What is working in this community right now?
Baby and toddler groups. I personally feel with youth services within whitehawk we really do great stuff with the younger generations really working great up to the 15 year age groups, Brilliant work from our local church, even with the campaign they have been such a great support and helped us out in so many ways over the years.

What are the good things in it?
We have a brilliant community in Whitehawk that wants to be heard and are willing to stand together with things, all coming out and joining in with events shows us that people round here are very keen to know their fellow neighbours and be apart of something. We also have some great youth opportunities around the area. But things can always improve.

Youth employment help is very great within in whitehawk and you can always get some help within the Community Hub / Library. If you have young children there are plenty of baby and toddler groups that you can go to which I myself enjoyed with my children, with some being free of charge or a very low cost which takes down the barrier of being on a low income and finding ways to entertaining the children without the costly day out. Within these groups I also got to build some great relationships with local people and with many conversations with these locals about our outdoor spaces it really did help the inspiration of The campaign ; actually hearing that people felt the same way as me about the parks encouraged me to speak up more

What do you love about this place?
I love living around such a big open space of Greenery, we are very lucky to have the space we have as well as living so close to the sea, another reason I love whitehawk is that the views of the sky over the fields and the great look over of the sea are amazing and something you don’t see in many locations of Brighton and hove .

What in your community makes you proud?
When Whitehawk residents want to be heard we will be heard! Many things within Whitehawk started from residents wanting better and starting things up themselves.

Where were you at 5 years ago, and what has changed since then, for the better?
5 years ago I was trying to work out what I really wanted to do as a profession but was rather stuck on what, I went back to creative arts group to get some support from the workers there as well as learning to deal with past situation through the arts .

Envision the Whitehawk community in 5 years. What do you hope to see?
I hope to see many people getting the use out of the outdoor spaces we have, with that including getting our local playground up to standard and our parks and open spaces accessible for everyone to enjoy.
– More community run events, running more than just 4 within the year
– More council housing

 

What is worth cherishing and preserving?
Community events, getting people out to our beautiful outdoor spaces and the new Middle Park Extension which we campaigned for, consulted and had an input in the design.

What do you see looking forward?
– Keeping the youth centres up and going.
– More play opportunities for children
– Engaging with our neighbours

What are community members doing to make this place better for themselves, their families and their neighbors?
– Speaking up about the concerns they have / within Park Life meetings / council meetings.
– Finding funding that benefits the community.
– Setting up campaigns to be heard on a wider scale

What are your key priorities for your community?
Getting people out and about and engaging with the people who live around them, I find we get so into our own routine it can take a lot for someone to take the step to go to groups or even the park so with engagement with the community from the Big Picnic events as well as the park play days and meetings in the park we I feel we can achieve this even more than this.

 

Bringing more art and culture experiences to whitehawk, from personal experience with attending Miss Represents I have been very lucky to have many art experiences, with seeing many exhibitions and shows and also being apart of a lot myself I see even more now the effect it has had on my growth as a person, with opening up my mind and helping me understand myself a lot more than before, with this it’s makes me realise that even if you didn’t actually like a show/ exhibition you can still learn from them, them certain things you don’t like you start asking yourself why? and then start learning the answer to that.

I want others to experience art performances that gives them a feeling, something that could hit home for them as many people don’t realise their are many of us feeling the same way about things and when you see someone speak.

What is the community doing to care for the children?
With poverty being at a high, we are very lucky within the area to have a local food bank which ensures people aren’t going hungry. Youth centres within the area are doing safe start session for the younger generation which i think is very beneficial.

There was a lot of talk around the end of 2018 about how we can target the 15-17 age groups to get involved with something within the area, with a lot of engagement with local teens (15-17) most admitted they wanted somewhere to hang out but not keen at-all about accessing youth services, with asking them what they wanted to see new within the area 2 ideas kept popping up 1) BMX track / motor cross. 2) skate park.

I personally think these would benefit the community unbelievably and really help with the motorbike problems with have, I have said before that motorbike are people’s hobbies and we should really help get them a safe place to enjoy what they love doing. With this we need to support these teens on being heard and really try to make a change for the 15-17 year olds.

What are the children in your community experiencing and learning in their childhood?
Community spirit, with seeing everyone come together parents/grandparents/neighbours. the younger generation get to see and learn the great impact a great community can’t have, we have already got a group of local lads that have set up their own campaign regarding the BMX so we are already seeing the change.

We have many families living within blocks of flats so we have a lot of children with our back garden, I think people are starting to learn more about what we deserve here within whitehawk and with many of us living within flats we are so desperate for the outdoor space. Whitehawk has a stigma and children from out of area learn that everyday but people from this area experience everyday to, within schools/ work colleagues even from friends.

What do you want the children in your community to experience and learn?

Breaking the stigma that comes with living in Whitehawk, to have something that we are proud of, this place has beautiful views and brilliant people and learning that and having that experience of what it actually is to live here is key to understanding that it isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be. I want the children to learn that they can be heard! They want to make a difference the can! More art and culture experiences Learning that bringing the community out can benefit many people not just families with young children.

Imagine your children at your age now. What do you see?
I see 2 young adults knowing exactly what they want to do in life, honest and empowering with their words, kind with a open mind to other cultures, them wanting to see the world to gather every experience they can and laughter lots and lots of laughter.

What are your key priorities for your children?
– That they have the same opportunities as every other child.
– Clean and healthy
– That they learn the greatness that is around them.
– That they get to experience the nature around us