Evolution NOW Meets Boris Johnson!

(From left:) Mayor Of London Boris Johnson, Lem Leon & Ismael Hinds

It was a cold evening but there was a strange sense of excitement mixed with anticipation as Evolution NOW were in attendance for the Community Conversation. These conversations happen across London and tonight was the turn of Waltham Forest. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson was coming to town.

Strangely, the usual media circus was not present, there was no police and even more bizarrely, no searching occurred when we entered the building. As we took our seats we began to see the room fill out with residents from all corners of the borough.

Just because the cameras weren't present, it didn't mean there wasn't going to be a show tonight. The main focus of tonight was finding solutions to the problem of serious violence within the borough.

Edward Addison, CEO of Arrowhead Consultancy

Hosted by Edward Addison, CEO of Arrowhead Consultancy, the evening began smoothly, outlining the plan for the evening. Currently at Kings college in London, Mr. Addison is engaged in research into the social impact of young black men.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson

Then Boris stood up to address us, letting us know that "all questions will be addressed" and reeling of his statistics that overall in London, the rate of crime has indeed risen in 2010 but injury rates with knives have fallen. This would be little comfort to the parents of the 14 year old boy who was stabbed to death in Leyton recently.

"It's not just about where the jobs are, it's about changing young people's mindset towards work." - Sheridan Mangal, Founder and CEO of SFM Capital Markets

Deputy Mayor of London, Richard Barnes believes change can occur through faith directives.

Boris then went on to promote his mentoring programme in which young black boys will be mentored to make better choices in their lives. The scheme isn't solely for this demographic but it is the main focus and the people they want as mentors are young black role models. Ismael had the privilege of speaking to one of the scheme's success stories, 16yo Leon Ward.

(From left) Ismael and Leon Ward

Ismael asked him what his perception of politics was.

He replied boring, it’s not really interesting. He then went on to say that it’s as though we can’t relate. People want to see the real side of politics rather than all the backstabbing, airing of personal lives and such irrelevant fluff.

As he said those words it was as though a light bulb went off in my head, what he said made perfect sense. One of the reasons why a lot of young people are not involved with politics, is because they feel as though they can’t trust the politicians. They just don’t have a figure to relate to.

For example David Cameron stating that he was going to fight for young peoples tuition fees. When in actual fact when he came into power he increased the tuition fees limit incredibly.

So in actual fact can we EVER really trust politicians?

With that in mind, Boris ultimately did try his hardest to promote the message of economic hope - making a world where young people from all walks of life can get jobs.

The most interesting quote of the evening came from the Mayor when he was offering his opinion on possible reasons as to why serious violent crime was so high:

" There IS a failure in parenting..." - Boris Johnson.

Big Society? Big Deal?

The very mention of the words sounds like the latest reality TV show, but in actual fact – you may not be too far from the truth.

What does the phrase “big society” mean?

For Councillor Saima Mahmud, cabinet member for children and young people(pictured right) and Officer James Gould – Youth consultation & participation, Big Society means financial straits.

London Boroughs currently receive nearly £3 Billion in grants for current Youth initiatives and schemes. With the cutbacks proposed, all of this funding will be withdrawn and consolidated into one grant called the “Early Intervention” grant.

It is from this one grant, the council must try to fund ALL existing projects.

James further dispelled the old stereotype that young people just don’t care.

He went on to tell us that although the police are bringing back stop and search within the borough, the local police have been working with local youth to create methods of carrying out these searches that will be more appropriate.

The biggest loss suffered with the governments’ cutbacks was the Building Schools for Future programme – which would have seen 19 of the boroughs most dilapidated schools modernised.

The borough has seen a very big interest in the free schools initiative announced by the government, with no less than 7 community groups registering their interest to open one of their own.

A Free school only has to pledge to teach the core subjects of English, maths and science – the rest of the curriculum they teach is entirely up to them. Once it has been confirmed, the school will be placed in either under used council buildings or buildings up for disposal.

They are given these buildings for FREE and under a 125 year lease!

The council have several of these buildings available but as you can imagine – these buildings may be available but they can also be sold for a sizeable profit…

In Waltham Forest, there are 10,000+ homes and a waiting list of 16,000+ people. With the coalition’s proposal to move tenants from their homes after 5 years and more people moving into the borough than out – overcrowding is more of an issue than ever.

What does this mean for young people leaving home at ever younger ages for a variety of reasons? Where do they fall on the waiting list?

HOWEVER, there are proposals to reprise the opening of schools during the summer holidays to assist adult learning, filmmaker classes and even learning how to DJ. With a turnout of over 1,300 local residents the scheme is just a small example of Waltham Forest Council’s determination to provide a silver lining.

Want to do more for YOUR borough? Contact your local council and find out how!

The Difference Between: Central And Local Government

From the research Evolution NOW have gathered so far, University students are primarily concerned with rising fees. At the recent Q&A session at Hackney Town Hall, Ismael, passionate about such issues, stood up and asked a question regarding fees reaching £7000 by 2012.

Although the question wasn’t answered directly by the panel, an audience member raised an interesting view on the subject. The person suggested that the rises should not be seen as a disadvantage or a hindrance – but as an incentive, further encouragement to get into higher education and succeed.

This is one view on the situation but we feel that as a whole, most families within the borough of Hackney will not be as optimistic as this individual. From a money standpoint, most families will see this as further “Financial Fencing” and widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.

Upon further research, we have discovered that the question was correct, but the people we were asking it to, were not. This question should have been directed at central government, not local government.

But what is local government and what is central government?

At face value, imagine your household when you were a child – your parents or guardians looked after you, your interests and your needs. Everything that you use, is in good condition and shareable. This is local government.

Now, as the parent guardian, depending on your income – you will have to pay taxes and occasionally ask for allowances of money to help with the running of certain things: like additional help with the rent, council taxes and repayable loan to help you through higher education. This is central government.

Central government works with an idea. An idea then develops into a policy – for example, stop and search laws. This is then taken into the House of Commons, where your local MP’s talk about it within their parties and decide if it is a good idea or a bad idea.

If they agree, then the policy is then taken to the House of Lords. They generally don’t squabble about any policies really, and decide to pass the policy as a law.

House of Commons are made up of people elected locally, for each party. These are considered the “main government”.

House of Lords are made up of people that inherit their position. For example, if once upon a time, your great grandparents bought a massive piece of land, they were considered the “lords” of that land. When they passed away, the title was passed down to offspring and so the chain continues.

So with this information, who do you campaign to about the university fees rising?

By Lem Leon

Project Manager