WE ARE SHUT FOR SUMMER: We do not run services in summer. Our next sessions start September 9th at our new premises - Grassroots Resouce Centre, E15 3DB.Please press Need Help Now for links to other organisations to approach for help while we are away.

Author: Jane Williams

House of Lords Committee on Covid Recovery

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We were a bit taken aback and incredibly honoured to be asked to give evidence to the the House of Lords committee on Covid Recovery on Tuesday April 20th 2021.

We asked, as we always do, whether we could bring a mum who experienced the crisis first hand to speak, and on this occassion it was unfortunately a no, so instead we sent out a quick survey to find out what our mums’ main concerns were, and what they wanted policy makers to know.
Some 67 people answered, and we fed in the results to our oral evidence to the committee. Read our survey results here.
Mums were concerned about their own mental health, about the physical and emotional development of their children, and about poor housing conditions and poverty.
Their asks were:

  • An end to the hostile environment which is keeping their children in poverty,
  • The right to work,
  • Affordable childcare so that single parents can work,
  • Better provision of children’s centres and early years.

We also wanted to recognise and laud the efforts that Newham Council and Public Health England made during the crisis in Newham under the leadership of Mayor Fiaz. So we asked for their input too. Read about how Newham worked with the third sector and community and faith groups to make sure nobody was left behind in the crisis.

Watch our evidence to the house of Lords

Newham’s response to Covid

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The COVID crisis made visible a pre-existing, chronic crisis of inequality and poverty – and the Covid response improved the lives of people suffering before COVID (the homeless, those in unsuitable accommodation, those with NRPF) as well as those who were newly in need. 

  • The spread of COVID 19, government instruction to stay at home and sudden economic crisis exposed and exacerbated deep inequalities in Newham. The borough was already tackling public health crises including related to poor air quality, the housing crisis and poverty. 
    Newham is the most ethnically diverse borough in the UK, with 73% of residents from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. It quickly became clear that the pandemic was disproportionately affecting Black and minority ethnic communities and so was experienced acutely in Newham. There were a number of complex interrelated issues affecting this, borne of long standing health inequalities and structural racism. 
  • ONS data also showed a stark correlation between COVID 19 mortality rates and the prevalence of overcrowded housing. Between 1 March and 17 April 2020, Newham had the highest death rate (114.3 deaths per 100,000) and the biggest overcrowding problem (25.2% of homes are overcrowded). 
    You can see in this photographic essay by Laura Dodsworth the conditions that our mothers had to endure during lockdown. One Room Lockdown. These were mothers who were not under Newham’s direct care and therefore did not benefit from the Mayor’s decision to move all of those in shared accommodation in to self contained homes in order to facilitate the possibility of self-isolating, or social distancing.
    We were so worried about the plight of those unable to keep safe in Migrant Help accommodation that the ITV did a story on it, and the Mayor of Newham wrote to the housing secretary to express concern.

The response of Newham was exemplary in terms of communication, decisiveness and trusting and enabling community groups, faith organisations and third sector to act in the interests of our residents.
Partnership working has been central to supporting residents in Newham, with the council, voluntary, faith and community sector all mobilising together at rapid speed. This included: 

