ALEVI CENTRE AND CEMEVI: COMMUNITY INSIGHT PROJECT
The following report detailed information about activities organised through the
Alevi Centre and Cemevi as part of the Community Insight Project supported by
Hackney CVS. The report begins with information about events that took place,
participation in events and outlines successes and failures with regard to the
project.
Please note that we as the Alevi Cultural Centre, have added our own proposals
to the end of each subject in bold.
The following sessions listed took place
Session 1: Alevi Centre–90% men aged 35-45. 10% women aged 18-60.
Turkish/British/African/Caribbean. All participants are users of Alevi Centre in
Ridley Road and the local shops and services
Session 2: Stoke Newington Venturers and parents – Age 13-16/45-55 30%
male 60% female. Participants live in Stoke Newington and Clapton. White
British/Asian. Scout Hall Bouverie Road, N16.
Session 3: Elders Parents and Young group 100% Caribbean aged 45-80 90%
women. Sheltered accommodation block on Smalley Estate, N16. All participants
live in Stoke Newington.
Session 4: Luncheon Club Woodberry Down Estate 100% English/Caribbean
aged 60-100. All participants live in Woodberry Down.
Session 5: Alevi Centre Youth Group 100% Turkish/Kurdish aged 15 -25 50%
male 50% female. All participants live in different areas of Hackney.
Session 6: St Mark’s Church and Alevi Cemevi Users 50% Turkish/Kurdish 50%
Caribbean 50% men 50% Women ages 15-80. Participants are users of the two
faith organisations with 50% living in Hackney.
Total participants: 100.
Participation
The people reached by the Alevi Centre and Cemevi Community Insight project
came from the groups expected. These were groups who do not often have a
voice in decision-making on local issues. Our partners at World Beaters were
able to reach groups that the Alevi Centre were less likely to attract to discussion
including young people from Woodcraft Folk Co-operative Youth Movement,
Caribbean Elderly from the Smalley Estate in Stoke Newington and the
Woodberry Down Estate. Using volunteers who work regularly in diverse
community settings enabled us to reach out to a very mixed group from different
ethnic groups and a very wide age range (13-100!).
We were unable to attract the numbers expected largely due to the short time
frame for the initiative. The spring holidays fell in the middle of the time
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allocated and groups that we had hoped to involve did not attend the Alevi
Centre. Meetings with the Halkevi Centre did not come to fruition due to changes
within the management team. For organisations that were hesitant or reluctant
to take part, the timeframe did not allow for the time required to do outreach to
build trust and gain the confidence of potential participants.
Representation from young people aged 13-22 was high, making up 1/3 of
opinions gathered.
The project was able to include participants in an inter-faith programme
enabling Christians and Alevis to meet to discuss their presence in Dalston as
neighbouring faith organisations. Their involvement in the community insight
project enabled them to progress their discussions and learn more about how
their faith groups are involved in the Dalston neighbourhood. Discussion led to
ideas and visions for ways in which the group can work together to create
activities to enable greater community cohesion.
A key partner in this project has been World Beaters Arts and Culture Ltd who
have been working with the Alevi Centre and Cemevi over the last year to
support the needs of the Alevi Centre users and raise the profile of the Alevi
faith in the local community. World Beaters provided project management
support including extending the reach of the project in the community, planning
discussion activities, writing up notes and the common themes and
recommendations of the project.
Collection of information
Participants at all events took part in small group discussions. Each group had a
main question to discuss with key words on small cards to aid discussion.
Participants wrote their answers on large sheets of paper and shared their
findings with the rest of the group whenever there was time.
Participants had a choice of two themes they wanted to discuss: change or
cohesion. They were asked to offer recommendations for improvement or
development whenever possible.
The discussion points in this report have been compiled to include a summary of
findings, key themes and recommendations and a record of each comment made
during consultation.
Each piece of information gathered is recorded in the comments section.
Responses have been listed under the relevant question and grouped into the
headings on keywords. The findings from each session have been colour-coded
in accordance with the groups involved listed at the beginning of this document.
