UnLtd Award Winners

Islington Giving and UnLtd challenged Islington people to come to us with ideas on how to make a positive difference in Islington. Here is a little bit more about those who have been awarded a share of our first £25,000 Islington Challenge:

Lorraine Grout – Flight for Freedom
Lorraine lives in Islington where her family has resided for over 100 years. She is a Drama Practitioner and after working with young offenders in HMP Feltham for four years, she wants to start a new venture at a local prison. She has a passion for bringing art to groups who normally have no access. She is working towards setting up an ongoing arts project based on peer mentoring between inmates and ex-offenders.

Flight for Freedom will deliver theatre performance workshops with 15 offenders from HMP Pentonville in Islington and put on a performance for an audience from the surrounding local estates. She has secured the Support from Pentonville and there is great interest from the prisoners to take part. The project will give opportunities to the prisoners and change views in the local community. She has also got interest from HMPs Holloway and Feltham to replicate the project.

Christopher Higgins
Christopher has a background in theatre as a writer and director. He has several years of work experience implementing creative learning programmes in schools, businesses and universities including the RSA, Opera House and Aviva. He currently lives in Islington and has a child attending an Islington primary school.

His project will connect children from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds aged 9-10 attending different primary schools in Arsenal. The purpose is to forge and strengthen ties between children that will provide a platform for community harmony in the future. The project will facilitate exchanges between at least 2 primary schools to give 60 children a taste of each others school life and prepare them to transition to Islington secondary schools. While visiting another school, children will work together with their hosts on a piece of art about their neighbourhood.

Holly Johnson – The Science Museum of the Future
Holly is a freelance producer and project manager specializing in participant-led creative film and theatre productions. She lives in Islington and works with National Youth Theatre based in the borough. Her large scale vision is to set up a new type of production company based on a social enterprise model, uniting art and lasting impact through bringing professionals and organisations together to set up productions and access funding.

Developed by 50 excluded young people from Islington, the Science Museum of the Future is a week-long multi-media event using film, music, sound and digital technology, to show their ideas for a science museum they would like to visit. The project will involve young people with art and science, as well as provide insight for scientists about how young people would like to see museums in the future. They have confirmed the involvement of the Science Museum, National Youth Theatre, City University and Islington Council.

Huda Al Amin- Women in the City
Huda came to England as a refugee from Sudan in the 80s. Having been educated in Egypt and possessing a remarkable drive a resilience, she sit up Mosaada in 1999, having supported over 1150 female refugee and asylum seekers. Culturally, women from certain backgrounds are not always given the same opportunities in employment and independence and this is something that Huda is passionate about.

Women in the City provides training and flexible employment in the security industry, primarily for women who have refugee status. Huda has contacts in Middle Eastern embassies, companies and privately, who are very interested in a varied all female security service. Clients may hire a driver, chaperone, translator or general security guard. Huda can command a good rate of pay for all employees. Profits go back into the enterprise to provide more training and employment opportunities, with an aim to diversify services for women in the UK.

Adrian Taylor – The Game
Adrian studied psychology and is now a coordinator for the Child Poverty Innovation pilot in Islington. He has worked in several support/advisory roles, but is now looking for ways of reaching young people in their own space and time. He volunteers at the Islington project “Get more Local”.

“The Game” is an enjoyable, exciting and engaging online Role Play Simulation game (RPG) that helps young people develop their employability. Adrian will incorporate technology and psychology to create a tool for young people to gain confidence and solve problems. They will develop their character through gaining points in the game as well as the real world and tasks are given to complete the game. This format helps develop their practical and interpersonal skills to deal with long-term employment.  The Islington Giving award will pay for development of the game and two trial groups in Islington to test it.

Angela Woods
Angela is a single mother of 2 young children and a positive, central figure on her estate. She organized the 2010 Bermerton Estate Festival, which included thirty service providers from the Borough and 800 local residents. The Kings Cross development is rapidly changing the landscape and arguable creating a two tier community. Angela wants to build stronger social links and highlight training and employment opportunities within the development.

From Bemerton to Kings Cross is a partnership with the developers Argent, local artists and existing employment service providers. From spring to summer, Angela will co-deliver 3 events to provide local residents with opportunities to learn about, voice opinions and possibly become employed locally.  Their target audiences are those currently unemployed, young people from the estate – to encourage a sense of ownership and opportunity and newcomers to the area – to ensure social cohesion.

Sophie Caley
Sophie lives in Islington where she grew up and is mad about sports and working with young people and is qualified to coach a number of sports. Last year she set up a women’s football team because there was not any provision for women to play football in her area. She has recently been doing research about the sports activities available to young people where she lives and says that this is currently limited to football. She is passionate about wanting to provide opportunities for young people in her area that allow them to meet new people and break down the barriers.

Sophie wants to start-up a multi-sports club for young people from different estates and backgrounds in Islington. She will use her coaching skills to provide sessions for young people in activities that are not currently available to at low-cost in her area. She already has 600 young people interested in this from doing taster sessions in schools. Through the project she hopes to allow young people to open their minds about mixing with young people that they wouldn’t usually and to provide valuable health and fitness activities.

Chelsea Anyiam & Shaneil Burkes
Growing up in Islington Chelsea (20) always wanted to be an actress but could not afford to attend acting classes on a regular basis. After leaving school she began working in local youth services as well as taking acting jobs when they were available. Since then she has become increasingly involved in youth work around Islington. She has been volunteering at the City YMCA opposite UnLtd’s London office since 2007 as a youth worker and has recently started teaching performing arts and acting to a wide variety of young people from the local community on a voluntary basis. Since volunteering at the YMCA Chelsea has studied for her level 2 child care qualification and gained a great deal of confidence in her abilities to work with young people. She now hopes to continue onto a career within youth work.

Chelsea’s project involves providing free, regular, and structured acting and dance classes for young people who live around Whitecross street. Chelsea will use the classes to get young people from different areas to come together and work as a group. She wants these classes to provide an opportunity for the young people to get rid of negative energy, socialise and come together to create something positive. Chelsea hopes that this can lead to less young people on the streets and less anti social behaviour in the area. Chelsea has already been running classes intermittently at the YMCA but this award will allow regular classes to take place for the first time.