Rep London on BBC LDN

(Picture: Rep Londoners Naheeda and Jay sitting down on far right)

Two young people from ELBA’s employability and skills project, Rep London, proudly represented themselves, east London and ELBA when they joined a BBC London TV debate about the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

ELBA’s Communications Manager, Corinne O’Sullivan, accompanied Jay and Naheeda down to the View Tube (right on the doorstep of the Olympic Park) for the interview, where they joined BBC London’s Olympic Correspondent Adrian Warner

UEL Mentoring Scheme

One of the most successful projects to come out of ELBA’s Newham programme is the University of East London mentoring scheme - now in its fourth year, it continues to go from strength to strength. 97 mentors from six ELBA companies were matched with mentees from the university at the end of 2011. Each pairing meet at the mentors’ place of work twice a month for up to six months, focussing on developing and honing the mentees’ soft skills that are needed for job search and to enhance their contribution to the workplace.

Creating Capacity

December 2011, saw the result of extensive work undertaken by a team at KPMG supported by ELBA, with the delivery of three training workshops to community partners. The team were the winners of KPMG's BRIGHT 2011 competition, which invited employees to develop innovative CSR projects.

Responding to the challenge of - "As public funding for all charities continues to reduce, how can KPMG volunteers better use their skills and experience to help small local charities thrive in this new environment?"

Adventures at Glamis

Late last year Glamis Adventure Playground, a community play area based in Shadwell, was treated to a massive facelift. Over five days, more than 200 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) volunteers worked under the guidance of East London Business Alliance (ELBA) to repaint and replace old and tired play equipment, install a huge eight-sided swing and other exciting new features. They also planted trees across the site and renovated a neighbouring allotment; creating new composting facilities and clearing up disused plots.

Toy Appeal Success!

ELBA’s 2011 Toy Appeal was a roaring success with nearly £68,000 worth of toys donated to thousands of east London children by ELBA companies including UBS, Credit Suisse, RBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Despite an austere year, the 2011 Toy Appeal saw 29 City and Canary Wharf companies dig deep to donate nearly 6,000 toys to the appeal, smashing ELBA’s previous record of 4,500 toys in 2010.

EVAs 2011

(Pictured: Clare Connor - Director of Stratford Circus, Paul Stebbings - Tate & Lyle Sugars and Richard Reid - ELBA Chairman and KPMG)

Volunteers from City and Canary Wharf companies have been recognised at East London Business Alliance’s 12th Employee Volunteer Awards (EVAs).

The EVAs were created to honour business volunteers from ELBA’s portfolio of 123 member companies, who have delivered outstanding work in supporting and mentoring community organisations in east London.