Wanted: Your advice needed.

[sfhyouthforum]

Dear Sydenham,

Some of you may be aware of the articles in the Guardian about how loss of benefits will actually affect the people on the ground. A healthy balance sheet and rising GDP can often mask the real poverty that comes with clearing debt and reducing state spending. The distorted figures of a nation out of debt, can leave people worse off.

I’ve been talking to James Haley who lives on the Hazel Grove estate in Sydenham. Although he is employed, he is seeing an increasing amount of poverty on the estate. James volunteers for XLP, who do a lot for young people in the area, including running a mobile youth club (a double-decker bus kitted out with computers, arts and crafts and mentoring services) to give young people excluded and isolated something positive to do on their doorstep.

Hazel Grove is a large estate off Sydenham Road. Hazel Grove is indicative of London as a whole. Often people share the same bricks that intertwine their homes but live worlds apart. James Haley is freelance; sometimes he has lots of work, other times work is slow and he has a lot of spare time to get to know his neighbours and hear their struggles. Some are living in very poor conditions and this has James increasingly worried. So what can be done?

I interviewed James Haley today because he approached The Sydenham & Forest Hill Youth Forum with a brilliant idea. He wants to build a website that exchanges goods and funds to help those most in need.

“I want to build a website that is simple, easy to use, that allows people to pledge support to those in need.”

He illustrates to me several examples of rising poverty on the estate. "There is a woman who can’t afford to eat three meals a day. She suffers from a bad back and often cannot get out of bed without her son’s assistance. She went for incapacity benefit and they asked her to touch the floor, and touch the sky, which she did, and then disapproved her application. Her job doesn’t pay her when she is incapable of going and her son works in a local shop on minimum wage which means they literally can't afford to eat regularly."

Under James Haley’s vision, via a local website, local people can pledge money that can be used to buy this family a monthly shop of non-perishable foods such as pasta, and tinned tomatoes and frozen vegetables.

They are just one example of local families struggling to keep financially solvent and in doing so have had to cut down on food. Others have no heating, choosing to eat over keeping warm. How is this possible in such a rich nation?

Worst of all, national patience has reduced for people on benefits, increasingly being seen as a burden, sucking out Britain's wealth. But just as many meat eaters (including me) would probably not eat meat if we had to shoot the animal ourself, if many of us visited people in real life, struggling to make ends meet, our hearts would melt with sympathy and our hands would instantly dig into our pockets to help them.

Whether or not one believes this to be the responsibility of the welfare state, the actuality is that cuts are happening, have been happening for years before the coalition. And as Big Society rings in our ears, I personally wonder whether it is a term synonymous with the Thatcherite principle individual responsibility, despite state-intervened dismantling of industry, jobs and services. This government does not want people on benefits, with or without available jobs, and for this we will see real poverty grow bigger the smaller our national debt becomes.

Under James Haley's vision, money would be channelled through a constituted organisation, and the process will include a volunteer liaison officer, ensuring the money and goods are going to genuine claims. James tells me there are often well-known people on estates who can act as gatekeepers and be responsible and accountable for assessing the need. There are also organisations who already check on deprived households as part of their job role, for example social workers, key workers, health workers and community and church organisations.

It is important to James Haley that the recipients remain anonymous. “There are pride issues. People don’t want to say they can’t cope. They’re embarrassed and they don’t want to ask for help. But they do need help.”

James Haley, from talking to his neighbours knows that one man doesn’t have a table in his flat and has to work and eat on his lap. By using the website, a local gatekeeper can put a request out for a table and then the local people can help out, by either offering a table or funds for one. Unlike freecycle, which I suggested, the recipient would not need to arrange a van or car to collect the goods. Which is the main barrier for the most deprived.

“We want good quality and brand new things. We don’t want people to feel they are receiving junk others don’t want. There’s a lady with a mattress that’s twenty-five years old - we’d want to give her a new one,” says James.

There is no doubt small community organisations do great work at reducing deprivation. One of the teenagers XLP work with had 12 charges against him, and has since been working intensely with youth workers on music and football projects. He now is out of trouble, his charges have been dropped, and he has a job working in mechanics.

Would you be interested in getting involved in James Haley's vision? At this stage, The Sydenham & Forest Hill Youth Forum are looking at the feasibility of the project. So I am writing to ask this forum for any feedback or comments, as well as criticisms and reservations.

Some of you may be aware that I have set up a public fund, asking local people to give £2 a month that can go on providing services and activities for young people. Since launching the campaign last year, we now receive a total of £37 per month. A bit disheartening, but a start at least. I am still positive we can meet our target of raising £300 per month be the end of March 2012 but it takes a lot of work and I must add a lot of tears and worry and stress. I do worry that James will take time to create a website, then receive a lukewarm response and feel he has brought the hopes of others up only to let them down. But I haven't given up. There is still a lot we can do with £37 and I am now looking at ways we can run small community projects with young people on the tiniest of budgets, for example, using local young people trained in painting and decorating to paint the bedrooms or living rooms of those elderly, disabled and children (12 and under) who would appreciate a bright colourful or indeed calm fresh environment, but for financial or ability-based reasons, redecorating is the last thing on the agenda. With £37 we can buy materials such as paint and brushes and literally Paint A Smile. Small changes with lasting impact.

So, in a nutshell, do you think the idea of a website that acts as an exchange between local need and people providing for that need, with the mediation of a local gatekeeper to assess the need is genuine and a trusted and solvent organisation to manage the funds, and publish the financial figures regularly, be something you would
a) benefit from,
b) welcome,
c) be interested in helping to build, and
d) be keen to pledge funds and goods.

Be honest. There is no wrong answer. Whatever that opinion is, your opinion is what helps.

[sfhyouthforum]

The article I read from the Guardian was this: http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/so ... ss-estates

[Manwithaview1]

Have you thought of contacting local organisations like L&Q at Kingswear House, Dartmouth road. They have grants available for groups like yours. Not a huge amount but four figure sums...

[sfhyouthforum]

Thanks for your advice, I will contact L&Q now.

[bensonby]

The Met Police have a fund as well for stuff that directly relates to crime/ASB reduction. Things such as youth diversion are very much what the fund is for. There is still money in the kitty for this financial year. I can't remember the name of the fund off of the top of my head but it is there.

[sfhyouthforum]

Thank you. I had a meeting with the police last week, so will email them asap.