Amma Asante is a student at the University of East London. She served as a Jellicoe Intern in July, developing the CitySafe campaign in Newham. This is her blogpost on the summer placement…
I had the opportunity to join London Citizens during the summer (month of July 2009). As part of a group, our aim was to further the cause of the CitySafe campaign in Newham by building and developing relationships with member and non-member institutions in that area by engaging with members and non-members through conversations with shopkeepers. Our specific aim was to encourage as many Green Street shopkeepers and shop managers to sign up to the CitySafe charter and put forward their shops to be CitySafe Havens. We therefore had the opportunity to discuss the issues surrounding the CitySafe campaign with those working in and managing shops and also allowed us to discover what the experiences of these shopkeepers were, and as such to discern where the greatest sympathies with the campaign lay. We also had a neighbourhood walk as a means of keeping people up-to-date and raising an awareness of the activities of London Citizens and establishing a visible presence in the area. By the end of our internship, we had signed up sixteen shops in which more shops signed up to be havens as the weeks progressed.
Amma continues to be a Jellicoe Intern – now working to get students at her University involved in the campaign. She’ll be posting on this as the action develops.