Questions have not been placed in numerical order as no question was more
important than another, they were just numbered to make sure all questions
were available for participants to respond to.
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KEY THEMES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
From the views of the Hackney residents and users of community provision
within Hackney who contributed to this project, key themes emerged that were
of universal interest. As the project involved participants from 3 diverse cultural
groups with ages ranging from 13 to 100, these themes are highly significant,
reflecting concerns about Hackney common to all. Some themes were more
relevant to specific groups with a large percentage of the group expressing
common views. We have focussed on these themes in this section, stating
whether the views were universal across the majority of participants in the
project or specific to certain groups.
Affordable housing
This was a theme which affected every group involved in the consultation, no
matter of age, culture or the area of Hackney they lived in. Old and young
expressed concern that they were losing friends that moved out of the area –
priced out by rising house prices or rents or drastic changes to their area which
they reside in. Participants felt they had to move for financial reasons but did
not want to leave an area that had been home to them for many years, often
since birth. Concern was expressed that so much building work in Hackney is
going on, particularly in the Dalston and Woodberry Down areas and that
affordable housing is not a high enough priority in either of these areas.
Recommendations
Ensure that affordable housing in the Borough remains affordable.
Use models referred to by London Citizen to support tenants and future
homebuyers in the borough to ensure that those who want to stay in Hackney
can do so.
Ensure land is available to provide permanently affordable housing using the
East London Community Land Trust model.
We as the Alevi Cultural Centre and Cemevi has the capacity and skills to
work with the local authority and private sector in supporting tenants and
home buyers by providing a specialist “Housing Advice and Support” service
within our own premises. However this service initially needs a 3 year
financial support in order to stand on its own legs.
Community Cohesion
This theme was particularly relevant to the Alevi Centre Youth group and to the
interfaith group but were touched on by all groups.
It was generally agreed that diverse communities live alongside each other but
do not integrate. Various reasons for this were given including the historical
resentment about the way that immigrants were treated on arrival, language
barriers and cultural tensions within the Turkish/Kurdish community. There
was a general feeling that new communities moving in to areas of Hackney are
less likely to communicate than communities already resident.
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Respect for different cultures needs to increase to improve cohesion within the
community.
There were many suggestions about ways to develop community cohesion.
Recommendations
Tensions around younger children are less. Work with the elders and adults in
the community and the younger ones will change their attitude.
Create greater awareness among shop keepers on customer services and
engaging with customers from different cultures.
More community festivals including the return of Stoke Newington Festival
More awareness raising activity eg. music events, cultural tours eg.
understanding weddings from different cultures, food festivals, cultural markets
Exchange visits between community organisations of different cultures and
invitations to cultural events, monthly social meetings, finding common grounds
Sports tournaments/community competitions especially football
Open discussion forums to discuss issues and affairs at which each community
should have a representative for each ethnic group together and discuss/share
their cultures and ideals.
More language courses including English lessons
Day trips eg. seaside outings, farm tours and shopping trips
Briefings by politicians to all ethnic groups
Community picnics
Business to create work experience and partnerships
Encourage citizens to engage in shares of local companies
Community Cohesion is one of the most fundamental subject that affecting
the current and future multi –cultural society in Hackney. Alevi Cultural
Centre pays a great attention to the community interrelations and cross
cultural relations. We the Alevi people believe that Cohesion is also known as
cohesive attraction or cohesive force. It is wherein the matter stick together
or unite. It is important to life so as plants can grow. If plants grow, both
animals and people will have something to eat. Thus, plants, animals, and
human beings live because of cohesion. Without it, there will be no life in this
planet. On this basis we prepare to work in partnership in mutually agreed
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projects that will bring our older people and young people together. For
example we organise a Park festival every year in Hackney Downs Park. We
propose to extend our hands to different community groups to take active
part organising and participating in this great cultural festival.We could
also organise a mix luncheon club in our centre once a week.
