London Gypsies and Travellers reflected on a year of change at its Annual General Meeting – in particular the way that community members are growing in confidence and bringing change to lives.
“Our community is stepping up in ways we’ve never seen before,” said LGT Chair of Trustees Helena Kiely-Savin (pictured at the AGM). “We’re no longer waiting for change to happen – we are the ones making it happen. The growing confidence and energy within the community is a sign that we are on the right path.”
Over the past year, LGT has seen more community members stepping into key roles on the Board of Trustees and bringing their voices and expertise to help shape people’s futures. “This is progress we can all be proud of, and it’s a clear reflection of the work we’ve done to empower our community,” said Helena.
The meeting also reflected on significant changes in the LGT team and the organisation’s work on making itself resilient in the face of change. There was discussion about the external changes – such as the Mayoral and general elections – that impacted the community and LGT’s work during the year.
LGT team members summarised the organisation’s achievements in providing accommodation advice, supporting families involved in social services, the Bright Futures mentoring programme for young people and community development work.
Geraldine Lindsay, Skills Development Co-ordinator, spoke about how her focus over the year had been supporting families and she read out quotes from a family she has been working with. One outcome of this work is that she and members of the family have been invited to a special conference in Westminster to share their experiences and challenges with judges, barristers, solicitors and social workers.
The AGM also saw the launch of LGT’s 2024 Annual Report, providing a full summary of the organisation’s work in 2024. LGT worked to support 641 families in 31 London boroughs over the year – nearly three times the number of people reached in 2019. You can download the annual report here.
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