Dateline: A Snapshot of our History

2023

We had a wonderful year celebrating our 40th Birthday with a series of events in the community and this film which we felt really sums up who we are and what we do.

This year we successfully bid as one of four national pilots for c£800k to build a youth hub for the West area located in Knoll Park. Working closely with Council partners from Children's, Parks and major projects teams we were successful in gaining planning permission.

Youthwork continues to flourish and we were proud of our street dancers performing all over the City and being showcased as good practice.

Our Health work continued to develop as we delivered the Community Health Inclusion Partnership (CHIP) in the West area; working with West Hove Primary Care Network on Blood Pressure, menopause, digital inclusion, Cancer Screening and Diabetes projects. Every project empowered local people to feel more confident in managing their health and was co-produced within the community.

During 2023 we worked with local groups to continue to be creative around cost of living and our Shared Prosperity Routes2 employment project started to positively impact with new jobs and opportunities created for residents facing extra barriers via the casework approach.

Strategically, our CEO continued to represent communities on the newly formed Human Rights Equalities and Communities Committee of the Council and at NHS Sussex on the Integrated Communities Team Board, while locally we applied for Neighbourhood Forum status with our community partners Community Action.

2022

2022 has been a year of Covid recovery with all sections of our community struggling with wellbeing amid a cost-of-living crisis that hit our neighbourhood very hard.

We worked with Brighton and Hove Council to distribute £17.5k of household support funds to our most vulnerable families and older people, worked with Hangleton Community Centre to raise funds for a £2 laundry and free children's clothes provision and ran a series of workshops with advice colleagues as part of Moneyworks to maximise take up of energy and other benefits alongside a range of free community offers including Big Munch holiday food, free yoga and circuits and health and wellbeing courses.

2022 saw the end of 6 years of EU Building Better Opportunities funding end, we were one of the most successful partnerships in terms of job outcomes and had been extended three times. This left us thinking about how we progress this work and, together with residents, we co-produced a new offer which translated to a successful bid to Sharing Prosperity in December 2022 for more peer support, IT help and access with a wrap around case work element for those who need it.

This case work extension to open access capacity is a model that is working well in HKP; where we can maximise the impact of HKP network and relationships and provide the more intensive support required as local people experience more complex issues.

We were truly delighted to receive funding to lead a City project on young men’s mental health from the Pebble Trust meeting a significant gap in provision for this group. In the West and East of the City, we are trialling a model of youth coaching for young men who are experiencing high levels of compound needs. Coaching is in conjunction with an activity and trips programme, designed to build confidence and give opportunities to socialise in a positive way. This programme is being evaluated by Dr Mark Price and we expect to have a sound evidence base for our approach and the outcomes it achieves by the end of the programme with evaluation created by Mark and our teams in conjunction with the first cohorts of young men.

We are continuing to develop key strategic relationships with NHS Sussex, our new health body with HKP CEO sitting on the Health and Wellbeing Board and part of the CVS alliance. This allows us to feed in grassroots voice from West Area Health Forum and translate strategy into action on the ground as new structures and opportunities for integration emerge. HKP CEO continues to sit on our local Primary Care Network governing body as West Hove Health Inequality lead and we are continuing our shared work to create better pathways from primary care and community, developing groups including menopause peer support, diabetes education and dementia cafe.

2021

2021 was the year of vaccination, and we worked from December 2020 through to May 2021 on the establishment and delivery of a local vaccination centre to address priorities 1-9 (over 50s). Our West Hove Primary Care Network led this in Portslade, and sessions were supported with over 200 community volunteers; ensuring that (despite its challenges) our community was one of the best performing in terms of take-up in the City. For Primary Care, this was the first time they had worked with volunteers and the experience was overwhelmingly positive, showing them that ‘patients’ can be active in resolving the problems of Primary Care and that word-of-mouth in the community is very powerful.

HKP have been active members of the Vaccination cells supporting Public Health and NHS in reaching all the diverse geographic and communities of interest within the City.

This year started again with full lockdown, and the range of services we developed over 2020 still supporting residents experiencing loneliness and isolation. We created activity packs for older people with creative games, puzzles and activities alongside the practical support and phone conversations.

In April 2021, as lockdown eased we re-opened out IT suite with reduced stations, masks and ventilation. Residents were able to book in for an hour to get support and use the free equipment and WiFi. These sessions continued throughout 2021 and have been fully booked all the way.

In 2021, we worked with our local GP Surgeries and Social Prescribing partners on the Prescribe to Thrive project to help residents get out and about and access the free and low-cost activities located in their community. Throughout the year we maintained hybrid offers of online and in-person activities, with as much outside as possible, and always with a focus on connecting with others to share and enjoy experiences.

