London

Hackney Council has committed to providing homes to five families fleeing the crisis in Afghanistan; is supporting Afghan refugees currently placed in local hotels; and is coordinating the local community response and help. 

The Council is one of 27 London boroughs that have indicated a willingness to take between 125 and 152 families into the UK. 

Hackney has a long-standing reputation of being open and welcoming to migrants and refugees, especially those fleeing conflict in hope of a better life. 

There are currently two schemes to help Afghan refugees to which the Council is committed to participating: one for former Afghan staff who worked for the British Government, and the wider resettlement scheme, of which we await further details from the government, for others who have recently escaped the country.

Refugees are currently in hotels managed by Central Government, where their housing and wider needs are being assessed. They are being registered with GP practices and a number of community groups are helping provide clothing and other essentials. 

The Council is currently identifying housing and making them ready for refugees, and has been working on a comprehensive and integrated support offer that will help refugees settle in Hackney. This will include housing, health care, education, adult skills, and community connections and integration. 

 

 

If you can help, please tell the Council what you can offer by emailing: policyprojects@hackney.gov.uk

Immediate priorities include:

• Accommodation: please share the type of property, number of bedrooms and weekly/monthly rent rate when you email. 
• Storage facilities: businesses who have empty spaces that can be used for clothing storage and distribution. Ideal locations would be around Old Street. 

Below are also a range of ways that residents can also support local, national and international efforts on the refugee crisis.

Hackney-based:

• E5 Baby Bank has a donation page as well as Amazon and common good wishlist to help families. 
• Care4Calais has a donation page specifically for east London and the charity also has collection points around the UK for clothing donations. It particularly wants good quality shoes and coats for adults and children, baby buggies and baby carriers and unlocked smartphones. 
• Hackney Refugee Forum is an umbrella network for refugee organisations, hosted by Hackney Council for Voluntary Service. You can find out more by contacting Ali Aksoy: ali@hcvs.org.uk; Caroline Hickey: Caroline@hcvs.org.uk; or Jessica Lubin: Jessica@hcvs.org.uk
• HostNation connects lonely or socially isolated refugees and asylum-seekers with local befrienders on a one-to-one basis. 
• There are many refugees that have already settled in Hackney that need your help and support. Hackney’s Advice Sector works with many of these refugees and you can visit Advice in Hackney’s directory to find out more and how you can apply to volunteer or donate money.

• Refugees at home matches refugees with spare rooms. 

Fostering a child:

Unaccompanied children are vulnerable and may be traumatised following their experience and journey. They need safe homes where they can have the time, space and support to begin to rebuild their lives.

For more information about how you can support asylum-seeking children through fostering, visit our fostering page, or contact our Fostering Recruitment Team on: 0800 0730 418; or: fostering.recruitment@hackney.gov.uk

National or international:

• Refugee Council – an independent charity working with refugees in the UK including supporting Syrian refugees seeking asylum in the UK.
• Save the Children – distributing essential items such as nappies, hygiene kits and food.
• Red Cross Europe – providing emergency health services at central train stations.
• Migrant Offshore Aid Station – dedicated to preventing migrant deaths at sea.
• International Rescue Committee – improving living conditions by setting up camps.
• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) – providing water, mosquito nets, tents, healthcare.
• Refugee Action – advice about claiming asylum, the asylum process, asylum support.
• World Vision – providing food, water, shelter, education and psychosocial care.

Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education, Young People and Children’s Social Care, writes as Hackney students start returning to school for the Autumn term:

I want to wish all of our students who are returning back to school this week, and in the coming weeks, the very best for the new Autumn term. 

The last academic year was another challenging one due to the coronavirus pandemic, but I am proud of how our staff, students and their families equipped themselves in the face of unprecedented challenges. 

It was great to see so many of our students enjoying themselves over the holidays at Young Hackney or other summer events, or reuniting with their peers on GCSE and A-level results days, but we are now looking ahead to the new academic year. 

