Projects

How do we make a difference?

“…this project is an example of Localism at its most successful enabling [Stockwell Partnership] to identify and reach out to people who would be traditionally very hard to engage.”
Portuguese Advice & Capacity Building Project Evaluation, Ian Beever Consultancy & Training

Stockwell Partnership is a charity run by local people for local people. We improve the quality of life in the local area by developing projects, building partnerships, and supporting residents to take action on the issues they care about. We work with residents to create a neighbourhood where people feel happy and safe, and where they have a sense of pride and ownership.

Highlights from our 2023-24 work programme

Supporting individuals in need

The second year of our Stockwell Portuguese Community project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, has seen increased demand with the cost of living crisis. Clients are coming to us with challenges including claiming benefits, help with finding employment, and food poverty. Key outputs of the programme include:

• 528 requests for assistance supported
• 20 individuals participating in older people’s Hug Group
• 5 volunteers engaged
• 17 individuals attending digital inclusion sessions
• 25 individuals supported from Lusophone minorities/LGBTQ+
• 20 individuals referred to events
• 414 individuals claiming benefits
• 27 individuals employed

The final year of our Walcot Foundation multilingual financial resilience project saw us providing additional support to 204 migrants to increase their financial resilience including budgeting skills. 187 low income Lambeth residents who speak Portuguese (107), Spanish (95) or Italian (2) benefited from baseline assessments of their financial positions, with plans to cover awareness and support on how to prevent debt and maintain healthy finances.

We supported 25 Portuguese and Spanish speaking parents and carers with bilingual advocacy sessions in Stockwell children’s centre on subjects ranging from parenting to accessing services to volunteering and active citizenship, funded by Lambeth council Early Years.

Lambeth Portuguese Wellbeing Partnership commissioned us to deliver an employment support project to help Lusophones into waste management and other jobs. Through this programme, we supported 20 Lusophones with their employability skills. We also worked with LPWP to support Lusophone households with wellbeing as part of the Household Model programme.

Supporting community action

This year saw a major increase in community activity in our Thriving Stockwell programme, which aims to improve health and wellbeing in the neighbourhood through raising awareness of, and better connecting, services and people, and supporting residents to develop healthy activities. Core partners include ourselves, the Stockwell Primary Care Network (‘Stockwellbeing’), Art4Space, Stockwell Park Community Trust, and Lambeth Together; the wider network includes over 30 groups and organisations in Stockwell.

With funding from Lambeth’s Connecting Communities Fund and Lambeth Together, we appointed a 0.5FTE Community Builder to set up peer support groups in our Community Living Rooms (at Art4Space and Stockwell Park Community Trust), run events and promote the programme on social media. Key outputs included:

• 17 community groups set up
• 2244 attendances at weekly Community Living Room activities
• 18 one-off community events
• 1280 attendances at one-off events
• 968 supportive interactions on health and wellbeing delivered by Lambeth’s Health & Wellbeing Bus in Stockwell
• 44 partners
• 58 Volunteers
• 87 local patients attending Healthy Heart CVD Group led by StockWellbeing Primary Care Network
• 12 1-to-1 interventions delivered by ClearCommunityWeb at the Digital Drop-in Hub at The Old Laundry
• 28 1-to-1 welfare benefits and housing advice sessions, including forms filling
• Match funding of £6,500 from Vauxhall Night-Time Enterprise Zone for a Portuguese mural evening event at Tate South Lambeth Library, linked to the Stockwell Christmas Tree Lighting Up ceremony
• Match funding of £2000 from Hyde Housing Group to deliver the Thrive for Life booklet launch at The Old Laundry
• Match funding of £38,600 from Novartis / King’s Health Partners to pilot a programme working with Stockwell’s East African and Middle Eastern communities to reduce Cardiovascular Disease via lifestyle changes.

The peer support groups we established in the Community Living Rooms have reported significant improvements to wellbeing, e.g. those reporting poor mental health dropped from 49% to 27% over the 12 programme; those saying they strongly agreed that they are content with their friendships and relationships increased from 13% to 38%. Thriving Stockwell is increasingly seen as a flagship project for engaging a neighbourhood in improving health inequalities. In February 2024 we hosted a visit by East Belfast Community Development Agency and Bromley by Bow Centre to share ideas and best practice in the Stockwell Partnership offices.

LEAP

We supported 308 families in 106 activities in Stockwell as part of our commissioned service to LEAP. We undertook outreach and events in partnership with local organisations and community groups including St Stephen’s Children’s Centre, Tate South Lambeth Library, Morley College.

