City Gateway is a charity dedicated to bringing hope to the local communities of Tower Hamlets - we were set up by a group of City workers keen to support the community around them.

August has been an exciting month but now we’re looking ahead to a number of very exciting opportunities coming along with the new term in September – in a month where NEET figures reached a record high both BBC and ITN featured our training as a leading example of the projects which are beating the trends. To view more on this subject click here.

Legendary actor, and Limehouse resident, Sir Ian McKellen returned to our youth club to help us launch a new scheme offering City and Wharf workers volunteering opportunities just 10 minutes travel from their offices. You can read all about his visit and the art competition he came down to judge here.

The first specific opportunity will be a ‘Literacy Lunch’ scheme at our Women’s Project near Canary Wharf, with trial sessions throughout September and a launch event on October 1st. If you or a group of your colleagues would be interested in getting involved e-mail Beth..

This September our youth training team will be launching our biggest ever range of training courses with opportunities for young people to get stuck into IT, Sports & Customer Service at a variety of levels.

We’re very excited that we’ve been able to expand to offer more courses but we’re also keener than ever to be working in partnership with other organisations to help recruit, train and progress those we do engage. If you have young people you’re interested in referring, progression opportunities available or want to volunteer to support a course let us know!

Ofsted recently visited City Gateway as part of a national survey inspection of providers working with young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and has recognised our training services as a national example of best practice.

The report concluded that "The young people describe City Gateway as somewhere they feel safe, secure and comfortable; they felt they were making real progress. They were realistic about their starting points and clear about the targets they had set for themselves. They were able to express themselves clearly and show they had increasing confidence in their own abilities."

As our social enterprise hub continues to grow there are now more ways than ever for you or your business to take advantage of the services they offer. Whilst hopefully you’ve heard plenty about Gateway Media. (our new media enterprise offering design, video & marketing solutions) have you considered Flavour Gateway or Gateway Motion?

Flavour Gateway is a professional catering service offering you a taste of multi-cultural flavours from South Asian specialties to traditional British cuisine – they specialise in buffet lunches and finger food so keep them in mind next time you’re arranging an event! We’re also relaunching Gateway Motion, our sports & events enterprise, so give Simon an e-mail. if you’re interested in one of our new team building opportunities.