Civic University Agreement 2021-24

Introduction

This Civic University Agreement sets out the shared vision and action plan agreed by 11 anchor institutions in the London Borough of Lewisham. Together we have identified the priority areas where we can work together to improve the lives of those in our locality, with partners each playing to their respective strengths.

In 2019, Goldsmiths, University of London convened a series of meetings and consultations, to explore how Goldsmiths and these 10 other anchor institutions might work even more effectively to address the challenges Lewisham residents are facing. With unemployment levels amongst the highest in London, and particular concerns about youth unemployment and the broader impact on health and well-being, we have come together to help address this situation while also seizing forthcoming opportunities. One such opportunity is that Lewisham will be the London Borough of Culture in 2022 - an occasion to promote and celebrate the borough’s diverse communities and vibrant culture, accompanied by calls to address the climate emergency.

We have much to be proud of in Lewisham. Lewisham is the 15^th most ethnically diverse local authority in the country, the 2^nd most diverse borough in London, two out of every five residents are from a black or minority ethnic background, and the borough is home to more than 75 nationalities. Lewisham is a significant part of one of the world’s greatest capital cities.  As of 2019, Lewisham had a population of 303,500, which makes it roughly similar in size to the city of Newcastle. Lewisham has an energetic voluntary and community sector, which proactively engages local people and supports some of the most vulnerable in the community. Lewisham College plays an active part in supporting the learning aspirations of the community and has established highly effective partnerships with more than thirty local community groups. Through the Youth Hubs (a partnership involving the College, Lewisham Council and Jobcentre Plus), Lewisham College is helping to support young people aged 16 to 24 into work.

The borough also has internationally renowned educational and cultural institutions – Goldsmiths, University of London, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, The Horniman, The Albany and The Migration Museum. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that Lewisham is also home to a vibrant artistic and creative community, and is the location of one of the Mayor of London’s first Creative Enterprise Zones. CEZs support creative sector start-ups, grow new jobs and help local people develop their skills, and are the Greater London Authority’s flagship programme for growth in the creative sector.

Lewisham also has a well-established track record of supporting refugees and migrants. We are proud of our work here and were delighted that this was recognised recently recognised by the national charity, ‘City of Sanctuary’, which awarded Lewisham Council with the title of ‘Borough of Sanctuary’ in May 2021. This is the first time a council has been awarded this honour.

Our various consultation findings show that the priorities for residents in Lewisham are:

• Business Growth
• Unemployment
• Social and Civic Infrastructure
• Skills and reskilling
• Raising school attainment levels

In response, we have drawn up a programme of actions in this Agreement addressing these priorities and focused on four objectives:

• Educational opportunities and supporting learning aspiration
• Economic prosperity, jobs and growth
• Culture, Health and Well-being
• Environmental Sustainability

These actions will be regularly reviewed and refreshed as required.

The partners

We, the partners of this University Civic Agreement, are thus committed to work together on a shared vision aimed at improving the lives of those living, working, creating and learning in the locality. In so doing, our work will also reflect our commitments to equality, diversity, and social and environmental justice. We will also seek out opportunities to ensure these activities reach and speak to those in all parts of the borough, with a focus on those in particularly deprived areas.

The partners are further and higher education institutions (Lewisham College, Goldsmiths and Trinity Laban); cultural organisations (The Horniman, Migration Museum and The Albany); community and voluntary representative groups and charities (Lewisham Local and 999 Club); public sector and health providers (Lewisham Council and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust) and a housing association (Phoenix Community Housing).

