City Gateway is a charity which links big businesses into community projects and itself runs a Women's Project, Youth Centre, Youth Training & Apprenticeships and a Social Enterprise Hub. A new initiative at their Women's Project is giving women with little or no English skills the chance to role play basic situations and learn simple phrases - later in the month volunteers from State Street Bank will help them launch a new community cafe at the site where individuals will get further opportunities to have practice conversations.

3 April 2009 – For immediate release
City Gateway Women’s Project gets women across Tower Hamlets talking!

City Gateway Women's Project, inspired by the number of women looking to fill the limited places on their long term ESOL courses, this week launched a Creative English class aimed at getting local women talking.

Language barriers remain one of the most difficult to overcome obstacles for the multicultural population of Tower Hamlets and those who do not speak English often struggle to confidently make use of basic services such as their GP or library, even if these centers offer translators to them.

The Creative English class is being supported by a couple of volunteer drama students and uses role play situations to remove the mystery around common encounters and help them build up a base line language level. 30 women attended the first session and the feedback was universally positive with many finding that even coming to the course in the first place had been a giant leap and a great boost to their confidence.

Families across the community will get even more chances to practice their English when a new community cafe (Cafe Relax) opens at the centre in Poplar (E14 6EQ) on the 29th April. The cafe is funded by Well London and run by social enterprise Flavour Gateway - it will offer subsidised food and give women and their families a chance to hang out and practice their English with further volunteers.

Women at the centre also started a small community garden a few months back, the first vegetables from which will be served up at the cafe launch day which is being supported by volunteers from State Street Bank over at Canary Wharf.

-ENDS-
Notes for Press:
City Gateway is a charity dedicated to bringing hope to the local communities of Tower Hamlets that haven't benefitted from the area’s wider economic development. We look to connect with local women and disadvantaged young people, and run programmes which engage them, train them and provide them with the skills and opportunities they need to enter work. We were set up by a group of City workers involved in local churches, keen to support the community around them.
We run women’s projects, youth training, a youth centre and a social enterprise hub - offering disadvantaged individuals everything from community events and drop-in youth clubs through to apprenticeship schemes and the chance to develop their own business ideas. We look to bring together different cultures and work against conflict and division. jerry@citygateway.org.uk 07905 608 721 www.citygateway.org.uk