I wanted to remind students, staff , parents and carers of a number of key changes relating to Covid-19 restrictions as we enter a new term:

• Schools no longer trace close contacts of Covid-19; except in exceptional circumstances. This is undertaken by NHS Test and Trace.
• The use of “bubbles” is no longer recommended and pupils will be able to mix more freely. Assemblies, all school trips, drama, music and sporting activity will be able to resume as normal. 
• Children under the age of 18 years and 6 months old who are direct contacts of positive Covid-19 cases will no longer be required to self-isolate. 
• Face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors either in classrooms or in communal areas.
• The Director of Public Health, Dr Sandra Husbands, may advise a setting to temporarily reintroduce some controls where required.

There is further information on managing local outbreaks of COVID-19 in education and childcare settings here, while schools must have control systems in place to: 

• Ensure there is a good hygiene for everyone 
• Maintain appropriate cleaning regimes 
• Keep occupied spaces well ventilated - risk assessments should identify any poorly ventilated spaces and steps should be taken to improve fresh air flow
• Follow public health advice on testing, self-isolation and managing confirmed cases of COVID-19. 

Staff and secondary aged students are encouraged to continue undertaking regular (twice weekly) lateral flow tests at home until the end of September when this will be reviewed. Furthermore secondary aged students are asked to undertake two on-site lateral flow tests on returning. Most secondary schools have taken up the proposal to stagger the return to school this month to allow time to test all returning students on the school site. All pupils will be back in school full time by the end of the first full week of term (10 September), with most returning by 8 September.

We continue to ask all schools and settings to notify Hackney Education as soon as they are alerted of a child or staff member testing positive for Covid-19. This information will be used by Hackney Education and Public Health to support schools and settings and to implement local measures where required. 

The Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended vaccination for the following groups of children and young people:

• 12-15 year olds with specific vulnerabilities
• Those aged 12 years and over who live with individuals who are immunosuppressed
• 16-17 year olds at increased risk of severe infection. 

The Government may decide to extend this offer in the coming days. 

Once again, I want to wish students, parents, carers and staff all the best for the autumn term and the academic year ahead. It has been an incredibly challenging 18 months for Hackney’s schools, but together you can continue to make the borough proud. 

Best wishes, 

Cllr Anntoinette Bramble

Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education, Young People and Children’s Social Care

Hackney Council has launched the third and final round of the Shoreditch and Hoxton Art Fund, which since 2019 has seen more than £175,000 invested into arts and cultural-led projects which aim to build positive and open relationships in the area’s diverse communities.

Projects to date have included a festival exploring working class identity, cross-cultural orchestras, poetry and dance, community murals and a live soap opera.

The investment is raised from "Section 106" contributions, which are levies placed on new developments in and around Shoreditch and Hoxton. The fund is enabling and supporting community projects that bring residents, businesses and visitors together through art and culture, building a better understanding between communities and helping them to share experiences.

The £300,000 fund delivers on a commitment in the Council’s Inclusive Economy Strategy and Arts & Cultural Strategy to promote and support activities in town centres and neighbourhoods that help to keep people connected to opportunities in a rapidly changing borough. 

Over the last 15 years, Shoreditch and Hoxton have seen huge changes, with a significant rise in the number of businesses and residents in one of the UK’s most successful local economies. The area has become home to a thriving small and large business community that includes some of the world’s leading creative tech and digital media companies. To ensure this exceptional economic growth benefits residents, Hackney Council has committed to supporting participatory creative and cultural-led initiatives.

