At a showcase event in London’s Living Room City Hall we celebrated the achievements of our landmark community services directorate and marked the retirement of inspirational founder Maura Santos.
Maura joined Peabody in 1997 to establish the directorate, which quickly set up initiatives to tackle problems of deprivation including poor health, low skills, worklessness and social exclusion.
At the time this was revolutionary. There simply wasn’t an awareness of the lead role housing associations could play in community regeneration. Didn’t they just provide homes?
Today that question has been definitively answered.
Thanks to Maura’s vision and tremendous hard work, tens of thousands of Londoners have improved their lives through our training and employment activities; citizenship activities for young people; specialist housing and activities for older people; volunteering opportunities; digital and financial inclusion services; support for vulnerable families; and health and well-being initiatives.
The City Hall event showcased this diverse programme with exhibitions and performances. The Sundial Singers, a choir from our neighbourhood learning centre in Tower Hamlets, were brilliant. And I had great fun attempting some of the moves in an impromptu Bollywood dancing tutorial!
Awards were also presented to some of our outstanding young Peabody apprentices (we’ve recently committed to apprentices taking up five per cent of all new job vacancies).
Thanks to everyone who made the event such a special occasion.
