In an increasingly polarised world, Magic Me exists to bring the generations together through the arts to build stronger, safer and more integrated communities. Working with the oldest and youngest generations, their creative projects reflect the changing demography of London and the country, linking people different in age and diverse in ethnicity, culture and faith. 

Magic Me use the arts to stimulate dialogue and exchange ideas across generations. Often linking unlikely partners, their projects offer young and older people the opportunity to work alongside leading artists, across all art forms, to create work that fosters understanding and breaks down barriers.

East London Cares brings older and younger people together – to share time, laughter, new experiences and friendship – so that everyone can feel part of our changing city, rather than left behind by it. Part of The Cares Family, East London Cares' objectives are to:

• Reduce isolation and loneliness amongst older people and young professionals alike
• Improve the connection, confidence, belonging, purpose and power of all east Londoners so that people feel part of our changing city rather than left behind by it
• Bring people together to reduce the gaps across social, generational, digital, cultural and attitudinal divides.

East London Cares have re-invented their programmes to maintain connection, community and their values (kindness, community, trust, bravery, learning). Programmes are now offered both face-to-face and online.i

The Zacchaeus Project is a social project of the Methodist Church in Tower Hamlets (MCTH) which works with older people and carers, offering advice, support and activities to improve the quality of their lives and address gaps in local provision. The project is a joint community and church initiative which offers a safe and welcoming forum for meeting, sharing experiences and accessing emotional, practical, financial, educational, recreational and health care support.

Providing a range of services developed as a result of direct feedback from members, the Project equips older people to make informed decisions for themselves. It aims to empower socially or economically marginalised members to strengthen their individual and collective voices. Anyone and everyone over 50 is welcome. 

Grand Reopening at Bethnal Green - / Health & Wellbeing Launch Event!

Wednesday 4 May / 11.00am to 3.00pm / Bethnal Green Methodist Church  - Come along and see how the project supports carers and people aged 50+. You will have an opportunity to join in activities and complementary therapy sessions. Blood pressure monitoring, blood sugar testing, foot health and light refreshments will be available.

City & Hackney Older People’s Reference Group (OPRG) have been raising a collective voice for older people to assert their dignity and resist ageism for 16 years and is the largest older people’s group in the area.

Any local resident over 50 is welcome to join the OPRG. They hold regular large open meetings on important issues for older people with senior policy makers and managers. This is an opportunity  for them to explain what they are doing on our behalf and for members to quiz them on what does not work well in services from their own experience. Recent topics have included: ‘Caring for our Carers’, GP services and housing options for older people. Once a year they hold a larger event with lots of workshops, stalls and opportunities to share experiences.

Do you lead a school that needs to improve and embed its diversity and inclusion practices? Are you looking to enhance your school's culture and ethos? Do you truly want to walk the walk when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion? Then look no further! You Be You is an award winning social enterprise working towards the vision that no child leaves primary school believing their gender, race or class limits their potential.

You Be You work closely with schools through their school programme, teacher training workshop and home activity kits called 'Be Me Bundles'. These are activity packs that each child can do with an adult whilst thinking about the world around them and learning through play together. You Be You's impact report that highlights the results of their pilot programme and the positive difference they've already made across the community. You Be You has also appeared on BBC London Live talking about the importance of their work.

If you're ready to take the next step in committing to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at a classroom, student, teacher and parent level, email bilkis@youbeyou.co.uk. 

The Safe Connections service is a collaboration between Mind in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Redbridge, Mind in The City, Hackney and Waltham Forest and Mind in Havering and Barking & Dagenham. 

The Suicide Prevention Helpline number is: 0300 561 0115 and currently operates Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm. This is a self-referral service that provides a warm and safe space to explore suicidal feelings, triggers, and the underlying causes. Callers will be supported to find and access other local services in the community, that can support to manage, or reduce suicidal feelings. Since launching the service on 10 September, 2021, Safe Connections have helped 51 people from across the boroughs (and outside, even outside London), and completed 129 support sessions. 

