Empowerment and engagement in E14

Emdad Rahman

E14: Our Stories is a book created by 20 people who live, work or study in the E14 postcode of Tower Hamlets. The book is part of a project being run by Queen Mary, University of London that is looking to develop community leaders in Poplar, Limehouse, Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs.

The book was launched at the end of May at George Green’s School on the Isle of Dogs at a celebration event with over 100 people attending. During the launch at George Green’s School, Project Organiser Liam Harney said: “The book contains stories gathered by our participants to celebrate the achievements of members of the local community, who have stuck their necks out to do the right thing.”

While listening to people’s stories, the project team also asked them about the issues that concerned them most in the area. Unsurprisingly, these included housing, unemployment, lack of opportunities for young people and tensions between different communities.

The heritage project is still ongoing and the next phase will begin in October. The second phase will work with local people to look into these problems in more detail through research and develop achievable solutions to them through grass-roots projects and campaigns.

This second project will involve training in action research, community leadership and campaigning and will be certificated by Queen Mary, University of London. The project organiser, Liam Harney, invites anyone from the E14 area who is interested in taking part in this to get involved by contacting him on l.e.harney@qmul.ac.uk.

•More information on the project and a copy of the book can be found here: https://e14stories.wordpress.com/

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