  • The Newham Food Alliance – A network of voluntary, community and faith sector organisations coordinated by the council to distribute food. In 2020, this network and HelpNewham distributed 264,000 food parcels to Newham residents, and council vehicles moved over 920 tonnes of Felix fare-share surplus food, with these figures rising daily.  
  • The Newham Social Welfare Alliance has worked with community organisations to provide training sessions on Housing and Homelessness, Domestic Violence to Children and Young People’s Mental Wellbeing.  Since November, 753 people from 81 organisations have attended sessions. 
    Establishing a COVID-19 Health Champions network of 400+ residents who share information in the community. The network was recognized as best practice by the government and the Ministry of Communities and Local Government now funds similar work at other Councils.  
  • Pioneering a rapid local testing model in the borough, which has fundamentally changed access to testing particularly for the most vulnerable communities. 
  • Working with the local NHS to establish vaccine sites beyond health care settings, including pop up vaccine sites in churches, temples, mosques and community centres.  
  • Offering free accommodation for living in overcrowded housing, the first local authority in the country to do so. This followed research by the council on why some residents feel unable to self-isolate, which found that 71% of those surveyed listed fear of losing their job as a factor that gets in the way of being able to self-isolate. A further 60% said they were preventing from self-isolating by the need to earn money.  
  • Newham rapidly mobilised an emergency accommodation and assessment centre and accommodation for all rough sleepers, regardless of their immigration status or local connection (Four Hotels and 40 Houses of Multiple Occupancy.) Newham has had the largest decrease in rough sleepers this year nationally, with rough sleepers falling by 91%. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Newham had accommodated 124 Rough Sleepers, with approximately 70 people still on the streets. Newham currently has 212 people accommodated and 6 people on the streets. Throughout the pandemic 198 people have been supported to move on out of this temporary accommodation and into longer-term settled accommodation. 

3. The response to COVID proved that – with political will and central funding – crises can be addressed. It proved that other long-standing chronic crises – child poverty, homelessness, food poverty, digital poverty, hygiene poverty, loneliness, NRPF –  could benefit from being treated as a public health crisis of the same urgency. 

  • The pandemic has dissolved many of the barriers between the council, health partners, voluntary, faith and community organisations. This unprecedented mobilisation to support residents demonstrates what is possible when local authorities and community organisations are giving the appropriate funding and powers. In March 2020 the Chancellor promised to do ‘whatever it takes’ to fund councils through the pandemic, but as of March, the impact of the pandemic on Newham council was £82m, and support from government only estimated at £68m. Council across the country have been left short. 
  • The pandemic has also shown the power of local authorities of convenors of local communities during crises. Councils like Newham are uniquely placed to play this role. During COVID 19, we have seen the value of a more balanced central-local relationship in tackling this challenge. The vaccine programme shows each level playing to its strengths: with central government using its purchasing power and other levers to accelerate vaccine development and acquisition, and the local NHS, council and community partners working to get it into people’s arms. The Test and Trace Programme has in contrast been highly centralised. 
  • Newham has launched its 50 Steps to a Healthier Newham Health and Well-Being Strategy 2020-23, that sets out how Newham will respond to the significant pre-existing and new health challenges created by the pandemic. The strategy details how the borough will work with partners to do all possible to maximize the health of the population over the next three years, placing a key focus on supporting people around the determinants of their health. 
  • This is underpinned by the Council’s ‘Towards a Better Newham’ COVID-19 Recovery Strategy, all informed by the council’s overarching strategic goal to tackle inequality, racism and disproportionality. The strategy is based on eight pillars, including a commitment to measuring the council’s success in future on the health, happiness and wellbeing of residents. 
  • Newham is showing what is possible with imaginative policies, partnership working and political will. Going forward, we need a national approach that focuses on prevention and tackling structural inequality at its roots. 

Grassroots: a new nest for our Magpie Minis

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We have long-outgrown the gorgeous Forest Lane Lodge, and the time for our Magpie Mums and Minis to fly to a new nest is upon us.

We love Forest Lane Lodge, and it has been a wonderful base – it kept us safe and still functioning during lockdown, it nurtured all our dreams, our babies, our emerging projects and activities – but now we are too big for it. It is time to move.

Those of you following our ‘new building saga’ know that we have been trying to secure a new home for a VERY long time – and those of you who have already signed on to help know that you did so years ago. That is why we are checking in, and updating. We have a new building, we are really doing it this time!

The good news

We have found a wonderful building. The Grassroots centre, in Memorial Park, next to West Ham tube.