Your Voice in Health and Social Care (YVHSC) took over the provision of Healthwatch Tower Hamlets on 1st April 2022. Healthwatch Tower Hamlets is your health and social care champion. If you use GPs and hospitals, dentists, pharmacies, care homes or other support services,YVHSC want to hear about your experiences. YVHSC have the power to make sure NHS, social care and other leaders and decision makers listen to your feedback and improve standards of care. They also help people to find reliable and trustworthy information and advice.

Free CPD training is available in Trauma-Informed approaches. Tower Hamlets is striving towards becoming a trauma informed borough and this training involves discussing the work on increasing awareness and responsiveness to trauma.

Tower Hamlets Public Health have commissioned WAVE Trust to provide free CPD-accredited training for frontline workers supporting residents across Tower Hamlets, funded by LBTH Public Health via the Department for Health and Social Care’s Better Mental Health Fund 2021-2022. Register for both or one of the following sessions: Understanding Trauma (Module A) / Implementing Trauma-Informed Practice (Module B)

For people who have already completed these trainings or other similar ones, there are also 2 sessions about becoming a champion of trauma-informed approaches in your work on 13 June from 10am to 4pm. If interested, or would like to nominate someone in your team, please email angela.burns@towerhamlets.gov.uk

• All participants will be supported to develop and review their personalised weekly timetable and goals – participants will be supported to increase levels of physical activity, to try new sports and encouraged to make healthy eating choices
  
• Weekly group sessions with a fitness instructor
• Weekly group sessions covering a range of topics to support participants to eat healthily, to be more active and to take more control of their lifestyle choices
• 1:1 support and access to a range of health and fitness professionals
• Online content – health information and fitness sessions
• Inclusion of family members, carers, key workers, support workers etc who can support the person to reach their goals
• Support to maintain gains made after the programme finishes

For more information and to find out about the referral criteria, contact CLDS on 0207 771 5500, Create on 0207 364 6950 or email elft.shapeup@nhs.net.

The Mayor of London has launched a new Cost of Living Hub for Londoners facing financial hardship, as a result of spiralling inflation, increases in National Insurance and Council Tax, and the lifting of the energy price cap. The hub helps Londoners access information, support and advice about claiming benefits, dealing with debt, financial management and mental health support. If you have feedback or suggestions on the hub, please contact Lizzie.Mahoney@london.gov.uk.

Wednesday 27 April / 6.00 to 7.00pm / The Green House - 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9DA

Join our April Forum Meeting to hear from speaker Sohel Ahmed speak about co-founding the LGBT+ Bengali group, Aponghor, and the work they do in Tower Hamlets. This is an opportunity to listen and discuss the experiences and intersections of LGBT+ identity and race within our local community how local providers and services can support and improve inclusion of LGBT+ Black and People of Colour in the borough.

As this event lands during Ramadan, this meeting will start at 6pm and finish at 7pm to allow time to travel / prepare for Iftar at 8.18pm.

This year, account3 would like to offer Tower Hamlets based lesbians a chance to consider what, if anything, they might like to see for a local event or activity for themselves and other lesbians. If you are interested in this, please email admin@account3.org.uk to create a small group in which we could discuss what you would like to see and together we can together celebrate International Lesbian Visibility Day on 26th April 2022.

Please click HERE to register for the Tower Hamlets Women’s Network if you have not already joined and are a woman, resident in the borough or work in a local not for profit.

A free 12 Week Leadership Course for women living in Tower Hamlets. account3 is appreciative to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets for supporting this initiative aimed at empowering women to aspire higher, despite the confidence gap and other "systematic issues" that are holding women back. For more information and to register your interest, contact account3 at 020 7739 7720, or email admic@account3.org.uk.

Tower Hamlets Council offers sports activities for women and girls access only:

• Swimming lessons
• Gym sessions
• Football
• Walking netball
• Basketball

LGBT+ befriending service for 18+ LGBT+ people, providing a 6 weekly programme focusing on developing social skills to support forming new friendships and building the confidence to engage in new social activities.

This is an ideal service for those who feel isolated, want to meet other LGBT+ people, make new friends and improve their social skills in a safe and inclusive LGBT+ space. We’re currently operating the service online. Please email befriending@elop.org to register your interest.

