning to get to know people was a pop-up café. 3 July 2014

“What’s a pop-up café?” Put simply, a pop-up café is a couple of gazebos in a space used or accessed by the community and at a time when people use that space. It can easily attract those normally gathered or passing through, and can be advertised with leaflets at the local school, parents’ group and door-to-door to make sure everyone is invited. In Hale Village, one gazebo had a choice of wildlife activities, provided by London Wildlife Trust, and the other served free cakes, fruit and refreshments. Other activities included biscuit decorating, face painting, Frisbee, ball games and crafts. These simple activities provide a focus around which people can gather and form friendships. Martina said: “Even if you have a building you can still benefit from doing a pop-up café. They’re reactive, easy to put up anywhere there’s public space, and adaptable to whatever demographic turns up. It’s somewhere that residents can easily bring food to share, and those who live very nearby can contribute by providing access to their tap for making cold drinks. There’s importance in showing vulnerability and asking for help, not getting everything right but working with people, asking them to bring what they can.” Food “It’s a crime not to use food to meet people, they love it.” said Martina. From offering free refreshments to using vegetables from the shared allotment to make community meals, food has played an important role. Eating together opens up a conversation about people’s culture, likes and dislikes. It can give people space to talk about their health issues, if those affect their diet. Learning how people cook things and eating with them gives a much deeper insight into their lives than just a chat, it helps people to connect and share, and helps children learn and try new things to broaden their palette. And when so many nationalities are represented on the estate, food can bridge the gap between different cultures, and be the starting point for discussing points of difference and stigma between groups. Cooking together helps parents to learn new skills and broaden their palettes, while being able to share their own foods and culture.

4 July 2014

An entrepreneurial spirit Having a good attitude is key to affirming individuals within a strong community. As well as the importance of making time for people, and going to where they are, Andrew and Martina felt that the characteristics that had helped them to succeed included: •

A willingness to take risks – to ask for spaces that they’d seen and thought would serve them well, to try new ideas, and to trust people and take every opportunity offered. An ability to make mistakes with humility rather than be seen as an institution with a reputation to maintain is important.



Enabling others – if someone else can do it, facilitate them doing it. While initially, Martina baked cakes herself for pop-up cafés, as soon as people started coming, she’d invite them to contribute food too. This helped them to belong and take responsibility for the café running well, and freed up Martina to chat to new people. The point of the café isn’t to give people food, but to cultivate belonging and build friendships, and empower residents to lead.



Dreaming with people – part of building strong relationships is gaining trust and permission to ask people about their hopes for the place where they live.



But above all, being themselves – in every interaction being clear that they were church community workers, sharing their lives with others, and being honest and open.

What’s not gone so well Our model of community engagement had to fit with the natural aptitudes of our community workers. At first, Andrew was attending all of the Residents’ Meetings, trying to take minutes and engage in their discussions. He wasn’t very good at it, and found these business meetings stifling. He learnt that it’s not necessary to do absolutely everything, and it was better to focus his energies elsewhere. Andrew and Martina have become wary of getting what they want out of partnerships, as well as serving others. Helping out at after-school clubs is fine, if it means achieving the aims of making connections with local families, and encouraging the school to engage with community activities. When these connections weren’t being made at first, the nature of their relationship with the school was reassessed so they spent more time with families and teachers. Another pitfall to avoid is the temptation to bring in people – to use church workers from other churches, or to bring in a short-term mission team. While it’s tempting to get a bigger scale activity running, it undermines our credibility to be bringing in strangers to the estate from elsewhere – people question their motivations. It works much better to do small, manageable, local activities, run whenever possible by local people. It’s important that friendships built up during community events can be carried on afterwards, and that residents can see that church members are committed to them.

5 July 2014

Funding the project In these early stages of the work, funding was needed for Andrew and Martina’s posts, and the costs of the community work itself. Salary costs have been shared between a Livery Company in the City of London, London City Mission, and the Diocese of London. Through their funding programme for developing Church growth in deprived areas, the Church Commissioners have contributed to some of the mission work costs, and to fitting out the Engine Room interim centre, in partnership with the Diocese of London.

What next? In Summer 2013, the Engine Room opened on the estate – an interim community centre based in a converted ground floor flat. The programme has been strongly influenced by activities that worked before they had a building, and the principles of going out to meet people where they are continue to be acted on. A permanent centre is planned for 2015.

Further information To find out more about this and other strategic projects, visit www.london.anglican.org or contact Elizabeth Harrison, Strategic Development Assistant, on [email protected] or 020 7932 1251.

6 July 2014