Some of the projects to win funding in rounds one and two 

• Autograph ABP - #HackneyIsHome - a project exploring experiences of home and migration in Hackney.
• Clod Ensemble - The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady - a programme of events inspired by Charles Mingus’ 1963 masterpiece The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady, created in collaboration with members Nu Civilisation Orchestra.
• Create London - Hoxton Gardenware - a youth-led not-for-profit enterprise producing distinctive, small-batch terracotta gardenware.
• Eastside Educational Trust - Your Future Worlds - a project celebrating the young voices of Hoxton and their aspirations for the future.
• Grand Union Orchestra - Hoxton and Shoreditch Community Orchestra - a project to bring together musicians from all over the world, many of them first generation migrants and now UK citizens and living in London.
• Hoxton Hall - Hoxton Street soap opera - a Hoxton soap opera using interactive theatre performances, and podcasts.
• Ministry of Stories - Poetry in Unexpected Places - stories written and envisioned by 8-15 year olds – who take part in weekly Community Writing Labs. 
• PEER - PEER in the LIBRARY - a three-part programme of exhibitions, events and workshops focusing on the power and potential of the spoken and written word in a variety of media.
• Snooze Fabric - 5 Pillars Project - a community arts project which involved designing a mural at Hoxton Hall.
• Studio Wayne McGregor - HOME - a dance film showcasing the talents of young people, as well as the Shoreditch Trust’s Stroke project, which enables stroke survivors to highlight their experiences.

For application eligibility, criteria and key information - and to apply - please visit hackney.gov.uk/culture

The first publicly available cargo bike sharing scheme in the country is being launched in Hackney this month to help residents and businesses carry goods by bike and support them to reduce transport emissions.

Eight new electrically assisted cargo bikes will be available to rent from four docking stations across Hackney, with two in Shoreditch, close to the borders with Islington and Tower Hamlets, one in London Fields and one in Stoke Newington. 

Each of the e-cargo bikes are capable of carrying up to 80kg - and can be used for shopping, deliveries, and moving small items of furniture. 

The scheme - called Cargo Bike Share - is funded by the Mayor of London and the tri-borough Zero Emissions Network, which helps residents and businesses in Tower Hamlets, Islington and Hackney save money, reduce emissions and improve local air quality. It is being delivered by Beryl, an urban bike share provider. 

Cllr Rowena Champion, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We know that by taking steps to help residents and businesses lower their emissions, we can create a greener Islington and achieve net zero carbon status by 2030, to help tackle the climate emergency. 

“Cargo bikes provide a greener, healthier way for residents and businesses to travel around the borough, helping to reduce congestion on our roads and improving air quality for everyone and the ZEN project is a key part of how we want to encourage their use.

“Through our people-friendly streets programme, we have been able to create safer, greener, healthier streets that are better suited to walking, cycling and using buggies and wheelchairs. We look forward to seeing Islington’s residents and businesses use these environmentally-friendly cargo bikes on the borough’s streets."

Beryl chief executive Philip Ellis said: “For last mile deliveries or short journeys, e-cargo bikes are by far the best and often the most time efficient way to move large or heavy items. By replacing vans, a network of e-cargo bikes has the potential to transform local areas making them safer and more pleasant to live and work in, due to the reduction in CO2 emissions, noise pollution and stationary motor vehicles that take up valuable space on our streets.

“We are really excited to be partnering with Hackney Council to launch this UK-first trial, which we believe will have a lasting positive impact on the community, and widen access to e-cargo bikes.

‘’Beryl has always strived to be a micro-mobility pioneer that offers the broadest options in an affordable and accessible way. We believe this e-cargo bike trial has the potential to show what is possible in many urban areas across the UK, as businesses and residents explore more sustainable transport options.’’

Residents and businesses will be able to pick up a cargo bike from Fleetwood Street in Stoke Newington; Broadway Market; and Calvert Avenue and Pitfield Street in Shoreditch. The locations of the docking stations have been chosen because they are near high streets, with high footfall from residents and businesses. 

The bikes will be available to hire through the Beryl app when the scheme has launched. Docking stations are being installed at the start of September. 

Unpaid carers in Hackney are being invited to join the new Carers Partnership Board and have a say about services for carers in Hackney.

The Hackney Carers Partnership Board will meet every two months for two hours throughout the year to represent the needs of unpaid carers to the Council and local health services. 

The board will help ensure the views of carers are heard, acted on and feedback is given to help make Hackney an even more carer-friendly borough.

Express an interest in joining the board online or call 020 8356 7148 by 24 of September. Gift vouchers will be given to carers for their participation and in recognition of their time. 

For more information email carerspartnership@hackney.gov.uk or visit the Council website.

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