OUR PLACE
Grassroots Programmes for Communities
Development Manager
Claire (tel: 07305016611)
Volunteer Engagement Co-ordinator – Well Street
Verona (tel: 07305086347)
Our Place is a Hackney-based community led project supporting and encouraging people\’s ideas, passions and interests to meet local needs and make positive change.
Located in two sites, Well Street and Hoxton, we help residents identify skills they can contribute and share with their community. This can include running their own sessions, spreading the word about what we do or providing peer support to their neighbours.
Our regular coffee mornings have been the source of some great ideas and activities including craft sessions, a film club, a parent support group, bingo nights, a family holiday club, community gardening sessions, fun days and more.
We provide 1:1 support, training and small grants to support capacity building. Over the last year, over 80 residents have led and participated in local projects.
They have delivered over one hundred and twenty hours of community activities to their local neighbors. Our Place is a hub in every way, as one recent participant put it “you can value yourself more because people can see your abilities even when you don’t”.
The project has strengthened local communities, resulting in reduced isolation, people building new skills, and the improved health and wellbeing of residents including signposting people to local charities and services in their area.
If you are an individual or an organisation working with individuals interested in participating in either the Well Street or Hoxton projects, we would really like to hear from you.
Email: ourplace@vchackney.org
Our Place Programme Manager
Claire (tel: 07305 016 611)
claire.ferrigi@vchackney.org
HOXTON COFFEE MORNING
Our weekly coffee mornings are for local people to discuss ideas, put community projects into action or simply come along for a cuppa and a listening ear from their fellow neighbours.
NEW KINGSHOLD PLAYFLAT
Led by a local resident passionate about giving local children in the area a place to play and craft after school, Play Flat has been running for two years and continues to go from strength to strength.
CROCHET WORKSHOPSS
Six week beginners crochet classes taught by two of our residents. Participants have started making crochet squares which they have chosen to donate to mothers and babies at the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
FUNDERS
Our Place receives funding from Hackney Council, Southern Housing Group, National Lottery Community Fund and Department of Culture, Media and Sport, from the Place Based Social Action Programme.
PARTNERS
We work in partnership with Hackney Council, Southern Housing Group, Public Health, Hackney Recovery College, East London Foundation Trust and Hackney Works.
“We’re just trying to build long-lasting relationships which help people realise that they have power, that if they get together, they can make changes and problem solve.” – Sulekha, Our Place Programme Manager