Globetown
Globetown Learning Community is a new charity operating out of Morpeth School in Tower Hamlets. Being in the one of the most deprived areas in the country, Globetown aims to improve young people's life chances through education. Many of the families they help have low incomes, with a history of high unemployment and little experience of children staying on in secondary and further education.Globetown’s approach of working with the whole family has had great results and they now have many young people who have gone onto university, the first generation in their family to do so. Many of these students now give up their time to act as mentors for younger children involved in the project.
In terms of adult learning Globetown recognised there were a lot of people in the community with skills that weren’t being tapped into because of their lack of English. They set-up a sewing group as they noticed many women were very talented at sewing and embroidery. Through this group not only have the women made new friends and improved their English but they have also been able to earn money using the skills they have. Aziza from Morocco was thrilled when she received her first pay cheque:
“I am so happy, I have waited 8 years for this. Now I can go home and say look what I have done for the family.”
Globetown began working with Pilotlight at the beginning of 2007. They wanted to look at ways they could capitalise on their success and expand their services. Pilotlight put together a team that helped Globetown develop a business plan and accountancy structure as well as key changes to their HR policies. The director of the charity, Jackie Barnes, believes Pilotlight's help has provided a real turning point for the charity and has appreciated having mentors she could turn to for advice.
“We are more likely to get funding now because we have a decent business plan and strategy in place. Everyone at Pilotlight is so positive and they really want it to be a success….it’s a team effort.”
Pilotlight is continuing its work with Globetown and looks forward to seeing the expansion of many of its schemes in the future.