We are excited because:

  • There will be SO much more space, including a dedicated play room, kitchen, cafe area, case work offices, meeting rooms, prayer/quiet room, workshop rooms…. basically so many many rooms!
  • We will have sole use of the building. We will have an outside play areas all to ourselves with planters and (we hope a flower meadow)
  • The building is situated in a park with good transport links
  • Our minis will have a private, safe space (indoor and out) to play,
  • We will have capacity inside to invite all of our beloved professional partners such as, Health Visitors, Family Support workers, Shelter advisers, Praxis, Beauticians, Reiki practitioners, dance artists, artists, theatre practitioners to come, spread out and do their thing.

We are also hoping that the space will allow for a:

  • Laundrette
  • Cafe/cooking collective
  • Community garden
  • Digital hub, but most important
  • Chatting, play, controlled chaos and creating minis’ memories and mums’ belonging.

We could also imagine the wider community using the space for:

  • Hot desking,
  • Birthday parties,
  • Evening classes, etc.

It is daunting, and we will need your help because:

The building has been offices and – well – it needs Magpie-ing up. Alongside some essentials that we are missing we also need a whole lot of colour, love, community and creativity poured in to what could be seen as a bit of a concrete shell right now.

To make the building what we dream it could be for our families we need:

  • Corporate or community groups to volunteer to clean and help us move
  • Builders/developers to help with fitting and furnishing
  • Gardeners/landscape artists to help create a beautiful outdoor space
  • Interior designers to help us imagine an amazing and magical place where mums and minis are centered
  • Furniture suppliers to help us kit the place out
  • Kitchen suppliers to help us create a beautiful collective cooking space, or
  • The money to pay for any of the above that we cannot beg or borrow in-kind.
  • Outdoor play equipment
  • Buggy storage and outdoor shed

So here’s where we need your help

We know we ask a lot of you, our beautiful, bountiful community. And here we are asking again, after a period of years where we have all given more than we ever thought possible. But – you know – it’s just so important to show up for our most at risk children and mothers. The brilliant thing is that with a little time and generosity we can, together, make something really beautiful and meaningful happen.

What can you pledge?

We feel as though we need to get an idea of how big our dreams can be. We know – from the amazing support we have had in the past years – that there are many, many of you who help us, answer our call-outs, come to our aid. But it would be great if we get an idea of who is out there and what we an do together.

If you are interested in helping us give our mums and minis a safe, beautiful space to heal, learn and thrive please fill in the pledge form below. Then we will be in touch. If you did this 3 years ago when we thought we were gonna be able to move to a different building (the less said the better!) then we will be in touch too.

What can you help us with(required)

Thank you so much, as always, for being there for our families. We will be in touch, hopefully with good news and a call to action as soon as we can.

Thank you Ruth

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Our beloved social work student closed the doors on her placement today. She came to us in the middle of the Covid chaos – but despite this, she has approached every person, every task, every opportunity with love, curiosity and a wonderful instinct for how to keep people safe, how to make sure people feel comfortable and a really wicked sense of humour.

This is what she told us about her placement:

I have been immensely honoured to have had the opportunity to work with The Magpie Project.

Thank you for embracing and enriching me with the experience of impacting society, one family at a time! 

My soul is richer with satisfaction for having been a part of the life-changing, opportunity-making, dignity-restoring, empowerment machine that is THE MAGPIE PROJECT! 

You have all readily shared your knowledge with me, and I hold all I have learned dear to use now and ​in the future. Thank you for contributing towards my professional development. In many ways, I have developed as a person too, such as my capacity to empathise. 

I am ever so glad to have started my practice journey with the Project as it enabled me to see need without any barriers and certainly to think of ways in which this need could be met.  I am sure this training has enhanced my ability to think creatively regarding alternatives to service provision. 

I have seen the resilience of the human spirit; that people may be bruised by their ordeals, yet believe that tomorrow will get better. 

Ruth, Social Work Student

I’m convinced that the project plays a vital role in creating this belief; that you shine a beacon for all the mothers in your care, to trust in the possibility of positive change! That you empower these mothers to utilise their strengths; give them a voice! 