Objective 1:
Educational opportunities and learning aspirations

Context

A quarter of Lewisham residents are aged 0–9 years old, and a third of children in Lewisham grow up in poverty. This raises many challenges. Goldsmiths, Trinity Laban and Lewisham College already play an important role in supporting the learning aspirations of local school children. For example, Goldsmiths has a substantial education outreach programme that has engaged thousands of young people, aimed at supporting their learning aspirations and encouraging participation in higher education amongst under-represented groups. Many of the schools Goldsmiths works with have a minimum of 30% of pupils eligible for free school meals. In 2018/19, Goldsmiths worked with almost 170 schools and colleges, with over 300 events delivered in total, involving almost 3,000 pupils and students. Similarly, in a typical year, Trinity Laban offers an extensive programme for children and young people providing participative opportunities and progression routes reaching 10,000 participants, of which over 500 are enrolled in intensive advanced programmes. In 2019/20, Trinity Laban worked through music and dance with over 500 elders, and 378 teachers and arts professionals received training or professional development. Over 10,000 people engaged with online courses and ‘take part at home’ resources during the global lockdown from March to August 2020. All these activities will have significant beneficial impacts for many local residents. In recognition of this, Goldsmiths is looking to heighten its widening participation work, including holding clubs in the school holidays, and perhaps Saturday Clubs too, for local young people aged 13-16.

The Horniman also has a pro-active programme of engagement with school children. Pre-Covid, The Horniman would typically engage with around 50,000 school children each year. Its school service has many decades of experience in object-based learning and outdoor learning, particularly with schools with higher levels of deprivation. Similarly, the education team at the Migration Museum engages students through interactive exhibition-based workshops, local history walks, online activities and more, in core themes of migration, identity and belonging, in order to foster an understanding of how migration has shaped us as individuals and as a nation. It also offers flexible and practical training for teachers and educators, highlighting the ways in which teachers across multiple subjects can integrate the topic of migration in their work to the benefit of their students.

The youth programmes (aimed at 5-25 year olds) at The Albany include holiday courses and year-round projects. They take place at community sites across Lewisham as well as at The Albany. These programmes also include a strategic and multi-year partnership between The Albany and Lewisham Homes, in addition to securing funding from sources such as the Mayor of London’s Young Londoner’s Fund for The Albany’s Creative Coding courses.

Following the pandemic, Lewisham’s unemployment levels are high relative to other London boroughs. The community is keen to take up more opportunities to reskill and upskill to help support them into new careers. Lewisham Council has highlighted the importance of addressing this issue, and has a number of relevant initiatives in place, including many which align with provision offered by Further and Higher Education institutions in the borough. For example, both Goldsmiths and Lewisham College are well placed to address the need for digital skills. Demand for high-level digital skills is expected to increase rapidly in the next decade, with around 90% of jobs in the next twenty years or so requiring some element of digital skills, at around one in five of all job vacancies. Already some 49% of SMEs are expressing concerns about technical skills gaps. Goldsmiths has a renowned Department of Computing delivering high-level skills, and Lewisham College offers a number of relevant qualifications.  Lewisham College has worked closely with Jobscentre Plus to offer a range of sector-based work academy programmes enabling unemployed individuals to secure jobs or progress to their next steps.  Both institutions are committed to working even more closely together on relevant joint initiatives in this area.

Objective 2:
Economic prosperity, jobs and growth

Context

In relative terms, Lewisham remains amongst the most deprived local authority areas in England. In the overall Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), which combines the scores from all deprivation indices, Lewisham's average score was 28.59. This puts Lewisham as the 48th most deprived of all 326 English Local Authorities (one being the most deprived), compared to a ranking of 31st for 2010 and 39th for 2007. Within London, Lewisham is ranked the 10th most deprived borough.

Lewisham does not have many large employers – Goldsmiths, Lewisham Council and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust are the three single largest employers in the borough. The cultural and creative industries are a priority for London, providing one in six jobs in the capital and generating around £47bn for the economy. Similarly, this is an important economic sector for Lewisham. Much of what Goldsmiths does is directly relevant to this sector. For example, Goldsmiths informed the development and establishment of the Creative Enterprise Zone in Deptford and New Cross. Similarly, Trinity Laban and The Albany also make important contributions to these sectors. Trinity Laban, for example, launched a new grant fund to support early-career artists resident in Lewisham and surrounding boroughs in April 2021. Called TL Ignite, this fund was in direct response to the needs of the local artistic community during these challenging times, and its aspiration to help emerging artists establish sustainable careers. Goldsmiths also provides business start-up support, manages networks to facilitate engagements and learning between businesses and freelancers, particularly those in the creative sector, and actively seeks inward investment for the locality. It often works with partners to deliver these activities, including Lewisham College and The Albany.

