C4 at Full Council Debate on the borough’s community sector

Screenshot from the webcast of the Debate.

In January, we were honoured to be invited by Cllr Nadia Shah, London Borough of Camden Cabinet Member for Voluntary Sector, Equalities and Cohesion, and the fantastic Community Partnerships Team, to speak at a Full Council Debate entitled 'We Make Camden Together: Camden's Voluntary and Community Sector's Role in Building Safer, Stronger Communities through Collaboration and Shared Purpose in Challenging Times'.

Co-Chair Daniel Pitt (of Old Diorama Arts Centre) spoke on behalf of C4, alongside a fantastic group of speakers including Eleanor Rudd from Fitzrovia Youth in Action, Rashid Iqbal from The Winch, Suraya Miah from Camden Giving, Sophie Kruger from Young Camden Foundation, Yusuf Deerow from Somali Youth Development Resource Centre, Reverend Kate Dean from Rosslyn Hill Chapel, and Paul Webley from Age UK Camden.

The meeting is watchable back here, and we think it's worth a listen. All the speeches were great. The debate part starts at 9.01. Daniel first speaks at 23:41.

Huge thanks to John Muir and all the Community Partnerships Team at Camden Council who made it happen. As Daniel said in the speech, "Camden is a really supportive borough to this sector, and the approach that the Community Partnerships team takes should be wider council policy."

The full speech is below, as it was delivered:

Hello, I’m Director of Old Diorama Arts Centre - ODAC - in Euston. Thank you for having me here again - last time was for the debate on Culture. Today I’m here particularly as Co-Chair of C4, the Camden Community Centres Consortium -a role I share with Paul Crozier of Holborn Community Association.

C4 brings together organisations leading and operating community spaces in Camden, for collective action and development. We’re currently 20 organisations, operating 38 different spaces - and we’ll grow this year. Most are invested in by the Community Partner Fund, and feature in the evaluation. Camden is a really supportive borough to this sector, and the approach that the Community Partnerships team takes should be wider council policy.

ODAC is one of few that is not funded that way, but we have a key neighbourhood role with residents of Regent’s Park Estate, listening to needs and responding with creative, participatory projects in collaboration with cross sectoral partners, towards ambitious culture-led social change. Overall, we’re working on resident empowerment, through everything from dance and festivals, public art, circular economy, urban greening. And we’re just finishing work on Euston housing policy.

C4 members are strategic leaders in place; anchor organisations with real reach and the trust of people that need us the most. We’re allies to Camden’s Missions, especially the Estates and Neighbourhoods one. We recognise good community work wherever that takes place - whether that’s farms, gardens, arts centres, or more typical community buildings. And over 80% of C4 members deliver programmes beyond their walls.

Society needs our social and cultural infrastructure more than ever. Central government, NHS and local policy is increasingly participatory, place and neighbourhood-based. We’re the community anchors that are already here, set-up and ready. We’re already supporting the health of residents, and key to prevention.

We’re in those neighbourhoods, talking to residents, and we’re best-placed to gather deeper insights. We can help the public and private sectors ensure projects reach the people who need them most. We might do things differently but there’s a high chance it will work. If your department is procuring a new resident-facing service, research or consultant, C4 members can do this or collaborate on this. Come to us before the brief and budget is set. 

We want to be working strategically with you, but the social and cultural sectors are busy struggling to keep the lights on and the leaks out. Against all odds our turnovers are rising but we’re still making losses because costs rise faster. Stripping back on maintenance has been the only way to survive. There needs to be public capital investment and leverage of support from the private sector - how can we harness corporate social value commitments in truly useful ways? The urban development sector needs to value us, not use us.

So please, put community centres at the centre of your thinking. When developing new plans - think of us first. Come to us - at the beginning of the process, and with an open mind. Value us - and pay us.