One of Newham’s greatest riches is the voluntary and community sector. Most residents have benefitted from the network at some time whether from homelessness projects, campaign groups, cafes, community spaces for dance classes, toddler groups or taekwondo, to name just a few.

During the current Covid-19 pandemic almost 100 voluntary and community groups provided food support and surplus food distribution.

Unlike statutory organisations, the voluntary and community sector is agile. Thousands of eager volunteers keep core costs low, making the sector more than good value for money.

Historically, Newham Council has favoured taking in-house much of the work around provision of advice, managing volunteering and support for the most vulnerable. The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated the agility and speed with which the voluntary sector, especially the smaller community groups, can move. Recognising this, Newham Council invited sector leaders into dialogue resulting in funding to assist coordination during the lockdown period. This enabled One Newham to appoint a ‘Covid-19 coordinator’ who acted as a central point of contact.

One Newham, incorporated in 2019, is a partnership network for the voluntary and community sector. It was, at inception, a way of attracting funding into the Borough through the partnership of the larger voluntary groups to support local vulnerable people.

Since the massive volunteer response to the pandemic One Newham has become a platform for collaboration between voluntary organisations, community groups, faith groups, and the local authority. Local authority funding attracts other funders, the wealth of the sector comes through the experience, enthusiasm and engagement of local people.

Susanne Rauprich OBE, Independent Chair of One Newham, is hopeful about future support from Newham Council. She said:

“Newham has a rich history of voluntary engagement; it is such an asset for the borough. One Newham’s key role is to support those people who want to change the world. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to build on the good relationships that we’ve built with the local authority, we want to look back in a year’s time and recognise how devastating Covid-19 was for Newham but that we’ve been able to build something out of it that will strengthen our communities for years to come.”

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