City Gateway

City Gateway Limited
Type Registered charity
Focus Employment, women's project, social enterprises
Location
  • Ensign Court, 28 Ensign Street, London E1 8ND, UK
Area served
 Tower Hamlets
Services Youth work
Key people
 Eddie Stride, CEO
Revenue
 £3.1 million (2011)
Employees
 103 (2011)
Mission "Bringing hope to Tower Hamlets"[1]
Website www.citygateway.org.uk

City Gateway is a charity that provides training for disadvantaged young people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.[2]

Services

City Gateway works with disadvantaged individuals through community events, drop-in youth clubs and apprenticeship schemes, and gives them the chance to develop their own business ideas. It runs women’s projects, youth training, a youth centre and a social enterprise hub.[3] It is one of the most popular youth projects in the area, and has successfully trained many young people who were formerly not in employment, education or training ("NEETs").[4] City Gateway's support for young people was described as "incredible" following several awards at the ERDF and ESF London Awards 2011.[5]

As of 2012 it employs 120 people,[6] and has about 60 corporate partners who provide apprenticeships, work experience or mentors.[7]

History

City Gateway was established by a group of people who worked in the City of London and wanted to support the local community. In 2003 it was a small organisation on the point of being wound up when Eddie Stride, a local man who had recently graduated from Cambridge University, joined as a youth outreach worker. Having secured approval from the trustees to keep it going for a year, he raised £40,000 from two corporate sponsors, and began training 15 "NEETs" in job-seeking skills. He was shortly promoted to CEO; by 2008 he had developed the organisation into one with an annual turnover of £1 million,[4] reaching £4.5  million by 2012.[8]

In July 2012 City Gateway won the Prime Minister's Big Society Award.[3]

The Evening Standard selected City Gateway as the partner in its "Ladder for London" campaign, launched in September 2012, asking commercial companies to take on more apprentices.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ Eddie Stride (2 November 2011). "How small charities can buck the downward trend". Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "The City slickers sharing talent". The Times. 28 February 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Tower Hamlets charity City Gateway wins Prime Ministers Big Society Award". number10.gov.uk. 19 July 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Alyssa McDonald (14 August 2008). "In east London – a model which could transform society". New Statesman. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "ESF project inspires Evening Standard apprenticeships campaign". ESF Works. European Social Fund. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 David Cohen (24 September 2012). "Ladder for London: The Evening Standard's campaign to help the young and unemployed". Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kirsty Weakley (25 September 2012). "Evening Standard partners with London charity to increase apprenticeships". Civil Society. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  8. ↑ David Cohen (24 September 2012). "Human dynamo who turns young tearaways into valued City workers". Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 September 2012.

External links