Making a Connection

Trust Board member Elaine Harrison has been appointed Board Champion for The Link Thamesmead.
 
Elaine said: “As a former youth worker and eventually a Head of Youth Service, my life has been dedicated to increasing opportunities for young people and making a difference to their lives. I joined the Board at Trust Thamesmead because I thought I could make a difference and I agreed to champion The Link for the same reason.

“Acquiring the myplace funding to build The Link in the first place was quite a feat and the Trust is determined to raise the profile of this wonderful facility so that every single young person across both Bexley and Greenwich knows it is there and as many of them as possible get to make use of this amazing space.

“‘How?” you may ask.

“We will make sure the experience young people have at The Link is of the highest possible quality so they want to come back again and again.

“We will work with partners and other organisations so that we reach out to those who need The Link and most importantly, we are going to listen to young people.

“We will make sure they are fully involved in the planning and development of The Link and ultimately, in delivery of services. We want to fill The Link with young people, make it their favourite venue out of school and encourage school-time use of the premises too by particular groups and curriculum areas.”

Elaine added: “Young people and the wider community of Thamesmead deserve first class facilities and that is what we have built. Now our job is to get them to use it, promote it and develop it.
“I intend to do everything I can to make the difference and I have some ideas about how I am going approach this task. But – and here is the youth worker coming out in me – you never stop learning, so I need ideas and suggestions. Tell me who I need to persuade to use The Link and ways of publicising it and promoting it to make The Link accessible.”

If you have some ideas you can contact Elaine at, E: [email protected]