The Equalities Hub is key to the new direction for the Council’s equalities provision, providing a central strategic focus, responding to the community’s needs and issues. The Hub will be vital to bringing about a more coordinated approach to equalities in the borough. 

Tower Hamlets Equalities Hub is a partnership between Tower Hamlets CVS and Healthwatch Tower Hamlets and funded by Tower Hamlets Council.

The Hub integrates an intersectional approach and is run by seven networks, each one focusing on a equality branch:

• BAME Network
• Disabled People's Network
• Interfaith Forum
• LGBT+ Community Forum
• Older People's Reference Group
• Women's Network
• Youth Council

Thursday 21 April / 10.00am to 12.00pm

The Tower Hamlets Anti-Racist Pledge follows on from the Tower Hamlets Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Inequalities Commission and aims to send a clear and consistent message that racism will not be tolerated in Tower Hamlets.

Signing up to the Pledge is also a commitment to a shared set of principles and actions to address racial inequality and improve access to services and employment. It complements the ambitions of the No Place for Hate Pledge and signifies a commitment to challenging all forms of discrimination wherever it may exist in the borough.

This workshop will be an opportunity to find out:

• What you can do to sign up to the Pledge and promote your commitment to making Tower Hamlets an Anti-Racist Borough
• How signing up to the pledge will contribute to demonstrating good governance for your charity or community group
• How your charity and community group can work with others to make Tower Hamlets an Anti-Racist Borough and to challenge all forms of discrimination wherever it may exist in the borough

We want to support community and voluntary organisations in the borough to sign up to the Pledge. We will show you how signing up to the Pledge can be easily part of your wider work.

Thursday 28 April / 10.00am to 12.00pm

This quarter's health and wellbeing forum will build on the discussions we have been having about developing a VCSE alliance for the Integrated Care System for North East London and the health and social care structures in Tower Hamlets.

THCVS has been working with the other boroughs in North East London and NAVCA who are leading on supporting the sector to design structures locally that will hopefully engage as many organisations in developing a response. We would like to share the experiences of how local organisations, have been working with the emerging ICS systems and at a borough level.

There will be presentations from organisations working at a system level and with Tower hamlets Together at a borough level and the primary care networks at the neighbourhood level. This will give you an opportunity to hear what has been working well and how we as borough-based organisations can ensure opportunities for the diverse community groups to be involved and structured to respond to the potential opportunities to influence decisions about the needs of the communities we serve.

Open until Thursday 21 April

St Margaret's House is pleased to announce an exciting week of innovative visual arts events from : 'The Elusive Good Egg' by resident artist Milou Stella. An open studio event that celebrates a 3 month long exploration of hybridity, storytelling and narratives at the intersection of In/fertility and queerness.

With events ranging from experimental film screenings, open studio gallery visits and community-based networking, there is a plethora of opportunities to get involved in and support this interdisciplinary, Queer, East London artist. For all press enquiries, email: arts@stmargaretshouse.org.uk

21 April to 26 May (every Thursday)/ 10.00 to 11.00am / Mile End Park

6 week workout sessions for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people living in East London.This will take place at Mile End Park with a deaf BSL instructor – you will follow a good, strong workout regime, ready to be brimming with energy as we come into the summer months. In the event of bad weather, this event will be held on zoom.

For more information, please contact sumita.baines@deafplus.org / 074978 24326

Thursday 21 April / 10.30am to 12.00pm / Women: Getting your voice heard! 

The workshop will cover:

• The issues that most affect women
• Why voting matters
• Public advocacy and effecting policy
• Running and supporting public campaigns about issues that matter to you

Click HERE to book your place.

Thursday 28 April / 10.30am to 12.00pm / Legal Issues After a Relationship Ends

This workshop will cover:

• Common legal following the dissolution of a relationship
• Steps you should take and your rights around housing, taxes and benefits
• Sources to access to support and legal advice

Click HERE to book your place.

These workshops will be delivered by students from BPP University of Law's Streetlaw Project. Streetlaw is BPP University Law School's largest pro bono project which provides public legal education in action, with students delivering interactive presentations in prisons, homeless shelters, schools and community groups.

