first entry

Caught the 118 bus this morning to be at the 409 Project in Stockwell Road. I was there with my colleagues Cllr Neil Sabharwal and Cllr Kingsley Abrams for a visit by Valerie Amos.

Valerie arrived to find out more about diversionary activities for young people in Lambeth. The 409 project suffered in recent years from a failure by the Lib Dem Tory administration to put youth provision on a stable footing, or see it as a matter of urgency. Earlier in the year, before the May elections, the 409 nearly closed completely.

Giving young people positive activities to steer them away from offending is one of Labour’s top priorities in Lambeth. The youngsters who use the centre – and it really is an anchor for many of them – were really interesting to listen to, with lots of stories about the problems of growing up in Lambeth. We watched a DVD the 409ers made recently, which was fascinating.

One statement from their DVD struck me in particular: “Often we find ourselves in tricky situations where decisions have to be made about what we do. The more informed about what we do the more we think about consequences of our decisions, the better decisions we are able to make.”

Wise advice, whether for you’re 17 or 37, whether you’re picking your life up to go to college, or trying to pick up other people’s lives as a councillor.

After an hour of catching up with casework in the stuffiness of the Town Hall I cross the road and settle down in the stalls at the Ritzy to see a screening of the Speak Out Film Project, a powerful film examining the experience of former drug addicts from the BME community. They tell their own stories, which are deeply affecting.

The clear message for the council and the various agencies we work with is that many more people need and want to be helped into treatment.

I was there just to see and learn. My colleague Cllr Lorna Campbell, who is Deputy Cabinet Member for Inclusion and Tackling Poverty, was still visibly moved by the film as she rose to speak. This is some of what she said:

“This kind of project is so important. I’m positive that throughout the process of making this production, so much has been learnt by those involved, staff and all of those associated with the project. But the importance is that it is a living project, this material will go on to educate and train so many people whether they be service users, schools, youth and community workers and professionals within the fields of substance misuse and community safety.”

The emphasis of the event was recovery from drugs. But it was also a BME event and it was clear that people were curious to hear from one of Lambeth’s new BME councillors. Lorna added: “As a Labour party in Lambeth we made a commitment to improving representation from the BME Community. Before the election there were only 4 councillors from BME backgrounds in the whole council. Now Labour has 12 councillors from BME backgrounds, and 14 councillors in total.”



Comments:

Simon Smith said,
Vauxhall

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 - 11:45 AM

Mark

Congrats on getting reelected in May and chucking out the Lib Dems. They so utterly deserved it. Your story about disadvantaged youngsters strikes a chord - I was offered drugs TWICE on saturday afternoon just round the corner from my place - and after a while you get a bit sick of it. Good luck on the council and get stuck into the issues as well as having the odd prod at the Tories....