Special campaign activities continue to be tied in with other calendar events such as Black History Month, Diwali, Christmas, Eid and LGBT+ History Month. Our LEAP programme came to an end in September, but we are continuing many of the groups and activities through our Thriving Stockwell programme.

Stockwell Forum

As part of our work with the Lambeth Forum Network we delivered two Stockwell Forums, as well as related Thriving Stockwell work. The forums are a means to raise awareness of local initiatives and connect residents with each other and service providers. Topics at the forums included Larkhall Park redevelopment, Vauxhall Night Time Enterprise Zone, the redevelopment of the Old Laundry as a community facility, and a Get to Know Your Community theme, in which 14 local groups raised awareness of their activities and community offer. The forums also provided a mechanism for residents to update others on their own events and activities.

Lambeth Community Hubs Network

We continued our work with Lambeth council and the Lambeth community hubs to develop our connectivity and services as part of the Community Hubs programme. This year, the hubs produced a range of new policy templates for the sector and we mentored several community organisations. Stockwell Partnership shared our experience of Thriving Stockwell by mentoring Streatham Action on how to establish a ‘Thriving’ programme and network.

Supporting the local environment

We again secured funding for the Stockwell Christmas tree from St Stephen’s Charity, Thriving Stockwell / Lambeth Together, and LEAP. Fencing and lighting was supplied by Lambeth council. The Lighting Up ceremony was preceded by Thriving Stockwell community activities in Stockwell Community Centre run by LEAP, Art4Space, Roots’n’Shoots, the Health and Wellbeing bus and Morley College. The Lighting Up ceremony was overseen by two local Reverends, with carols from St Andrew’s primary school. Over 100 people attended the event. Attendees then made their way up to Tate South Lambeth Library for the unveiling of a new Portuguese mural as part of the Vauxhall Night Time Enterprise Zone activity.

Partnerships and Networking

In addition to our project-based partnerships, we are active members of the following Lambeth forums and organisations:

Lambeth Portuguese Wellbeing Partnership (LPWP) – a collaboration of local community individuals and groups, NHS and Portuguese Doctors, Pharmacists and Lambeth Council who are committed to working together and combining our individual skills and resources for the health and wellbeing of our local communities. Now a Community Interest Company.

Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) – we are a board member of the 10-year, BIG Lottery funded LEAP programme, which aims to significantly improve the lives of children in four wards of Lambeth. The programme will be finishing in 2024.

Lambeth Forum Network – a partnership of Lambeth’s nine community forums with Lambeth council, sharing best practice and resources.

Lambeth Community Hubs Network – a partnership of local community hubs and Lambeth council, aiming to achieve a shared vision of local community hubs providing sustainable, trusted services to the community.

Lambeth Community Research Network – a partnership of Lambeth VCS organisations led by High Trees Community Development Trust, seeking funding from the UK Research Institute.

A Selection of Previous Projects:

Building Cohesion in Stockwell

Our three-year Building Cohesion in Stockwell project funded by City Bridge Trust and run in partnership with International Alert developed activities to improve understanding and cohesion between twenty local community groups. The project culminated in the installation of the Dreams of Stockwell mosaic on the International Alert offices on Clapham Road. The film of the making of the mosaic was shown at the November Stockwell Forum (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2zPrEEAUhM). The mosaic was made by 17 local residents from a range of different backgrounds, and was themed around their visions for Stockwell.

Cook and Meet project: Knee High Design Council Challenge

Our partnership project with Brixton People’s Kitchen engaged mums and their children in Cook and Meet healthy eating sessions that reduced isolation and helped to reuse food which would have otherwise gone to waste. Our project was shortlisted by the Design Council’s Knee High programme (www.thekneehighproject.com), to identify radical new ways to reduce parent isolation.

Neighbourhood Enhancement Programme

We actively engaged over 900 people in the first phase of Lambeth’s Neighbourhood Enhancement Programme (2012) – and we consulted an additional 536 people from black and ethnic minority communities in the NEP roll out (Apr-Jun 2013)

Stockwell Urban II

Stockwell Partnership was the lead voluntary sector organisation working alongside Lambeth council on delivery of the Stockwell Urban II Community Initiative – a £12 million regeneration scheme that focussed on Larkhall and Stockwell wards, plus the estates covered by North and West Stockwell housing neighbourhoods. £6 million came from the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the remaining £6 million was secured through match funding. Stockwell was the only area in London to be awarded Urban II ERDF funds.