Shops and businesses
All groups expressed concern that the variety of shops and businesses is
becoming less varied. All groups felt there are too many betting shops. The
number of vintage shops and expensive cafes in Stoke Newington and Dalston
was discussed. The closure of small locally run ethnic shops to be replaced by
chain stores was also of concern to all groups.
Recommendations
The Council should ensure that a variety of shops in main shopping areas is
maintained, offering products of use to the Hackney’s diverse resident
population as well as to those who are attracted by current fashion trends.
Business rates should not be so high that they discourage smaller diverse
businesses from locating in Hackney’s town centres.
Most of the shops and restaurants in Hackney are Alevi Cultural Centre’s
members. We propose that we could start a partnership with community
groups and issue a free membership and negotiate a “discount” scheme with
these businesses and shops. We also propose a joint committee to look into
employment prospects and training in these businesses. We prepare to
support such scheme by providing meeting space and resources.
Ridley Road Market
Users of the Alevi Centre were vocal about the dilapidated state of Ridley Road
Market. Participants recognised that Dalston generally has been cleaned up.
Gillett Square was given as an example of this, with the Council actively working
to encourage positive use of this area by the local community. Common
concensus felt that Ridley Road is dirty, the stalls are old and rusty. It looks
unhygenic with meat on display so close to the street.
Participants agreed that the market street needs to be tidied up. It needs to be
more organised. Examples of well organised markets were given by contributors
as Belvedere Road Waterloo and Fulham.
Recommendations
Don’t put the prices up just tidy up!
Have more trees and cafes on the market
Find a balance between improving the environment and offering the same
services that people want from Ridley Road Market
This area of work is a very specialist area that we feel we could only provide
space for meetings and training. Alevi Cultural Centre could also act as the
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coordination point between the professionals and community consultation
processes.
Parking
This theme was relevant to groups involving adults. Whilst public transport
(buses and Overground) were highly praised by all groups, concern about
parking was strongly expressed. A female user of the Alevi Centre and Cemevi
explained the situation clearly. She visits the Alevi Centre regularly with other
friends and family members from Enfield. To travel by train is too expensive, the
bus takes too long and therefore to come by car is quicker and cheaper than the
public transport options. The area around the Alevi Centre is very busy at the
weekends, particularly on Saturdays. The Centre is full of people, often there are
funerals or significant religious calendar dates taking place which bring more
people. The market and shops are busy. There are not enough parking spaces
available for those who need them. The time restriction on parking means that
users who spend longer amounts of time at the Centre are more likely to get a
parking fine. Fines are very costly for those who cannot afford them.
Recommendations
More parking needs to be made available during peak times around busy
community areas rather than less parking.
Partnerships for parking: any parking which is not used by businesses or
organisations during the weekends could be made available to community
organisations that are active during the weekends.
Promote railcards/incentives/special offers with London Overground to
encourage greater use by families or larger parties.
Support women who feel isolated in the community and are not used to using
public transport to learn to use the transport network and buddy scheme to
encourage them to travel together.
Alevi Cultural centre offers space and coordination time in order to organise
wider consultation about this subject. We al;so proposed that community
centres are given a new parking status. We mean a new catagory is created
apart of “residents” and “business” so that centres could by visitor permits to
issue them to their daily users.
Rowans Bowling Alley
While this is not a business based in Hackney, many young people and families
from Hackney use this entertainment facility. All groups of young people and
parents consulted expressed concern about the closure of Rowans. It is one of
the few local places that offer activities which older children, teenagers and
parents/carers can take part in together.
Recommendations
That a bowling alley and cinema facility is opened in an improved Dalston Cross
Shopping Centre.
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Again on this issue we offer meeting and space for more consultation to take
place.
It should be carefully supervised by a company with an exceptional child
protection track record so that it is a safe place for young people to attend
without threat of drug dealers, offer discounts for youth groups.
This would be a fantastic opportunity for business/community partnership
supported by Hackney Council where young people could participate in
management of the organisation, with business could run an apprenticeship
scheme.