For young people, we targeted those most in need and created 5 bubbles of 15 young people to receive mental health support groups; helping to mitigate some of the impacts on local young people who had already been struggling with difficulties with missed schooling, family issues and poverty.

2020

During 2020, the Hangleton and Knoll Project was mainly focused on the delivery of emergency support for local residents of all ages as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This included establishing a volunteer-supported emergency food hub at St Richard's Church to feed and support local households, recruiting volunteers to support people with both physical tasks (such as food shopping and collecting prescriptions) and telephone befriending to help alleviate loneliness and isolation.
In May 2020, Youthworkers were designated keyworkers by the City Council and were able to go out and about on detached during lockdown; talking to young people who were socialising on the street and delivering 1:1 walk and talk sessions to young people struggling with their mental health, alongside phone support and series of online group sessions. Young people created an ezine of their feelings in April 2020.

Residents were supported with a range of online courses focused on wellbeing, and a telephone IT support line was set up to help people download Zoom and learn how to Facetime. We fundraised for laptops which were loaned to people without hardware.

HKP were key members of the City Children's Cell which planned the City Covid response for Children and Young people.

2019

In 2019 we created a Community Learning and Arts Coordinator post and delivered on a collaboration project with Brighton Peoples Theatre to develop an inclusive and diverse resident group to steer all the Arts work in our community. This work has been really successful enabling us to have our first community led Fun Palace and an ongoing partnership with Brighton Festival to coproduce and deliver ‘Our Place’ which runs as part of the main Festival event in the heart of Hangleton.

NHS England gave us a national award for our ‘excellence in inclusion and participation in community health’ as part of our Health Forum work. This came with a cash prize of £2,500 to develop an animation to show the rest of the country our model and methods. HKP have a permanent seat on the governance of our local Primary Care Network and a commitment to future collaborations which support and enhance preventative community health.

We were successful in achieving funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner as part of the Reboot partnership led by YMCA Downslink. This has enabled us to employ a full time one to one youth coach to do preventative youthwork with young people at risk of getting involved in criminal or anti social activity. The work has been extremely well received and has already been extended due to the success and impact on our most vulnerable young people.

We have employed an additional Information and Advice worker (IAG) to support employment opportunities and achieved the matrix standard for this element of our work.

Community highlights have included the setting up of a new older people Bridge club, Multi cultural supper club and volunteer opportunities to support cancer prevention.

2018

In 2018 we launched our strategic business plan and in partnership with Community Action and the City Council the Neighbourhood Action Plan.

These documents will guide, encourage and support energy and focus over the next 3-5 years and are supported by a series of stakeholder networking sessions. These ‘coffee and croissant’ events are hosted by HKP, giving service providers an opportunity to work together to achieve local priorities.

In this year the Youth team saw the asset transfer from the Council of the detached Youth Bus. The bus is now a familiar sight on our streets giving a space for our music project, a focus for detached work and safe space for group work for young people.

Our Routes employment project, led by Communityworks had the honour of being awarded an additional 30 months funding based on our success in getting people employment ready and back to work. This embeds our IAG approach and will allow for the development of more first steps creative engagement opportunities. This will build on work from our partnership with Brighton Festival and Brighton Peoples Theatre on ‘Our Place’ – a community outreach arts offer for Hangleton as part of the City Festival.

The HK Health Forum was rebranded as the West Area Health Forum as it became cluster wide and now takes in the 6 local practices of the West of the City. The CCG has recognised our patient participation as a model of good practice and is seeking to learn from it with an eye to rolling the model to other areas of the City. Nationally our work with BAME communities was published by Public Health England as a good practice model of preventative work within health, an accolade for our local work

2017

The highlight of 2017 was the successful young people’s campaign #protectyouthservices where young people from all over the City came together to save the services that meant so much to them. Young people from HK were extremely active in the campaign which has given them a huge confidence that they matter and their voices made a difference.

We were delighted to attract funding to totally update the Hakit IT suite with brand new computers, software and inclusive equipment. This Big Lottery support to St Richards has had a huge impact on local learners and our ability to support people through Employment and Moneyworks programmes.

During this period we developed a HK neighbourhood plan, led by the community, in partnership with the City Council and other stakeholders. This has provided the backbone for the new HKP strategic plan which will be published in 2018

In partnership with the 50 plus group and Brighton Table Tennis club, social ping has started at Hangleton Community Centre. This hugely popular group now has around 25 older people playing every week.

We have been very fortunate to attract the attention of many small grants and trusts in this period, with special thanks to Sussex Community Foundation, Police and Crime Commissioner, Dementia Action Alliance, Homity, Waitrose, Noel Bennett, Blessed Virgin Mary and numerous others for supporting our work with a special mention to the Rotary who gavce us a grant for the first time towards a Christmas party for young people in the Knoll where 35 young people came together and cooked a meal.

