L&Q sets up the Ujima Foundation

L&Q has set up a foundation to help address the barriers to inclusion faced by the diverse communities it serves.

The Ujima Foundation, established following the merger of L&Q and Ujima in January 2008, will help ensure that Ujima’s founding principles are preserved. It will support projects and initiatives that promote opportunity in housing, initially those that seek to benefit L&Q and former Ujima residents and staff. It will also undertake research and promotional work to highlight problems that continue to undermine community cohesion.

The Ujima Foundation’s work is supervised by a group of former Ujima board members, L&Q board members, residents and independent advisors.

The group is chaired by L&Q board member Ainsley Forbes - a property developer with many years’ experience as Assistant Director of Social Services with a local authority. He has been involved with housing associations as a board member for 25 years and has been with L&Q since 1990.

Having worked extensively in the London boroughs of Islington, Camden and Lambeth, Ainsley remembers Ujima’s early days when it set up innovative services to support disenfranchised young people into training, employment and education.

Ainsley said: “The establishment of the foundation shows L&Q’s clear commitment to issues of inclusion and diversity. We will be keeping a promise we made to the Ujima board and assisting both residents and staff to develop their potential. While great strides have been made to promote cohesion in our communities, there is still a lot of work to do.”

L&Q is setting aside £250,000 per year for the foundation’s work and hopes to raise a further £400,000 from organisations that have supported or advised Ujima in the past. William Sutton Homes, part of the Affinity Sutton Group, has already donated £60,000 and there has been another donation of £15,000.

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