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	Business Links                                                              May 2010 Dear Friend, Forthcoming breakfast meeting: "Tackling Poverty", Wed 9th June and other Community Links Updates I do hope you’re well. Apologies for not having been in touch for a few months. It’s been a particularly busy start to the year for the corporate partners programme, but things are going really well here at Community Links as our new financial year gets under way. Some of the big thinking led by our Co-Founder David Robinson around cross-sector funding is coming to fruition with the first Social Impact Bond being piloted – designed to raise capital from outside the public sector to invest in the social sector. Its initial application will fund work on reducing reoffending rates of short sentence prisoners leaving Peterborough Prison. Our projects are as busy as ever: We’ve now formally taken over the running of Newham City Farm (complete with piglets and spring lambs!) and our first community hub on the Rokeby Estate in Stratford is buzzing with activity and making a huge difference to the way local people feel about their area. Meanwhile one of our longest standing members of staff Frances Clarke has just been awarded the Freedom of Newham!       Breafast meeting event: 'Tackling Poverty' Wednesday 9th June, 8-9am - Kindly hosted by Morgan Stanley  I wanted to get in touch to invite you to a forthcoming breakfast meeting event on Wednesday 9th June which I'm planning for our valued Business Supporters Group plus some other friends from the business sector. As you may be aware, 2010 is the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.  As part of this, Community Links is working alongside another organisation called Church Action on Poverty to run a national programme across the UK to examine people's views on poverty, work and unemployment amongst people of working age.  The aim of this piece of work is to uncover some of the barriers and policy issues around work and unemployment that keep people in poverty, along with identifying some of the myths about poverty and  developing a programme of work to tackle them. Leading up to the breakfast meeting event we will be running a series of dialogue meetings across the UK at the grassroots level with people experiencing poverty. We would welcome the opportunity to share some of the issues raised at these meetings with a business audience, asking them to consider possible solutions from a business perspective.  Following the event we will then share some of these thoughts with other audiences including policy-makers, and there will be opportunities for those who are interested to be part of some of these policy discussions later in the year. I am therefore hoping you will be able to join us for a breakfast session, 8.00-9.00am on Wednesday 9th June. Morgan Stanley is kindly hosting the event at their offices at 20 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London E14 4AD.  Here is a link to help you find them: We intend this to be both an informative and engaging session, so I do hope to see you there. Please can I ask you to RSVP by Wednesday 2nd June to give me a sense of expected numbers. SOME FURTHER NEWS FROM COMMUNITY LINKS THE EAST LONDON BOND At our last Business Supporters Group meeting in October 2009, we talked about the East London Bond - an innovative campaign led by CityLife Ltd from which Community Links is set to benefit. Our target is to raise £10million by 12th July 2010 through subscription to zero interest five year guaranteed repayment Bonds.  To date £1.67 million has been pledged with interest in the Bond growing thanks to the hard work of a team of Ambassadors, along with a number of events to showcase the East London Bond. Monies pledged include £1 million from the construction company Wates and pledges of £100,000 from the vitamin supplement company Vitabiotics, Apax Partners and Winterflood Securities.  Please do get in touch if you would be interested in hearing more about the East London Bond - the mechanism, our progress and the impact it will have here in Newham and I will be delighted to assist. SPOTLIGHT ON: LINKS ONLINE - GIVING YOUNG PEOPLE A VOICE Over the past year, our media project: 'Links Online' has been involving young participants aged 11-19 in a range of new media projects including blogging, writing, reporting, music production and journalism.  Our aim is to empower young people with the skills to become social reporters for Community Links. Over the summer a group of young people from Community Links were given the opportunity to work with professional film makers to produce a film about child poverty in London as part of the Save the Children Wee Shots Programme. A new website for young people: Links Youth Online has recently launched. Young people can sign up as members and find information on a range of different youth activities happening across Community Links and beyond.  There are opportunities for online discussions on a wide range of topics relevant to young people. An online youth magazine is also being planned and content will be generated and updated by young people. A group of young people recently had the opportunity to make their own music video to accompany lyrics they had written.  The aim of the video was to show young people in a positive light, making positive music, as opposed to the negative image sometimes portrayed in the media. This work is all part of our aim of raising young people's confidence and aspirations through giving them opportunities to try new things and discover new talents. COMING UP AT COMMUNITY LINKS Community Links Karting Challenge The Chevron Community Links Karting Challenge is coming up on 9 June at the fantastic Raceway indoor kart track in North Greenwich.  In an adrenaline-fuelled 2 hour endurance race, teams compete for the top place on the podium both for the fastest time and most funds raised. Further information along with a brochure and online sign-up form are available here.  The prize for the winning fundraising team will be F1 British Grand Prix tickets, so please do encourage your contacts to sign up and compete. Some dates for your diary! Community Links Annual Reception 2010  This year's Annual Reception - our annual thank you event for our valued supporters - will take place on Tuesday October 19th, generously hosted by The Bank of New York Mellon at their offices in Queen Victoria Street.  Further information will follow nearer the time, but please do put the date in your diary. Chain Reaction 2010 Chain Reaction 2010 will take place on 15 November to coincide with the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week.  Please do let us know if you have any suggestions for our programme of workshops/speakers as we will be pulling this together over the next few months.   Thank you as always for your interest in and commitment to Community Links.  I very much hope to see you at the Breakfast meeting on 9th June.  With best wishes Anna Mothes Corporate Partners Manager Community Links Direct Line: 020 7473 9649 anna.mothes@community-links.org Inspired to make a difference?  Donate online to Community Links! Forward this email |  Sign up to receive our newsletter Want to change your details?  |  Unsubscribe Community Links, 105 Barking Road, Canning Town London E16 4HQ Charity number 1018517 l t: 020 7473 2270 | e: info@community-links.org http://www.community-links.org