As the community regeneration arm of Newlon Housing Trust, Newlon Fusion delivers regeneration programmes, in partnership with local authorities and community groups in the boroughs of Islington, Hackney, Haringey and Tower Hamlets. These programmes include community activities, training and employment opportunities.

This year we opened the new Barnsbury Estate Community Centre, on the site of the the old Grimaldi Hall. Find out about the modern facilities available by visiting the Barnsbury Community Centre page.

Current programmes

Greener Newlon innitiatives
Newlon Fusion and Global Action Plan (an environmental charity), are working in partnership to help Newlon residents save money and energy on a number of projects. Find out about our various programmes on our Greener Newlon page.

Financial inclusion innitiatives
We currently have some programmes running in partnership with Fair Fanance and Money Made Clear to offer help with saving money and managing finances. Find out more on our Help with finances page.

Currently we are also managing the South Barnsbury Neighbourhood Arrangements programme in Islington and the Family Project at the John Scurr Community Centre in Limehouse. We are also running a Barnsbury Youth Forum on the Barnsbury Estate in Islington.

Other programmes we are involved with are: Hackney Ways into Work and the Hackney NEET Project.

Find out about other recent programmes.

John Scurr Community Centre – Limehouse

Eid celebrations at John Scurr Community Centre.

Following the closure of Toc H’s east London Family Project, we are working with the local community to continue to provide a variety of activities at the centre and a communal garden where local people are able to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Activities include Parent & Toddler groups, Health and Fitness classes, Healthy Cooking courses and Health Awareness workshops.

Find out more about the courses and workshops we run at the Centre and see if there is something you would like to come along to.

For more information please contact the Centre Manager, Patricia Byrne at:
John Scurr Community Centre
1a Bekesbourne Street, London E14 7JQ
Tel: 020 7790 3113
Email: pbyrne@newlonfusion.org.uk

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Barnsbury Youth Forum

Members of the Youth Forum enjoy a camping trip to the New Forest.

The Fforum has now nearly completed its year long residency at the Hugh Cubit Centre, and will soon be returning to its original home on the Barnsbury estate.

Last year members of the Forum took part in a number of activities including:

• Cinema
• Table tennis
• Cinema
• Scrabbling 26th
• Cooking
• Job search
• Paintballing on Saturday 31st.

To help develop our programme we are looking at proposals to create a further night of activity for older residents from the Priory Green estate once the main programme moves back to the Barnsbury Estate. This additional session would focus upon Information, Advice and Guidance sessions for older residents between the ages of 16 and 24.

If you require further information or would like to discuss who you or your organisation could get involved in the programme, please contact Christopher Newport Regeneration Projects Manager on 020 7033 4654 or email cnewport@newlonfusion.org.uk.

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Ways into Work – Hackney

This project helps unemployed people over the age of 18 to access employment and training opportunities. Our specialised outreach worker works at Clapton and Hackney Wick to identify and recruit Newlon residents who need help in getting back into work.

This is a free, local service that offers a full range of employment advice and support – from interview technique to in-work support to help build a career.

Ways into Work provides support in the following areas:

• Advice and guidance to prepare for training and to look for work.
• Benefits advice and support to ensure that you are better off in work.
• A tailored training package to help you gain the skills and qualifications that employers are looking for.
• A job match service that identifies suitable vacancies and prepares you to get the job.
• Financial assistance with childcare, travel and clothing for training and work.
• In-work support to help your transition into work and support your career development.

Download the Ways into Work leaflet.

If you are interested, please get in touch with our community outreach worker, Paula Williams, who will be able to give you more information on Ways into Work and support you through the process:

You can call Paula on:
020 7033 4652

Call or text your name to:
07879 555 565

Email Paula at:
pwilliams@newlonfusion.org.uk.

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Keep it moving

This Hackney based project aims to get 60 disengaged young people between the ages of 16 and 18 into education, employment or training.

Newlon Fusion is responsible for identifying, recruiting and supporting young people in the Clapton Park area. We also provide specialised dramatherapy based personal development across the borough, though this project, and employability skills courses.

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Recent programmes

Other recent programmes, which are now completed, include the Buxhall Bee project, the Newlon Award for Young Residents, the award-winning ReWork project in Haringey, originally designed to target refugees with permission to stay, the Construction Works project which worked with unemployed adults and the Safer Spaces project.

The Buxhall Bee project

This was Newlon Fusion’s project to get Newlon residents at Buxhall Crescent more involved in their local area through a blog, newspaper, walks, gardening skills, photography, recipe swaps and even a communal lunch.

Artist Lucy Harrison, in partnership with SPACE worked with residents to produce three publications on thier lives and experiences living in the local area, focusing on skills, hobbies and interests. The Buxhall Bee is commissioned and project managed by SPACE, a visual arts organisation based in Hackney, with funding from the Arts Council, England, and Newlon Fusion. More information about SPACE can be found on thier website www.spacestudios.org.uk.  

The residents who got involved in the project were able to find out about their neighbours, learn new skills and take pride in their own interests. There was also a social side to the project where they were able to take part in events such as nature and history walks, music exchanges and a photoshoot.

The Buxhall Bee Newspaper was designed and produced by Lucy which included information about the participants' lives on the estate.

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The Newlon Award for Young Residents
(living in Islington and Tower Hamlets)

The Newlon Award for Young Residents was designed to sponsor young newlon residents with their chosen activities – to help build self esteem and develop social skills as well as help them to stay physically fit. The programme provided funding of up to £200 per person or £400 per household for young people aged up to and including 18 years old. 

The Award supported young people with a wide range of activities including learning and becoming involved in a particular sport or dance activity or even learning a foreign language – the choices were endless.

One of the beneficiaries, Daniel, received sponsorship money from the programme towards his Badminton fees. Daniel’s mother, Janet wrote to us to say, “It has helped me out a huge amount. I appreciate how quickly the application was dealt with, and how straight forward the whole process was. He is training 4 nights a week and has a few competitions coming up shortly.” 

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The ReWork Project

Winner of the best BME Project at the National Black and Minority Ethnic Housing Association Awards

This programme was originally designed to engage refugees with ‘permission to stay’ and help them enter three strands of industry; care, construction and retail. The programme was then broadened to reach all Black, Minority and Ethnic (BME) members of the community.

The programme offered combined intervention that linked personal development to relevant vocational qualifications i.e. Food Hygiene and Level 1 Service Sector VRQ’s. The short term educational aspect of the programme was supported by an internal job brokering service and a range of further education and vocational packages including an interpreting course and care sector NVQ's.

This programme was open solely to people of BME origin, within the London boroughs of Haringey, Enfield and Waltham Forest.

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Contruction Works

Developed as a partnership with Newlon Housing Trust, this industry awareness project was designed to link unemployed adults with the construction industry via NVQ qualifications (up to level 2) in plumbing or carpentry.

Supporting elements included personal development training and additional vocational qualifications in sales or customer service.

Additional to the main project, work was undertaken with pupils participating in Newlon Fusion’s Key Stage 3 and 4 programmes in order to raise awareness of the construction industry as a possible career option.

The adult section of this programme is operated on an open referral basis.

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Safer Spaces

The Newlon-led Safer Places project was successfully completed this year. Safer Places identified five anti-social behaviour (ASB) ‘hotspots’ in Hackney, which we have been tackling with residents and five Housing Association partners, using funding from the Hackney Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. Environmental improvement works have resulted in a reduction in nuisance and better living conditions – for example, residents living at Prospect House have benefited from substantial work to improve lighting, access to the building and parking.

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