Castlehaven Community Association

The Castlehaven Community Association is a community charity that is nearly 30 years old. We are located in central Camden Town literally next to the world famous Camden market. We serve one of the areas of the borough with the highest levels of deprivation. It also has (some of) the highest numbers of young people and young families.

Why are we exciting?

Castlehaven is no ordinary community centre. It's

premises, just to the west of Camden Town, do serve local people, but to think

village hall' is to start at the wrong end of an evolutionary journey of

almost 30 years that has seen Castlehaven Community Association grow from a

small building based service provider into a dynamic agency for social change

constantly searching for new more effective ways of alleviating social problems

old and new.

What are these problems ? 

Parts of CCA's catchment area are defined as being in the top 10%

nationwide for deprivation, a typical inner city deprivation, where large

blocks of social housing crowd together the problems of poverty and social

disadvantage. Hence, many of those living in the Camden Town Ward are young people

from single parent families who are significantly below national standards for

basic educational skills, or older people living on their own, in poor health and

with reduced life expectancy. There are new arrivals, families from Somalia or

the Congo, eventually housed close to their London arrival points, the Euston, King's Cross and St Pancras railheads,

struggling through language and cultural barriers to find their feet in direct competition with previous waves of more

established migrants from Ireland or the Caribbean. There are the long term

unemployed, young people and adults who, lacking skills, qualifications,

confidence or work experience, cannot break into a new austerity' labour

market where they are competing with over-skilled experienced workers for entry

level jobs. Acute housing shortages create

acute stresses within families by forcing too many members from several generations

to live together in cramped conditions. The area's proximity to Camden Lock

market has attracted high levels of drug trading, crime and anti-social

behaviour.  Finally the austerity economy has added an

extra dimension by cutting services, reducing benefits and depressing job

prospects.

What

has been CCA's response ?

These problems are all moving plates that constantly slide together and cause fractures in both families and society, pitching young

against old, haves against have-nots, leaving people isolated and divided along

lines of ethnicity, postcode, age and culture. CCA, an independent charity with

a mix of public and private funders, has responded by designing & delivering

new approaches to these problems that, whether building or

community based, bring people together, growing new social links and

acquaintanceship to replace those lost or needed. A long list of such initiatives

includes :-

‚Äì‚àû        

Camden Central Timebank,  the first community timebank in LB Camden, providing

those in need with services delivered resident to resident across generations and

culture.

‚Äì‚àû        

Youthbank, a unique timebank for young people

at rsik of offending, enabling them to earn confidence and respect within the

community by performing local tasks that provided valuable work experience and skills

as well as incentivising rewards

‚Äì‚àû        

HELPS, a 10 year award winning series of

services for older people designed to tackle the problems of isolation in old

age by bringing them together in a holistic programme of Health, Learning,

Socialisation & Citizenship now serving 700 older people borough wide

‚Äì‚àû        

Common Ground,  an Intergenerational Forum, bringing young and

old together to exchange experiences and to talk out their differences

‚Äì‚àû        

The Haven, an –à800K flagship centre for young

people with caf‚Äö√Ñ√¥¨©, dance, recording &, radio studios, designed to place theme

in heart of the community not its back alleys.

‚Äì‚àû        

Social Brokerage:  CCA has represented the community in local

developments to secure important planning concessions in the form of jobs or

community investment, and has created

partnerships with local schools, community centres and private businesses to

bring greater skills and resources together for joint problem solving.

Castlehaven 

belongs to a new breed of community centres, not just a building but

more an entrepreneurial force within the community , devoted to promoting

social cohesion and bringing about change ( for more details see https://www.castlehaven.org.uk )