Deadline: Friday 22 April

The Festival of Communities is making a big return in 2022, bringing communities together to explore living and learning in Tower Hamlets. The Festival will take place on the weekend of 11-12 June and is a collaboration between Queen Mary University of London and local organisations.

The Festival team are looking for community organisations and groups to take part and engage local residents and families by showcasing projects and opportunities to become more involved. Taking part in the Festival is free of charge, with the possibility for VCS organisations to apply for funding of up to £200 to cover some of the costs of taking part, including expenses reimbursement and activity materials.

Tuesday 26 April / 11.00am to 1.00pm

We all want to confidently employ Deaf and disabled people, but what does it take? Isn't it expensive? Is it time-consuming? What if they turn out to be bad at their job? What if you use the wrong language or offend somebody? Won’t your office need a new lift, at least? Find out the answers, bring your own questions and discover more at this exciting Daring Inclusion online seminar. Let’s take your organisational diversity goals to the next level!

This workshop is tailored to London-based senior managers, human resource and EDI professionals, line managers and anyone involved in the recruitment, training, management and/or the retention of people. Jane Hatton (MSc FCIPD FRSA), the director of Evenbreak, will guide you through creating an inclusive workplace culture.

Thursday April 28/ 12.00 to 1:00pm / Online via MS Teams

The East London CVS Alliance is working in partnership with Compass Wellbeing CIC to offer free bitesize HR training to VCS organisations. This month's session will look at Recruitment and will cover the following areas:

1.    Understanding the recruitment process
2.    Preparation 
3.    Company values in the recruitment process
4.    Improving your interview techniques
5.    Voluntary positions
6.    Candidate data 

These training sessions are kindly provided by Compass Wellbeing CIC through HR Dept. Co who are a leading provided for HR consultancy. To find out more about what Compass Wellbeing does, please visit their website: info@compasswellbeing.co.uk. For more information, please contact 02079231962 / email: shamima@hcvs.org.uk

Wednesday 4 May / 2.00 to 4.30pm / Lecture Theatre - St Joseph's Hospice

Come and Join St Joesph’s Hospice at their death cafe, an informal event where people come together to explore and share thoughts about death and dying over tea and cake. It’s a facilitated, confidential and non-judgemental space to ponder the biggest question of all with the aim of increasing our awareness of death so that we make the most of our (finite) lives. The event stimulates wonderful small group discussion, both serious and humorous, on dying, death and the meaning of life.

Limited places available - Email: c.learner@stjh.org.uk or call 020 8525 3208 to book.

Thursday 5 May / 9.00am to 1.00pm

A virtual festival, led by NE London, and open to everyone working in health and social care across London, with speakers and discussion coming live from the Bromley by Bow Centre.

Programme: fairer systems and healthier places; restoring trust; moving from trauma to healing; kindness; gratitude; relational leadership; commissioning compassionate care; overcoming racism and exclusion; losing the primary/secondary care interface; inclusion health; prescribing clean air and examples of health creation in action! Regenerating ourselves, our systems, our world.

Friday 6 & 13 May

This is your chance to become a part of an award winning social movement that supports people who are lonely and isolated living with life limiting conditions or are at the end of life.

Compassionate Neighbours will provide you with free training to develop your skills and confidence as well as ongoing support. Sign up for the next training course by emailing e.choudhury@stjh.org.uk or call 07508134095.

Friday 6 May / Free Taster Session / 11.00am to 12.00pm

Course: 5 Fridays starting on 20 May 2022 / 11.30am to 2.00pm / St Pauls Way Centre, 83 St Paul's Way, Bow, E3 4AJ

Do you suffer from back pain, arthritis, MS, ME, fibromyalgia etc.? Pain and iIllness can be hard to live with and feel so unfair. Join this free health program and learn to live well again. This is a 5 week pain management course including two 1:1 sessions. The course includes a light lunch. For more information, email: takebackyourlife19@gmail.com, text 07570802591 or speak to St Pauls Way reception.

The Small Charities Coalition (SCC) announced that the FSI (the Foundation for Social Improvement) and NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) have come together to secure the SCC Helpdesk and other key services to ensure small charities can still access vital help and support following the winding down of the small charity membership body from 31 March 2022.