Hackney Night Shelters
Participants from faith groups were inspired by reports of the Night Shelters run
by the churches in Hackney over the winter months. Volunteers who support the
Shelters recognise that it is a much improved service, helped enormously by a
link person who makes contact with homeless people and supports the
volunteers who run the service.
Recommendation
Could this be extended to include other religious groups in Hackney who
recognise the value of the service and feel able to set up a shelter or to provide
volunteers to support the organisations that already provide the services?
Alevi Cultural Centre could manage and support a short term night/winter
shelter if an appropriate premisses is provided.
Schools
In general it was recognised that schools have improved in Hackney. Young
people consulted who are using schools were concerned that essential
equipment eg. computers needed upgrading and facilities are not adequate in
schools.
Recommendation
Participants who attend Stoke Newington School were unanimous that the
school should have more access to the swimming pool at Clissold Leisure Centre
which is affordable for the School.
Alevi Cultural Centre currently providing “Alevi Faith” lessons within the core
curiculum in several mainstream secondary schools as part of RE. We
propose that all Hackney Schools should open their doors for Alevi Faith
lessons. We will provide teachers but need funding.
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
This section lists all the questions that were available for groups to discuss.
Each comment made is listed. The colour coding relates to the event that
each comment was made at (see page 1 of this report).
Change Question 2
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What are the benefits of changes in your local neighbourhood?
Eating out - Good
Going out – good
More restaurants
More eating places
More variety and muliticultural food.
Homes - need improvement
Shopping – good
Shopping areas are better with supermaret and local shops
Parks and Public spaces – good
Rubbish and recycling – needs improvement
Getting help – bad
Cars and Parking - Bad – needs improvement
Trains and buses
Happy with the bus services and free passes.
Trains very good.
Dial a Ride good.
Travel is much better. Transport is frequent.
Trains and and buses – good
Trains and buses much better than it was
TFL investment in overground good.
Trains on time and frequent – Rectory Road
Really value overground. Buses are brilliant you can get everywhere and they
are far more frequent.
Clapton Roundabout system good.
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Transport - not good enough because no tube.
Leisure
Leisure facilities – good
Leisure facilities good take part in it today with no payment!
Cleanliness is an issue in Leisure centres.
The slide and wave machine at Brittania is wicked (sarcastic – it is rarely open
when we go there as a big group of young people aged 5-16)
Clissold Pool is a lovely place to swim
Brilliant to have free swimming for Under 16s
Parks and Public spaces
Parks and Public spaces – good
That is one thing Hackney does well.
Springfield Park is beautiful and one of our favourite places in London.
They have made massive improvements
Being able to walk my dog off-lead in Abney Cemetery, Springfield Park and the
Marshes and Clissold Park
I love Hackney Downs
I like Newington Green
Stoke Newington Common much better but still dog poo problem
Planting of more trees and meadow gardens
Schools
Schools – need improvement
I value Hackney not forcing comps to become academies
All agree – schools much better in Hackney now
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I like opportunities like school trips
Parents feel more confident about schooling in Hackney
Schools are academy, in name.
Getting Help
Night Shelters run by the churches in Hackney over the winter months is a much
improved service. The service is supported by a link person who makes contact
with homeless people and supports the volunteers who run the service. Could
this be extended to include other religious groups in Hackney?
Change Question 3
What changes in your area are you concerned about?
Parking
Parking spaces- not enough parking – we can have up to 200 people attending
funerals at the Alevi Centre and there is nowhere to park and the fines are very
high.
No improvement with parking, clamping an issue when visiting.
Nowhere to park!
Parking now difficult due to more vehicles.
Building development/Homes
New building developments - We need more green spaces with new
developments they are killing green places.
More homes needed, less property developers.
We have more buildings now 
The questions implies there are changes to the area – there are no visible
changes to Ridley Road.
What are the changes?
Ridley Road market!
Dalston has been cleaned up apart from Ridley Road. It is dirty. The stalls are old
and rusty. It looks unhygenic with meat on display so close to the street.
