Cllr. Andy Stranack (Cabinet Member for Communities and Culture) joined the celebrations at the Re-New Addington (ReNa) Group at the Fieldway Family Centre last week (24th Oct). Over the last year the group has bought together Community Groups, The Police, Local Council Officers, Councillors and young people to tackle the problems around serious youth violence in the local area. As the facilitator of the group (Still Shadey) often quotes 'It takes a village to raise a child' some of the successes of the group in the 1st year include:-
•Police invested extra resource into CCTV around Central Parade
•Engaged with new owners of Goldcrest to ensure it will still be a venue used for local community activity.
•Sub Group working on the best use of council buildings/facilities on the Estate + facilities that can be disposed of.
•Connected pathfinders and the Director of Safety and Culture to talk/invest in NA Carnaval.
•Secured Met Police Good Citizen scheme for the family centre, inviting all year six pupils in Croydon to New Addington to learn about Community Centre.
•Distribution of information about the parental army network across the estate.
•Led the campaign for residents to be consulted before the ACA is sold off.
•Expanded and secured more funding for bleed kits around the Estate and linked information to 999 service.
•Designed and distributed information about youth Holiday activity across the estate.
•Overall Crime and Anti Social Behaviour is down on the Estate.
Andy said:-
"One of my greatest joys over the last year has been to be part of this group. It is great to be refreshed every week by the passion of the police, local community and council officers to make improvements to the local community where they live. This group is not just about helping young people, it is also sending out a positive message to the rest of Croydon that New Addington is a great place to live and work. I am so pleased that Channel 4 chose to highlight the excellent work of ReNa on their 'Make me Prime Minister' programme last Tuesday night."