Thank you for enabling me to be a participant in this great experience.

Call out for babies and boobs

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We are excited to be working alongside a committee of Newham, BME, Migrant or marginalised mums, Alternatives and the NCT to co-create a suite of support services around childbirth and parenthood.

In our initial workshops, our mums told us they felt let-down by a lack of early, as-and-when needed help. It meant they were not able to establish breastfeeding.

For many mums, feeling you’ve not had the support you need to breastfeed can trigger difficult emotions which are hard to come to terms with. For some of our mums who are living below the breadline, the expense of formula is potentially financially devastating.

So we are committed to giving as much support to breastfeeding as possible.

This is where you guys come in. We usually demonstrate with whatever is to hand – a toy octupus, miming and gesticulating at our own, or mums’ boobs – which you will probably agree is not the best thing!

So we were thinking it would be nice to have some woolly boobs and babies !

Can you knit or crochet us a boob – or a baby to help with our classes?

There are many great patterns online. We would love all sizes and skin tones. Please feel free to:

  1. knit a boob or a baby or two, make sure it is safe and easily washed.
  2. send it to
    The Magpie Project, knitting appeal.
    c/o Forest Lane Lodge,
    Forest Lane Park,
    Magpie Close
    E7 9DE
  3. Or get in touch with Jules to discuss what you will be knitting.
  4. If you don’t knit, buy us a doll – these are the best.
  5. If you want to support our work, donate money and we promise we will put it straight to work helping mums and minis.

Artist Matt Moser Clark launches HOME stool in support of The Magpie Project

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We were absolutely over the moon when the incredible artist Matt Moser-Clark contacted us asking if we would like to be the beneficiary of his latest design: the HOME stool. A percentage of the sale price will help support our project.

His art is absolutely, achingly beautiful, and his view of the world is so feeling and unique. So we jumped at the generous offer.

Here’s what Matt says about HOME stool.

Home stool is a quiet object, it is unassuming and something easy. It works, it is a working object, it can be a table when it needs to be. It’s stable but movable, just like the feeling of home. It’s the extra seat at the table for the unexpected guest at dinner. It’s the single step-ladder or the mountain top for the inventing child. It’s there to take your weight and does not complain when you favour the armchair.
.
This stool is here to help you see that the space around it is home.

Matt Moser-Clark

Check out Matt’s Instagram here, and check in to his website to buy the stool.

NCT partnership way to support Newham’s new mums

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A new community partnership will expand the support available for pregnant women and new mums experiencing financial hardship and disadvantage in Newham.

NCT, in partnership with Alternatives Trust East London¹, The Magpie Project and Compost London, has been awarded a £471,000 grant from the Government’s Health and Wellbeing fund.²

The new funding builds on NCT’s well-established Parents in Mind³ project in the borough, funded by Newham Clinical Commissioning Group, which provides trained peer support for women who are socially isolated or experiencing mental health difficulties.

The new partnership will expand support across the borough and offer antenatal education, breastfeeding support, counselling and family link services alongside the existing perinatal peer support service. The project has a strong focus on inclusion and support for pregnant women and new mums of Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, who experience significant inequalities in outcomes.

Bulon, a Bengali mum and peer supporter for Newham Parents in Mind, said: “There are many people in our community who have no-one to turn to due to language barriers, social issues or poor mental health who just need a friend to hear and understand them.”

Angela McConville, Chief Executive, NCT, said: “I’m delighted our partnership has been able to secure funding for this strong community approach. Together, we can ensure meaningful and impactful support for many more women experiencing significant challenges during pregnancy and early parenthood.

“At NCT we believe in the importance of antenatal and postnatal support for mental health and wellbeing. Our volunteer peer supporters already play an important role in reducing isolation, boosting mental health and supporting women to access services in Newham. This new partnership and community-led approach will further expand this support, and will help address the unacceptable inequalities experienced by Black, Asian and ethnic minority women.”

