MAKING A DIFFERENCE TO SOUTH ESSEX COMMUNITIES

By Mary Spence

Chief Executive of the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership

The Thames Gateway here in South Essex continues to attract new investment from the government, with over £4 million pounds allocated by the East of England Development Agency to our Investing in Communities (IiC) programme.

A number of projects are now under way and are already making a real difference to people of all ages who live in our area, with investment in skills and new jobs being vital to ensuring local people get the benefit from new development.

Take the GOALS! Project, for example. This important scheme teaches life skills to young people who risk being excluded from school, helping to keep them in class and encouraging them to lead productive lives. Through IiC we were able to safeguard this successful project, which delivers these skills through lessons and football training at Southend United. Now the funding will enable it to continue for another four ‘seasons' this year.

This special on the Thames Gateway looks at some of the other projects that the programme is already funding, but also gives an update on some of the other recent successes of local people and organisations. We expect to invest over £2million pounds in 2008-09, to deliver some major new projects, which we will highlight later on this year.

The IiC funding has helped finance mental-health projects, one of which assists people coping with their mental-health illnesses through art. It highlights how art can be used to engage people and raise their aspirations and confidence in order to help them return to the community and obtain longer-term employment.

Another exciting project is the Thurrock construction bus, which will bring the classroom to many different parts of Thurrock, spreading the reach of this type of training.

In Shoebury, we are injecting cash into the new children's centre on land at Shoebury High School to extend and develop the community entrance area, creating a job kiosk for parents who might have difficulty sourcing information.

We are also investing in more projects to get people involved in sport, ahead of the 2012 Olympics, when we hope to see a few young athletes from South Essex competing in their ‘local' Games. Our own local champion, Danny Crates, continues to work with us in encouraging these young people, and we expect to be able to do more as we get closer to the time. Follow Danny's training blog at www.dannycrates.co.uk.

None of these projects would be happening at all if the Partnership had not secured this cash and worked with local organisations to ensure it is spent on projects that will really make a difference to the life chances of our youngsters.

The Investing in Communities programme focuses on funding projects that will help people to improve their skills and their employment opportunities. From next year, the programme funding will transfer to the Local Strategic Partnerships, ensuring that there is an even closer match between the investment and the needs identified by local people. The Partnership is proud of the difference it has been able to make in improving the prospects for organisations and individuals in South Essex.