Economic recovery priorities for Lewisham Council, delivered through its Lewisham Backs Business Taskforce, include: targeted support to businesses and those who have lost jobs and income; promotion of government grants; developing a borough-wide vision and programmes for inclusive recovery and growth. Lewisham Council also convenes the ‘Lewisham Deal’, and brings together partners, namely, Lewisham College, Goldsmiths, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, and Phoenix Community Housing, to work together to promote inclusive growth and support the community.

In this context and as one of the largest employers in Lewisham, Goldsmiths brings significant social and economic benefits. Goldsmiths contributes an estimated £93m annually in Gross Value Added (GVA) and supports 2,600 jobs, of which £66m in GVA and 2,000 jobs are in Lewisham, with a total of £80m in GVA and 2,350 jobs across London. Goldsmiths’ biggest economic impact is, of course, created through a supply of skilled graduates who will raise productivity. In total these student impacts are estimated at £244m in GVA and around 1,400 jobs. Of this, £25m in GVA and 440 jobs are in Lewisham and £115m in GVA and 1,250 jobs are in London.

Objective 3:
Culture, health and wellbeing

Context

Lewisham has a pro-active and engaged community and voluntary sector, such as Lewisham Local, together with 999 Club, and Phoenix Community Housing, which all play essential roles in the community. Anchor institutions like Goldsmiths and Trinity Laban also have active public and community engagement programmes, which are complemented by their student and staff volunteering, internships and placements. Students are particularly keen to engage with the local community and given the number of students studying at Goldsmiths (c. 10,000) and Trinity Laban (c. 1,250), there is scope to facilitate and encourage more of these engagements, especially those aimed at supporting young people in the borough. Goldsmiths, for example, will be exploring the development of a mentoring programme where its students will be encouraged and supported to act as mentors for deprived young people in the borough.

The borough of Lewisham is also fortunate in having a number of notable cultural organisations in addition to Goldsmiths. Together with Goldsmiths, the Albany, Trinity Laban, The Horniman and the Migration Museum all play an important part in the area’s social and cultural infrastructure. Lewisham’s London Borough of Culture award in 2022 presents an exciting opportunity for these institutions to work with the borough and make significant contributions to its year-long cultural festival celebrating Lewisham's rich and diverse culture, I AM LEWISHAM. This festival aims to celebrate the neighbourhoods, communities and stories within Lewisham. It includes a call to action on the climate emergency as well as a celebration of the borough’s diverse communities, and aims to creating a lasting legacy to inspire positive change.

The borough is also the first council to be awarded the title of ‘Borough of Sanctuary’ in May 2021. The signatories to this agreement are exploring how together we might contribute yet further to the campaigns and initiatives aimed at supporting the migrant and refugee sector in the borough. This will involve working closely with bodies like the Lewisham Migration Forum. The Forum is a space for individuals, communities, businesses, charities, universities, the council, and health providers, aimed at sharing resources and collaborating.

The 2011 Census found that 5% of residents identified themselves as having bad health or very bad health. In addition, it is understood that residents have a lower life expectancy than the average for England. While residents in some parts of the borough experience relatively good health, others experience high levels of health deprivation and disability. Mental health problems are also quite high in the borough, with some wards, such as Downham, Bellingham and Whitefoot, having higher needs for services than others. Common mental health problems such as anxiety and depression affect nearly 1 in 5 (19.8%) people in the Lewisham population. This is higher than London (18.2%) and England (16.6%). Goldsmiths therefore intends to heighten its collaborations and engagements with local Public Health and the NHS Trust to develop mutually beneficial joint work. Together these bodies are exploring the establishment of Well-being Clinics, including Counselling clinics, a family support service and a youth service, to be delivered by Goldsmiths students under the supervision of qualified staff.