The FSI and NCVO have agreed a partnership between the two membership bodies which combines their expertise and existing support for the benefit of the small charity sector and builds on the legacy of the SCC. This new initiative builds on an existing partnership between FSI and NCVO delivering governance e-learning and is intended to provide small charities with a clear route for support, helping to streamline access to advice and services. The partnership will also enable the collection and analysis of data, insights and emerging trends for small charities and sharing it more widely, including through the Lloyd’s Bank Foundation’s Small Charity Data Hub. This will support small charities in influencing policy and accessing funding opportunities.

The Canvas Academy is a series of free, largely online training courses to help people gain skills, work experience and employment. The Canvas have 2 courses ready to go:

• Get Into The City: presentation into the City of London and the types of companies and jobs you might expect to find.
• Get Into FinTech: introduction to FinTech and the talent pathways you would expect to find.

Course participants expect to gain clarity on what they want from their career, the tools to help them build the belief and courage that they can achieve it, and one-to-one support and coaching to help them take their next steps into their ideal career and industry. The next steps for them on completion of the 4-week courses are work experience, the move into employment and / or further education and training.

Although the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in Tower Hamlets has been very high, there has been a dip in the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in March.  Tower Hamlets has continued to see admissions to hospitals and the number of people admitted to intensive care for Covid-19 decrease very slowly. Restrictions and rules are being relaxed in England. 

Changes in National Guidance:
From 1st April 2022, the Government will no longer be providing free universal symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for the general public in England. Limited symptomatic testing will be available for a small number of people in risk groups. The Government will set out further details on which groups will be eligible. Free symptomatic testing will remain available to social care staff. The official transition into "living with Covid" will also begin with Spring booster vaccinations being rolled out. Please click here for more updates from the Director of Public Health in Tower Hamlets.

As cases and hospitalisations are showing early signs of decreasing – the UK Government has ended most of Plan B restrictions.

Stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection can be found here.

Changes to vaccination eligibility:

• 16 and 17 year olds can now book a booster dose online.
• Parents and guardians of people at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 between 12 to 15 years old, or those living with people at higher risk, will also be contacted to book a booster.

If you need further advice, call the council vaccination helpline on 0207 364 3030. 

On 22 February this year, the Government published COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021. This new documentation lays out the principles for easing the lockdown, the four tests that will apply, and the roadmap for reopening.

Click below to find out more about the roadmap steps, guidance on reopening businesses and venues, information on coronavirus volunteering and how to help safely and guidance on ‘Working Safely During Coronavirus’. 

As part of the Early Help, Children and Families Service, the Parenting and Adult Education (PAE) teams work is to coordinate courses, programmes and employment pathways for families with children pre-birth – 19 years old (25 years old for children with SEND). The Children and Families Service focus their offer on enabling Early Steps into Parenting and Education which includes:

• Increasing parenting capacity and knowledge
• Access to education and training
• Employability & good job opportunities
  

They offer access to a variety of courses and programmes which are delivered at your local Children and Family Centre on a termly basis, where this is not possible we have outlined pathways and support in accessing the programmes directly with the provider.

All our courses and programes are Free if you have lived in Tower Hamlets for the last 3 years or more, are registered with a Children and Family Centre, Unemployed on Benefits or if your household income is less than £21,157.50 per annum. For more information, please email PAE@towerhamlets.gov.uk 

Deadline Monday 25 April 2022 @ 12.00pm 

The Tower Hamlets Council Small Grants Fund, which is managed by East End Community Foundation (EECF), is designed to support voluntary and community sector activity across the borough. The Small Grants Fund welcomes applications related to equalities. This might include, for example, projects that contribute to tackling inequalities faced by a particular group, bringing people from different groups together to increase awareness, and understanding of events celebrating diversity. Applications for activities related to Black History Month are welcomed.

Grants of £200 to £5,000 will be available to support local organisations with an annual income of less than £250k under the following themes:

Theme 1: Innovation
Theme 2: Prevention
Theme 3: Neighbourhood Action
Theme 4: Community Cohesion
Theme 5: Partnership
Theme 6: Access & Participation
Theme 7: Loneliness
Grants of up to £500 for street party events or small scale events and grants of up to £3,000 for larger scale events for Cohesion Events.