2016

In 2016 HKP worked with other local partners the WEA, Whitehawk Inn, the Bridge and Communityworks to develop a partnership to address City employment issues. We were successful in bidding to Europe for funding. This project specifically targets our residents aged 50 plus, those with mental health issues and our BME population to give tailored one to one support.

During this period we were part of a City partnership to support Brighton and Hove residents experiencing food and fuel poverty led by the Citizens Advice Bureau. In 2016 HKP administered a massive 55 grants to local residents with a value of over £11,000.

HKP was recognised for our exceptional impact in the local community from the High Sheriff marked by a lovely ceremony in Ditchling and a very welcome cash award. Our vice Chair Raminder Gill won a Sector star from Communityworks for her outstanding contribution as a volunteer and a member of our youth manifesto group Kayleigh Rose won a trip up the i360 as a prize for her contribution to youth participation work in the City. HKP have been working this year with Brighton Youth Centre and with BHCC Youth Council to bring young people from all parts of the City from diverse backgrounds and communities together, to support them to develop a youth voice and shared understanding of their priorities. This is the first time such a group has existed.

2015

Long serving HKP Chair Pat Weller is awarded an MBE for her services to the Community and Volunteering in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Mayor Brian Fitch holds a special celebration tea in the Mayor’s Parlour to honour HKP’s outstanding contribution to the City. New course developed to support refugees and asylum seekers to achieve their citizenship status. Life in the UK is the first such course in the City and 39 adults complete it. HKP received funding from The Mental Health Innovation Fund to develop intensive group work with young men, meeting a pressing need locally. HKP worked in partnership with local churches St Peter’s and St George’s to develop a weekly Food Bank which launched this year.

2014

Children In Need choose HKP Young Women.s group to showcase their impact and reach. Community Development Team and LGBT Switchboard project work wins Best Partnership at Community Works Sector Stars Awards. First neighbourhood Youth LGBTU group set up in Hangleton & Knoll in partnership with Allsorts. HKP Community Learning (HaKIT) successfully bid as part of a city consortium to create Money Works and integrated project to tackle Financial Inclusion.

2013

Hangleton & Knoll Project wins .The Big Society Award. award presented at a reception at 10 Downing Street in recognition of our exceptional Community Development work. We also won .Most creative engagement method. at local Sector Stars for our partnership work with Amaze in identifying and supporting local parent carers. First ESOL English Conversation Classes delivered as part of our Community Learning Programme. Hangleton and Knoll Youth Manifesto word press site launched www.hkym.co.uk this site highlights local priorities by young people for young people.

2012

In 2012 we won the Big Society award in recognition of our long experience and expertise in community development. Representatives from the Project, including our youth trustee Sophie visited Downing Street and were given the award by the Prime Minister. Locally our achievement was recognised by Mayor Bill Randall and a celebration event was held at the Mayors Parlour. The membership of our Multicultural women's group hit 100 in the Summer and had risen to 120 members by year end - undertaking a trip to London with 160 people! In January we were pleased to publish our adult consultation of the area. From this work we started a new partnership with Amaze to support local Parent Carers together. In youth work the Lottery recognised our outstanding youth outcomes with a special Supporting Impact award that came with an additional years funding. In 2012 we brought together the results of all our consultations with the community, Trustees and staff to create and publish a 5 year strategic document.

2011

£50,000 fundraised by local young people to pay for an Astroturf court in the local Knoll park. The Youth Forum is one of the three youth projects nationally which worked with Stonewall on an anti bullying tool kit for schools. Young people’s consultation project consulted with 250 young people in the community. BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) womens' group set up with over 60 BME women regularly meeting and taking part in activities. Recognised model of good practice (BHCC Adult Social Services) for working with older people to deliver community services to the local over 50’s population. This has resulted in 7 older peoples groups and the work is the only one of two funded community projects in the city recognised as excellent. Nicole Monney (née Vann) steps down from the position of CEO; Joanna Marindale appointed into CEO role.

2010

Hangleton & Knoll Project is nominated for 'The Queens Award for Voluntary Services' and is through to interview stage.

2009

Hangleton & Knoll Project Youth Team receives Award from the High Sheriff of Sussex in recognition of the great work delivered by them in Hangleton & Knoll. The Project beats the competition and is one of only 25 Charities nationally to be awarded Funding of £460,000 to deliver Youth Activities with a focus on Friday and Saturday Evenings.

2008

Rapid English Pilot project; Recruited a Senior Community Development worker; BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) participatory research project; Research for Employment & Learning Pilot project; Pavilion Patio built; Knoll park consultation; HaKIT is one of 5 winners of best UK Online Centre; Celebrate 25th year!