It needs to be tidied up. It needs to be more organised. Examples of well –
organised markets – Belvedere Road Waterloo and Fulham.
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Don’t put the prices up just tidy up!
Have more trees and cafes on the market
I would not buy my food there.
Recycling - reduce rodents and flies
Get rid of the hipsters - they are forcing of original residents out to the borough
as outpriced.
Not enough affordable housing
Mix of the area is changing
Friends leaving the area because can’t either afford to live here or making a big
profit by selling up
Sudden boom in chain stores, supermarkets, betting shops and vintage shops –
we need a balance!
Too much betting shops
Shop in local neighbourhood food prices going up.
Lack of entertainment for teenagers (eg. Non-estate based youth clubs as well)
Roads need improvement eg. Potholes
Clissold not letting SNS use leisure facilities. Clissold should be owned by the
school.
I feel safe in the area.
Not safe going out by yourself
Too much crimes too near for comfort
Young boys in the estate no notice of the police
Less police stations not good
Reduction of fire stations not good.
Too many black and black killings
Too many dogs in the park
Have to travel out to do shopping. (Jewish area)
I don’t feel safe after dusk especially. (Teenage boys especially)
More bike rails in parks.
The cost for eating and drinking for young people ie. Either too expensive or too
unhealthy.
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Clissold café is so expensive – all goes to excluding local people and people on
low incomes.
Issues like Rowans Bowling being forced to close may not be in Hackney but
used by Hackney residents. Similar venues and places used by so many local
people and children going because of other commercial interests.
Bring back Stokey Festival
Neighbours
There are less communications between individuals
It seems there are new communities moved into the area.
Woodberry Down - Regeneration of the area means that I am losing friends
because they are moving out of the area.
Change Question 1
What do you value about your local neighbourhood and town centre?
Leisure Facilities
Clapton Swimming Pool – concerns
Leisure centre
Cars and Parking – no good. We need more spaces at the Alevi Centre
Very very bad.
Trains and buses very good.
Homes – ok
Eating out – good
Shopping – good, good
Going out – really good
Getting help – its ok
Change Question 4
What would you like to see in your local neighbourhood?
More parking spaces
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Less charges on parking.
Trains are expensive, buses are slow . Its cheaper and quicker to drive.
Cheaper parking meters or atleast more consistant as so varied in price
Arsenal matches mean no available parking
More car charging points
Stoke Newington station to be more welcoming
Another bus route from Manor Raod to Islington
Double Decker 393. More frequent 393 bus service
Buses need to take their time opening and closing the doors for prams and
trolleys
106 bus no good
Travel to hospital and doctor. Buses are in areas that never used to service
Another bus stop on north side of Chruch Street near the library
Safer bicycle routes/designated cycle routs
Boris bikes on Church Street
More security
The best college
Schools have different starting and ending time
Stokey can’t use the pool across the road
Better school facilities – computers that don’t crash
Better school facilities using swimming pool in leisure centre
Keep our community schools – no more academies!
Teaching more about religion good part and bad part – taking christianity out of
schools
Don’t do federations
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We need more green spaces
More allotments
Cleaner streets and free dustbins
Clean canal on Hackney Marshes
Refurbish Hackney Marshes and Millfields Park
Control over foxes/fox control
Homes and Rents
More affordable public housing
Cheaper homes
Cheaper rents
When I was in Turkey I was a teacher – not now. Now I am living in one room.
The rent is £500 per month.
Tackle fuel poverty with local alternative energy schemes
Re-open Dalston Fire Station
We need Ridley Road market to be cleaner
We need a better shopping complex – Dalston is not sufficient
More shops that aren’t food shops
No more supermarkets!
Less betting shops
We need more leisure centres
More leisure centres
More access to leisure for disabled people
Don’t close Rowans Bowling!
