In 1995 a Skills Audit Survey was carried out on the Haggerston, Acton and Stonebridge estates. The findings presented a grim picture of the overall economic and socio-economic climate of the area. As in many areas where the level of unemployment is high, the trend of unemployment was becoming entrenched in family life setting a pattern for the younger generations. One of the main problems faced by the residents (highlighted by the skills audit) was lack of training and relevant qualifications, and this was compounded by the lack of awareness of the training and employment opportunities that were actually open to them. The decisions many of the residents were making about their employment and development prospects were from perceived limited options; they either took up low skilled and low paid work or resigned themselves to long term unemployment.

The skills audit set out the poverty and hardship that existed in the area created largely by long-term unemployment and the subcultures that inevitably thrive in areas where state dependence is the norm. However all around the surrounding areas, new opportunities were being created by regeneration programmes.

Ascent 21 was formally established in September 1997 as a direct result of this skills survey. Although the project was formally established in 1997, the development stages of the project started in May 1996. Extensive groundwork was carried out to establish the real needs of the community in order to reduce unemployment and create sustainability. So that these communities will thrive long after the demise of local funding programmes and for the opportunities provided by these programmes to become a reality for the deprived and often excluded people of the area.

Through the recognition of Ascent 21’s success in working with the local communities, our work has extended from Haggerston and its immediate surroundings to the Hackney and beyond whilst still remaining a relatively small and close knit organisation.

In 1998, Ascent 21 was invited by the Vienna Urban Conference to present the organisation as a model of good practice for community involvement and development. In 1999, the Minister for Lifelong Learning sited Ascent 21 as a model example of a community led and focused regeneration project. Also in 1999, as part of the government’s consultation for the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy, the Policy Action Team on Skills and Employment paid Ascent 21 a visit. As a result of the visit, Ascent 21’s approach to linking local unemployed people to employers informed the Key Idea three of their report: "New ways of Reaching out to jobless people in deprived areas". Furthermore Ascent 21 was cited as a model of good practice in their final report.

< back