2007

Hangleton Park improvements including new benches and picnic tables; Youth shelter installed in Knoll Rec; developing a programme of activities for residents aged 50+ based upon consultation findings; 50+ Steering group forms; H&K Employment & Learning pilot; young people’s health initiatives; Portslade Community Project taken over by the Trust for Developing Communities; Neighbourhood Action Plan produced; young people’s homework club set up; Hangleton Park Arts Day; Hove Park School excluded unit established at Hangleton Community Centre; CLAIT (Computer Literacy and Information Technology) certificate ceremony for HaKIT learners; Hangleton Fun for Families community group started; Friends of Knoll Park group formed.

2006

Hangleton Park improvements door-knocking consultation; Received 3yr Children in Need funding for a youth participation worker; Received 3yr Big Lottery funding for a Senior Youth Worker with a health remit; Young people’s alcohol peer education project and DVD production; New IT room at Hangleton Community Centre opened by the mayor; Door knocking consultation takes place with residents aged 50+; Knoll Pavilion Café community group started. Nicole Vann appointed as manager of the Hangleton & Knoll Project.

2005

“Young people and alcohol” research project with Brighton University; Young people develop a self-harm information and risk reduction leaflet for young people, Community Safety Day held in Hangleton Park; Anti-bullying DVD project with young people; Start working in partnership with Hove Park School; Young people’s football project starts in partnership with B&H Albion FC.

2004

Hove Polyclinic Young People’s Sexual Health Drop-in was developed with young people and the Primary Care Trust.

2003

Neighbourhood Renewal Funding (NRF) provided resources to develop the young people’s resource room in Hangleton, to decorate the Pavilion Café, build an office at St. Helen’s and further developments to the IT training rooms.

2002

HaKIT re-opened at St. Richards Church and Community Centre; “Party in our Park” festival in Hangleton Park; “Opportunities” closed down due to lack of funding; Project offices moved; facilities for pregnancy testing set up; Sexual health leaflet produced with young women; trips with young people increased; Audio Active moved to new premises; video projects developed with young people; Audio Active performing at venues in City; Community Action became a constituted group; Traders Association began; “Portslade on the Map” Conference and Consultation.

2001

Staff handbook was produced; SRB5 community consultation was completed; Community Café in Hangleton opened;

2000

IT learning access centre set up as one of five pilot projects in the country and equipped with four computers. Over time this initiative evolved into our IT delivery department known as HaKIT; Circus Project Community group set up with support from the Project.

1999

“Opportunities” expanded to Whitehawk and Kemptown areas of Brighton; Improvements made to Knoll Recreation ground; Improvements to Grenadier shopping area; South Portslade office opened; Managed SRB5 scheme; Audio Active Youth Music Project started at Station Road.

1998

St. Richards Church & Community Centre extension opened; tree planting, traffic calming and park improvements continued. Hangleton Park improvements took place.

1997

Hangleton Community Centre Extension opened. Tree planting and traffic calming projects start.

1996

“Opportunities” Employment and Advice Centre opened at the Grenadier shopping parade.

1995

Project awarded funding from SRB2 and was the first community based project to receive this funding; number of staff increased; internal infrastructure altered. Public consultation with the community to write the Greening Plan; Grassroots Festival began.

1994

Bid for SRB2 (Single Regeneration Budget); Winner of the Times / Touche Ross 'Community Enterprise Award' for Community Services

1993

Portslade Community Project was launched with the support of the Hangleton and Knoll Project.

1992

Awarded a certificate from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of the completion of a project of long term benefit to the nation in The Royal Anniversary Trust Challenge

1991

Employed the first youth workers after local needs were not being met by any other provision. The detached youth work was funded for three years by Comic Relief.

1990

Hangleton Community Project became the Hangleton & Knoll Project. Knoll Community Association was launched and one of the aims of this group was to promote the development of a community centre for the Knoll. Public consultation took place for St. Richards.

1989

Knoll based community development workers were employed; local newsletter was launched.

1988

Hangleton based Community Development Workers were employed; Hangleton Community centre opened.

1987

The Hangleton Community Project carried out a social audit in the Knoll. Findings showed a considerable need for community building space. Work was undertaken to seek funding to develop the St. Richards church buildings for this purpose

1986

The feasibility study for a community centre in Hangleton was completed. ‘Be There’ community event took place, which attracted 12,000 people to Hangleton Park

1985

The Hangleton Community Association (HCA) was assisted by the Hangleton Community Project to achieve charitable status. The Project undertook a feasibility study for the development of a community centre for Hangleton. ‘Night of 100 Drums’ event took place which attracted 8,000 people to Hangleton Park.

1984

First Community Development worked employed by the Project

1983

Hangleton Community Project (later renamed Hangleton & Knoll Project) started with the support of PACT (People and Churches Together). One of the original aims was the development of a community association for Hangleton.