More cinemas and theatres
A lido
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More basketball pitches
We need more art venues
A Stoke Newington Cinema/Arts Centre
Need adventure sites – ie. Cinema and bowling
More musical opportunities
More sports clubs that aren’t football
Better leisure Centre in Clapton
More family friendly restaurants
No Nando’s!!!
Affordable park café
Parks – community café for Clissold not ‘Kenwood’ – prices and clientelle!
More local pubs
Bring back Stokey Festival and street festivals
GP giving you a time, where you should be able to go any time.
If a relative or yourself is in hospital, then you are discharged you can wait hours
medicine to be ready. This is because doctors who are able to prescribe are on
call and are often handling emergencies. As you are being discharged you are no
longer a priority . (response is from nurse in group)
Help could be better for the eldest – quicker response
More done for elderly people
Council to give more money
Better pension
More community gatherings
Public spaces – more community space, accessible, cheap,or free. Venues for
classes and local groups.
Better use of SN Town Hall – great venue but under used by general public
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Fines for noise pollution – make it easier to report incidents
Fines for littering/Litter fines
Fines and charges for littering and dog mess need to be acted on.
People clean their own space but don’t care about communial spaces
The Council tax is high because of the costs of rubbish and recycling clearance
More up-to-date books in Stoke Newington Library
Renovation of Stoke Newington Library
Cinema would bring in money
The Olympics benefitted us loads
Olympic legacy? SNS can’t afford the pool across the road. Afforcable facilities
for children schools and communities.
Community Cohesion Question 4
How we could build better understanding and connection between local
business and people
Encourage partnerships
Organise meetings to talk about issues and affairs
Open day
Business to create work experience and partnerships
Encourage citizen to engage in shares of Local LTD
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Community Cohesion Question 3
How could we make everyone feel more a part of their local neighbourhood
or town centre
More youth centres
Events such as bouncy castles and face paintings
Sports tournaments
More spaces for locking up bikes
Outings eg. Seaside, farm, picnic, shopping trips
Art events eg. Film festival
Cultural local market
Sports events
Music/dance events
Food festival
Monthly social meetings
BBQs
International event
More community centre buildings
Educational classes after school activity
Library
Get politicians to give all ethical groups briefings
More activity centres eg. Educational and supporting
Each community should have a representative for each ethnic group together
and discuss/share their cultures and ideals.
People moan but don’t complain officially enough
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More parks , football grounds
Community Cohesion Question 2
How could we build better understanding between different groups of local
people?
Inviting to cultural events
Multi lingual course
Visiting house
Dances
Music and traditional instrument fusion
Cultural tour eg. Wedding tours
Respecting each others culture
Having an understanding of other cultures and history
Finding common points for communication
Sports events
Group holidays
Parking with respect
By doing football matches (community competitions)
By doing events which involve other ethnic groups
By doing open argument meetings. We need more money from the government
to make a bigger building.
By doing picnics altogether in open spaces
Meet together in religious buildings
Getting help moneywise for our cultural centre
Engage in local companies to be part of it
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Gym, sports centre, kick boxing, media activities
Lessons
Need to provide more English language classes for beginners and improvers
Community Cohesion Question 1
How well do people get on with each other? Are there any tensions
between different communities?
Tensions around younger children are less. Work with the elders and adults in
the community and the younger ones will change their attitude.
The hard times people experienced when they arrived in the UK caused a barrier
which is still there. It is slow to change.
Communities live alongside each other but do not mix.
High tensions inside the community instead of outside communities
The community centre (Cemevi) is too small we don’t have enough facilities
causing youth to on on the street instead of the community centre.
High tensions between Turkish and Kurdish communities which result in high
crime levels.
Tensions are high because the living costs are high which result in the youth to
do illegal things in order to make money
Make more football cages to lower the tensions
Increase the parking areas in Hackney as it causes tensions between the
residents and car owners.
If I go into a shop and it isn’t English or Caribbean people in the shop speak in
their own language and I find it intimidating. It is rude – the customer needs to
be included. A code of conduct and training for shop keepers to be more
inclusive would be good.
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