The final report of the Lewisham Poverty Commission (published in 2017) made a series of recommendations aimed at tackling poverty, deprivation and inequality in the borough. Lewisham Council convene the Lewisham Poverty Commission in order to understand and tackle the poverty faced by residents and communities in Lewisham, bringing Council representatives together with partner organisations of the Council. Its recommendations directly informed the establishment of the Lewisham Deal. The Lewisham Deal is composed of leaders of Lewisham anchor institutions, who come together to deliver an inclusive local economy for businesses and residents on shared climate emergency actions, and seek strategic alignment with the Lewisham climate plan.  The report of the Poverty Commission also made a series of recommendations concerning building resilience in the local community, including the potential for public bodies “to become better connected to existing community groups to share information and opportunities. The growing practice of social prescribing where GPs and other care professionals can refer patients to a range of local (non-medical) services may be one such way. These referrals happen alongside treatment for medical issues and exist to support people with a wide range of social, emotional and practical needs. This can include referrals to debt advice services or legal advice as well as volunteering and befriending as ways to tackle social isolation.” We consider that this partnership of HE and FE providers, together with cultural and community institutions and the borough Council, makes us well placed to advance this commitment outlined in the report of the Lewisham Poverty Commission.

Objective 4:
Environmental sustainability

Context

Lewisham is fortunate in having the highest proportion of green space in London. Its parks, gardens and green spaces also support well-being within the borough. Many community and volunteering groups are active in supporting the borough’s green spaces. For example, the Quaggy Waterways Action Group (a local community group) is regularly cited as an example of how to restore urban rivers in ways that support the local community and its quality of life, as well as local wildlife.

Half the borough’s carbon emissions come from energy used within people’s homes, which are split equally across the three sectors: owner occupier, social housing and private rented. The remaining half is split between transport and business. Lewisham Council and Phoenix Community Housing are already actively working to reduce carbon emissions in homes that they manage.

This Agreement’s signatories already have environment commitments in place, including:

• Borough of Lewisham’s commitment to make Lewisham carbon neutral by 2030
• Goldsmiths’ commitment to be a carbon-neutral organisation by 2025
• PlaceShapers (national network of community-focused housing associations including Phoenix Community Housing) is looking at how its homes and communities can be net carbon zero by 2050

Consultations of local residents and workers have found that the top three priorities were:

• promoting green infrastructure
• using planning policy to make sure new developments are carbon neutral
• disinvesting pension fund from carbon-intensive investments

London Borough of Culture has a strong focus on climate actions, and already The Albany and the borough, together with other partners, are working on a programme of activities to raise public awareness and understanding of these issues. In view of this context, we consider that this CUA partnership has the potential to work together even more closely than before on addressing Lewisham borough’s climate goals, including a particular focus on the London Borough of Culture and the development of a sustainable legacy. This will involve shared initiatives as well as identifying and sharing best practice.

Next steps

From housing to health, wellbeing to education, cultural engagement to climate action, the services offered by the 11 organisations involved in this agreement cover some of the most pressing needs facing our communities today. Our agreement reflects an already existing culture of collaboration across Lewisham, and anchors a wider network working on civic projects.

As our collaboration develops, we will ensure that our programmes of work are open to other supportive organisations, in order to build capacity, capability, and infrastructure to meet our intended objectives. As our civic mission evolves, new CUA partnerships are likely to evolve too.

The progress of our CUA will be overseen by an advisory group made up of representatives of the partner organisations involved. We are committed to rigorously evaluating progress against our stated aims, and to learning from both successes and failures. We are also committed to a continuous process of consultation with our wider communities and will be undertaking regular listening exercises to ensure that we are responding to evolving needs.

We will work to ensure that initiatives following from the CUA are inclusive, representative and relevant to the people and communities that they are intended to benefit.