East London's Finest

Shortly after the London riots this summer, it emerged that a few people who had previously been viewed as upstanding figures in the community, had taken part in the destructive chaos. Perhaps, most famously, 18-year-old Olympic ambassador and promising athlete, Chelsea Ives, who is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for looting and smashing a police car.

So, when news of Rep London’s involvement with the London Ambassadors volunteering scheme hit the local headlines the story received a bit of public backlash. People posted comments along the lines that there are very few young people in London who don’t have a criminal record, are drug-free and can speak and write properly. We think it’s fair to say that the riots have left some people with a bad feeling about young Londoners!

But our work tells us something different. There are plenty of young people across the Olympic host boroughs that are happy to give up their free time to do something positive and contribute to their local community - including representing London during the Games next year.

ELBA’s Rep London team, part of the flagship Legacy 2020 programme, has teamed up with the Greater London Authority (GLA) to ensure that young people from east London get the chance to use the skills they have learnt through the Rep London Project, to become a London Ambassador.

Rep London is an employability and volunteering project which builds the aspirations and skills of young people run by the East London Business Alliance (ELBA) and funded by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor.

The Rep London team spent a week searching for the most enthusiastic and promising young people to represent London, and now have a team of 200 plus young people raring to host the only London Ambassadors pod, exclusively run by young people based in the famous Spitalfields Market

These 200 young people from Tower Hamlets, Newham, Greenwich, Hackney and Waltham Forest will join an army of nearly 8,000 volunteers located at 40 information ‘pod’ sites across London during Games time as the welcoming “face” for visitors to London, a feat we are proud to have facilitated.

We have always said there is nothing in the water stopping young people in east London from prospering, so let’s not jump to conclusions or tar all young people with the same riots brush just because of some of the mindless behaviour that took place in the summer.

For more information about Rep London and the London Ambassadors Scheme go to www.replondon.org.uk