Deadline: Monday 9 May

Registration for The Fore’s Summer 2022 Funding Round will open on Tuesday 19th April 2022 at 10:00am. For this funding round, The Fore is offering unrestricted grants of up to £30,000 that can be spread over one to three years. They are interested in unlocking potential for small charities who are ready to take their next step forward and for whom our support will have transformational impact on an organisational level.

The grants can be used for whatever grantees think will help transform their scale, sustainability, reach or efficiency. Any UK-registered charities, CICs or CBSs with annual incomes under £500,000 are welcome to apply. Once organisations have registered, they will have until Monday 9th May at 5pm to complete their applications. 

Grants between £10,000 and £25,000 are available from the Steel Charitable Trust to registered charities in the UK working in the areas of arts and heritage, environment, health, or social and economic disadvantage. Applications under the social or economic disadvantage category must have a focus on either disadvantaged children or people experiencing homelessness. Applications under the health category must have a focus on either mental health or healthcare for older people. 

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets are seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified organisations to deliver youth based/ASB diversionary activities directly in and around Tower Hamlets Homes (THH) estates. Utilising innovative ways to engage and help young people reach their potential across all THH estates using a detached and estate-based model. 

Total funds available are £337,500. Project Aim is two-fold, namely:

• To engage young people in activities to prevent them from getting involved in anti-social behaviour and to keep them engaged in positive activities. Contractors should work with young people and adults 11-25 years old.
• To offer recreational, social and enrichment activities for young people and adults who live and congregate in THH estates during the daytime during the school holidays, evenings and weekends during school term.
  

Need funds for your Platinum Jubilee Celebrations? If you’re planning a street party, a community event or any sort of get-together and you need funds to deliver it, why not crowdfund your celebrations on Spacehive? 

Spacehive have created a special Jubilee Crowdfunding Guide to help you get started. Their team of experts will be on hand to help you with permissions and licenses, and you may even be able to tap into their network of local funders who can pledge to your campaign.

Funding grassroots, neighbourhood-based community projects throughout the UK, the Happiness Fund is available to enable and support projects which improve mental health and wellbeing, inclusion, learning and skills development in local communities. Ultimately it creates happier people and neighbourhoods - think Holly Willoughby meets Sponge Bob Square Pants.

This fund will make awards, using National Lottery funding, of between £300 and £10,000, from a total pot of up to £5m.  

Sport England want to mark and help celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year by supporting projects that bring a community together and provide opportunities for people who may be less physically active. They want organisations to consider how they could work more collaboratively across their community, in order to make the biggest possible impact.There are always more applications than Sport England are able to fund and so their priority is to support projects working with people in disadvantaged communities.

Funds are available for project costs such as facility hire and coaching, as well as for small capital improvements.

Don’t forget to apply for a two-year unrestricted grant of £50,000 before the end of the year. Check your eligibility in less than five minutes on our website by selecting one of 11 complex social issues. If the majority of your trustee board self-identifies as belonging to a Black, Asian or minority ethnic community, you can apply under our Racial Equity strand.

The Marketors City Livery Company has announced a new Charity Marketing Grants Programme for 2021-2, funded by its charity The Marketors’ Trust. A total of £20,000 is being made available as grants for small charities (turnover between £10,000 and £100,000 annual income) to run marketing and fundraising campaigns. There is one grant of £10,000 and four grants of £2,500 each

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has partnered with Enterprise Nation to deliver the Pivot Project, offering 150 small businesses in the borough a programme of business support and financial support of up to £1,000.

The initiative is open to businesses with up to 49 employees who were trading in Tower Hamlets before 30 June 2021 and whose business needs to adapt to a new business environment.

LBTH is offering social value resources for organisations with a turnover of less than £100,000.

Organisations can apply for resources including first aid training, ICT support, equipment in good working order, annual subscriptions, and officer support and mentoring from senior managers. Organisations can apply up to a value of £2000. Resources will be offered first come, first served as organisations who fit the eligibility criteria apply.