Jason Strelitz, Director of Public Health, London Borough of Newham, said: “Since inception, NCT has worked collaboratively with Newham’s maternity and Children’s Health Service, supporting partner agencies to connect with and support families. We deeply value the role that our voluntary and community sector partners play in meeting the needs of our community. We see NCT and their consortium of partners as a significant player in helping us realise our ambition to make Newham the best place for children and families.”

Elizabeth Booker, Director, Alternatives Trust East London, said: “Alternatives’ holistic and therapeutic work with vulnerable women around pregnancy and birth has shown us the extent of the unmet need for perinatal education and support in Newham. We are delighted to be collaborating with these excellent partners on this new project. It has the potential to make a huge impact on the wellbeing of women in our borough who do not currently have access to services and give their children a healthy and secure start in life.”

Jane Williams, CEO Founder, The Magpie Project, said: ‘We are over the moon to have the opportunity to work with NCT and local partners Alternatives and Compost London to bring vital perinatal services to mums from migrant or marginalised backgrounds. We are excited by the prospect of a bespoke, targeted and meaningful response to the specific barriers and challenges they face gaining support around childbirth and early motherhood.”

¹ Alternatives Trust East London is a charity that supports the wellbeing of women in east London, particularly around pregnancy and birth. It supports vulnerable new mothers: 98% are recent migrants, and 95% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. Over 80% of families that access Alternatives’ services are homeless. In 2019, Alternatives supported 121 women with 209 children through a combination of practical and therapeutic services.

The Magpie Project is a user-led charity helping women who are homeless or at risk of homelessness with children under five in east London. They support around 250 families a year, offering sessions for children including music, dance, and art. They provide practical support such as food banks, nappies, equipment, and professional support.

Compost London is a team which has been working in capacity building in East London’s voluntary community sector for many years. It will lead on evaluating the programme.

² The Health and Wellbeing Programme is a joint initiative by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England and NHS Improvement. It aims to enable them to work together with the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector to promote equality, improve health inequalities and to help families and communities to achieve and maintain wellbeing.

³ Parents in Mind is a peer-support project run by NCT and funded by Newham Clinical Commissioning Group. Mums taking part showed a statistically significant reduction in anxiety and depression scores and reported feeling less isolated.

• 86% felt the programme helped them feel less isolated and alone
• 86% felt it helped them to know where to get help if they needed it
• 86% felt it provided someone they could talk to who understood them
• 74% felt it helped them to feel more hopeful about the future

Recruiting: Trustee, and Chair of Trustees

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Could you be the person to help steer our charity from its first five years in to a flourishing future?

Who are we?

We are a young, dynamic, grass-roots, award-winning charity focused solely on helping under fives who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Newham and surrounding boroughs.
Our mission is to make sure that a period in temporary or insecure accommodation does not cause long term damage to the health, wellbeing and life chances of those under fives who experience it. Because of hte nature of the need we face up to 75% of those families we work alongside are subject to the hostile environment.
We have a strong staff team, a large group of volunteers, and we are well established in our community from which we enjoy unprecedented support.
We punch way above our weight on the local and national policy stage, making big noises in parliament, the house of lords, in the London Borough of Newham, in the arts and even in fashion.
Now, in our fifth year we are looking to take on a new building, and to consolidate and codify our work so that we can use our learning to keep improving the work we do alongside our families as well as help other organisations meet their needs.
We are hands on, curious, joyful and compassionate in our approach and we are looking for trustees who share our belief that every single child has the right to a secure, safe place to play, healthy food, engaged, informed parents, and access to support, no matter what their family circumstances.

Who are you?

