Envision youth charity recruits Olympic ‘champions’ in east London colleges

Teenagers at sixthform colleges across east London are setting up community projects as a legacy of last summer’s Olympics.

A ‘legacy Champions’ programme inspired by London 21012 is being run by the Envision youth action charity to tackle environmental and social issues.

The charity is recruiting students from Tower Hamlets and Newham colleges, as well as Hackney’s BSix and Community colleges, Greenwich Community, Barking & Dagenham, Leyton Sixth Form and Waltham Forest colleges.

Nassir Belai, a student involved in one project, explained: “We’re planning to tackle health and smoking-related issues while improving relations between the generations.”

The ‘Legacy Champions’ programme is part of a three-year deal between the charity and EDF Energy which is providing business mentors to help the youngsters develop their ideas, encourage creativity and build confidence. The students gain business experience while working on the projects.

So far, 17 projects have been created with 250 students working with 52 mentors. One of them was a crime prevention workshop set up by students at Newham College.

One project in the pipeline is a mass volunteering event in April to clean up part of the riverbank along the Thames.