The Community Engagement team works to ensure that Londoners can play an active role in decisions that affect their lives. We also work with voluntary organisations and community groups to support their work to improve the lives of Londoners.
Here, we share our latest news, so keep checking City Hall blogs to find out what we're up to.
Highlights:
Civil Society
We have been busy trying to find ways in which communities can make the most out of the data they have and we have run a series of events over the past few months.
DataStore Workshops
In partnership with London Plus, we ran two interactive sessions using London DataStore, the free open data-sharing portal. The workshops were hosted in Brent and Ealing for local community and voluntary sector organisations to familiarise themselves with the current tools and datasets.
Superhighways delivered a workshop on how to develop digital capability and leadership within the framework of the newly launched Charity Digital Code of Practice. If you would like to join the London Civil Society Infrastructure Forum please complete this form.
Sports Data Expedition
The Sports Data Expedition brought together brought together policy makers and data scientists to gain insight into existing data of sports activity in London. A closer look at data held by London's sports sector can help tackle issues in funding, inactivity & social integration.
With a multitude of different skills in the room, some of the key findings included high level conclusions for understanding patterns within real life contexts across the city. Find out more about the key findings here.
Culture
We hosted public cultural events at City Hall, Including a new and exciting launch and a remembrance service.
Windrush: Arrival 1948 Exhibition
The Windrush generation have made an enormous contribution to our country and to the success of our city, influencing almost every aspect of our culture and modern life.
The ‘Windrush: Arrival 1948 Exhibition’ explores recreations of landing cards representing each passenger who arrived on the MV Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks on 22 June 1948. The landing cards represent a single pivotal moment in the life of each passenger – a snapshot of hope, opportunity and uncertainty. It makes these individual stories more visible.
Africa in London Launch
We hosted the Africa in London Launch Event, to kick off this summer’s London-wide celebration of African culture and creativity in London. The event was opened by Deputy Mayor of London for Social integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement, Debbie Weekes-Bernard who was joined by DJ Rivah Feshah. Together they announced the programme celebrating the huge contribution of Londoners from African heritage to life in the capital.
Click here to find out more.
Remembering the Genocide in Rwanda
The Ishami Foundation is an organisation that draws on the experiences of genocide survivors to connect people to a sense of our shared humanity. We hosted an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
This commemoration was designed to bring together London schools with Rwandans and friends of Rwanda, with the support of the Mayor, to remember those lost; recognise the resilience of survivors and achievements of Rwandans today; and explore the ongoing connections between Rwanda and the UK.
Mental Health Awareness Week
In support of Mental Health awareness week, our team alongside the BAME network hosted an event with British Actor David Harewood MBE. David, an ambassador for mental health awareness. He shared his experiences of spending time in hospital during his twenties following a mental breakdown, he also spoke about his new BBC documentary which can now be viewed on BBC iPlayer. It was a truly inspiring event.
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month: A Celebration
This June we’ve marked Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month which showcases the diverse ways in which the communities add to the vibrant of life in the UK and recognises the varied contribution that these communities have made to our society. Attendees at the event met Roma and Traveller and showmen communities in London and this was followed by a array of the performances hosted b Chris Barltrop. It's important that we raise awareness and acknowledge the huge contribution these communities have made to London.
Coming Up
Advice Sector Data Expedition
On 28 June 2019, in partnership with Advice Services Alliance, we are hosting a data expedition to bring together multi-skilled teams from civil society, the public sector, policy makers, funders and data experts to explore open data sets to try and answer/find insights into a specific question or theme. This is open for all to attend, please sign up here.
Data Surgery
On 24 July 2019, a data surgery is taking place for any of London’s Civil Society who would like to sit down with a data expert for a two-hour session.
You can bring along a defined data challenge or use it as a more open discussion around the data they have and what they could do with it. At our last surgery, organisations received expert advice from volunteers from the GLA Intelligence Unit, Money Supermarket, UCL and Essex Country Council. To attend the next Surgery Organisations can sign up here. We are also looking for volunteer data experts, they can sign up here.
Africa in London: Call for Submissions
This year’s Africa in London programme, supported by the British Council, aims to showcase London’s African cultural events around the city. If you have an event you think is a great fit, you can submit it here. Also, if you have a great idea for Africa in London between June and September, microgrants are available via the GLA Culture Seeds programme. Find out more here.