  • You have a deep and demonstrable commitment to our aims and ethos of coproduction with, journeying alongside, meeting the needs of, and advocating for, our community of mothers and children who face multiple barriers to accessing services to which they are entitled. This will be visible in your professional and personal life.
  • You are honest about the amount of time you can give to our board and able to set that time aside each week/month.
  • You are committed to playing an active, curious, energetic part in the day-to-day life and growth of our charity.
  • You have experience of governance, VAWG, Homelessness, Immigration work or of HR or law.
  • If you have lived experience of any of the issues facing our families (temporary accommodation, forced migration, insecure housing) we would especially love to hear from you
  • Will be able to commit at least 3 solid focused hours a week to this role, although this will vary across weeks.

Please do think very carefully about whether this is the point in your life where you are able to take on a trustee role. In our experience – and we do this ourselves too – people tend to over-estimate how much time they will be able to commit and then, when in post, struggle to fulfil the commitment. This makes things stressful and difficult both for them – they feel guilty, or anxious and the trusteeship becomes a chore – and we feel bad for chasing up good people who we know are just over-committe

We offer

  • The chance to be part of a friendly, informal, supportive and effective board and organisation.
  • The opportunity to be part of an award winning, change making, innovative charity based in trauma- and psychologically-informed practice.
  • Training around being a trustee, governance, and safeguarding.
  • An arena in which to make a real difference that you can see and measure from week one.

Applications close May 25th noon.
Interviews first week in June.

Download recruitment pack: Chair of Trustees
Download recruitment pack: Trustee
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We are over the moon to be accredited as a London Living Wage employer

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The Magpie Project has today been accredited as a Living Wage Employer. Our Living Wage commitment means everyone working at the Magpie Project will receive a minimum hourly wage of £9.30 in the UK or £10.75 in London. Both rates are significantly higher than the government minimum wage for over-25s, which currently stands at £8.72 per hour.

The Magpie Project is based in London, a region where nearly a fifth of all jobs (19%) pay less than the real Living Wage – around 785,000 jobs. Despite this, The Magpie Project has committed to paying the real Living Wage and delivering a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.

The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the costs of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers who wish to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the government minimum. Since 2011, the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 230,000 people and put over £1 billion extra into the pockets of low-paid workers.

Jane Williams, CEO, The Magpie Project said: “As a frontline charity tackling the effects of poverty in Newham, London, we were determined to become accredited as a London Living Wage Employer. We believe that as in-work poverty rises and so many in Newham are not paid enough to live on – paying a living wage is essential to supporting our community.”

Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said: “We’re delighted that The Magpie Project has joined the movement of over 6000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.”

“They join thousands of small businesses, as well as household names such as Burberry, Barclays, Chelsea and Everton Football Clubs, Lush, and many more. These businesses recognise that paying the real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like The Magpie Project, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”

Media Contact

Jane.williams@themagpieproject.org

Notes to Editors

About the Living Wage

The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to what people need to make ends meet. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that choose to take a stand by ensuring their staff earn a wage that meets the costs and pressures they face in their everyday lives. 

The UK Living Wage is currently £9.30 per hour. There is a separate London Living Wage rate of £10.75 per hour to reflect the higher costs of transport, childcare and housing in the capital. These figures are calculated annually by the Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission, based on the best available evidence on living standards in London and the UK.

The Living Wage Foundation is the organisation at the heart of the movement of businesses, organisations and individuals who campaign for the simple idea that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The Living Wage Foundation receives guidance and advice from the Living Wage Advisory Council. The Foundation is supported by our principal partners: Aviva; IKEA; Joseph Rowntree Foundation; KPMG; Linklaters; Nationwide; Nestle; Resolution Foundation; Oxfam; Trust for London; People’s Health Trust; and Queen Mary University of London.

What about the Government’s national living wage?

In July 2015 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the UK Government would introduce a compulsory ‘national living wage’. This new government rate is a new minimum wage rate for staff over 25 years old. It was introduced in April 2016 and the rate is £8.21 per hour as of April 2019. The rate is different to the Living Wage rates calculated by the Living Wage Foundation.  The government rate is based on median earnings while the Living Wage Foundation rates are calculated according to the cost of living in London and the UK.