EDEN City Outreach and the Community Support Network (CSN) were founded by Allison Charles to address rising social inequality in Tower Hamlets, East London. [1] The CSN is a digital platform and community hub that connects and enables collaboration between community groups, businesses, and organizations. [2] By pooling resources, knowledge, and experiences through the CSN, community collectives can achieve more for less and better address shared social challenges in a sustainable way that empowers local people. [3] The CSN amplifies existing efforts, spotlights opportunities to get involved, and magnifies visibility, access, and reach to positively transform local life through community collaboration.
EDEN City Outreach and the Community Support Network (CSN) were founded by Allison Charles to address rising social inequality in Tower Hamlets, East London. [1] The CSN is a digital platform and community hub that connects and enables collaboration between community groups, businesses, and organizations. [2] By pooling resources, knowledge, and experiences through the CSN, community collectives can achieve more for less and better address shared social challenges in a sustainable way that empowers local people. [3] The CSN amplifies existing efforts, spotlights opportunities to get involved, and magnifies visibility, access, and reach to positively transform local life through community collaboration.
EDEN City Outreach and the Community Support Network (CSN) were founded by Allison Charles to address rising social inequality in Tower Hamlets, East London. [1] The CSN is a digital platform and community hub that connects and enables collaboration between community groups, businesses, and organizations. [2] By pooling resources, knowledge, and experiences through the CSN, community collectives can achieve more for less and better address shared social challenges in a sustainable way that empowers local people. [3] The CSN amplifies existing efforts, spotlights opportunities to get involved, and magnifies visibility, access, and reach to positively transform local life through community collaboration.
EDEN City Outreach and the Community Support Network (CSN) were founded by Allison Charles to address rising social inequality in Tower Hamlets, East London. [1] The CSN is a digital platform and community hub that connects and enables collaboration between community groups, businesses, and organizations. [2] By pooling resources, knowledge, and experiences through the CSN, community collectives can achieve more for less and better address shared social challenges in a sustainable way that empowers local people. [3] The CSN amplifies existing efforts, spotlights opportunities to get involved, and magnifies visibility, access, and reach to positively transform local life through community collaboration.
Why & How A Community-led Social Support Alternative
Connect | Collaborate | Succeed
Published November 2019
Who? EDEN City Outreach
I’m Allison Charles, founder/CEO of
EDEN City Outreach and the architect of ‘Community Support Network’ [CSN]. I have lived in Bow East since 2001. EDEN City Outreach philosophy, “Whatever career and the foundation of the CSN you may choose for Over the last ten years I have yourself—doctor, experienced first-hand the concept, is based on a simple lawyer, teacher— formula: let me propose an devastating impact of some of the avocation to be social challenges facing much of pursued along with it. Become a the United Kingdom today dedicated fighter for civil rights. Make it a central part of your life. It will make you a better EDEN City Outreach, a not-for- doctor, a better lawyer, a better profit, grassroots social enterprise, teacher. It will enrich your spirit as nothing else possibly can. It will give based in Tower Hamlets, East Mass participation, plus minimum you that rare sense of nobility that can London, is my response to rising obligation = maximum impact. In only spring from love and selflessly helping your fellow man. Make a social inequality, injustice and other words, when we each play a career of humanity.” deprivation—a way to try to small part, together we make a big Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. improve life for everyone. difference.
If we each play a small part, together we will make a big difference
1 What? A Civil Society Organisation Overcoming sustained financial, practical and psychological hardship can compel us to live insular and isolated as survival becomes the overriding struggle.
The Community Support Network
[CSN] concept—a digital platform and community hub—is the means by which we hope to realise that vision. And the key: is whole community collaboration. DISPLAYED IDEA STORE BOW – NOV 2019 What if: Instead of focusing EDEN City Outreach, a Civil Society solely on the personal manifestation Organisation [CSO], is dedicated to of what are often shared problems, CSN invites ordinary people to pool their resources, knowledge and empowering local communities we could find easy ways to connect experiences, harnessing the power (residents, businesses and and collaborate, enabling of the community collective to achieve the extraordinary. organisations) to lead, drive and community collectives to work own positive social change. together to address the root cause.
Community Support Network: Building Stronger Communities Together
2 Why? Empowering Local People
Give a man a fish:
and feed him for a day
The sustainable solution to positive social
transformation is empowered local Teach a man to fish: communities. and feed him for a lifetime Community collectives can dampen, perhaps even negate entirely, the adverse effects of social and economic uncertainty Facilitate a fishing collective: that would devastate the efforts of an and give that man, as part atomised, isolated individual. of a connected and supportive local group, the Harnessing the collective wisdom of means to better provide for whole communities amplifies our ability the needs of their community—whilst fostering cohesion, stability and resilience. overcome declines in standard of living and quality of life—improving mental health, wellbeing and public health.
Community Collectives: The Power To Transform Lives
3 How? Building Stronger Communities TOGETHER Community Support Network [CSN] enables whole communities to connect and collaborate, wherever they identify a shared need, concern or aspiration.
CSN doesn’t alter what existing
community groups, businesses or CSN invites collaboration to create a organisations do, it enhances their AMPLIFY safety net beneath local communities efficacy and prospects of success efficacy through so that less vulnerable citizens can slip communal through undetected and unsupported. —magnifying, amplifying and solutions & spotlighting their efforts. CSN collaborations increases visibility, access and SPOTLIGHT reach, while economies of scale shared and effort enable community opportunities collectives to achieve more for to get involved less. MAGNIFY &/or support visibility, access CSN gives communities a reason to CSN provides the mechanism, but stay connected, especially when life and reach through gets tough. it takes a whole community to borough-wide positively transform local life. network
Community is the Answer: Collaboration is the Key
4 ‘WE’ are Tower Hamlets Let’s Start A Conversation
EDEN City Outreach
Independent | community-led | not-for-profit a Civil Society Organisation EDEN City Outreach #OneTenCSN Community Support Appeal: @EDENCityUK CLOSED FACEBOOK GROUP: CSN_Tower Hamlets