The Docklands Newspaper, 12th Sugust 2009

THEATRE and Hollywood films star Sir Ian McKellen is urging people to get involved in a new volunteering scheme close to their workplace.

City Gateway at Limehouse Youth Centre hopes people around Canary Wharf will provide help to their local community in their lunch break or after work.

Letters Page, Evening Standard, 13th August 2009

David Willetts MP:
WHEN Labour won power, they pledged to "get 250,000 under-25 year-olds off benefit and into work". The latest figures show how badly they have failed. There are nearly one million unemployed young people - the highest level since records began.

Hannah Wooderson,  24dash.com in Communities, August 11th 2009

Emma Foster, Community Newswire, August 11th 2009

Sir Ian McKellen called on Canary Wharf and City workers to give up their time to help people in the local community, as he launched a volunteering scheme in the area.

The Hollywood star visited City Gateway's Limehouse Youth Centre on Monday to open a new scheme that gives staff from the two business districts the chance to volunteer in projects just 10 minutes away from their offices.

Mike Brook, East London Advertiser, August 11th 2009

SIR Ian McKellen has started a youth project to help staff from the world of finance and commerce volunteer in community projects even if they don't have the time.

The Lord of the Rings star known for his role as 'Gandalf' launched the scheme in London's East End for 'bite size' involvement when he looked in at City Gateway's Limehouse youth centre.

John Hill, The Wharf Newspaper, August 10th 2009

Legendary actor Sir Ian McKellen believes Canary Wharf companies have a responsibility to the area around them.

The Narrow Street-based stage and screen star visited the nearby Limehouse Youth Centre to view an art competition run by charity City Gateway.

Third Sector Online, 3 August 2009

Fourteen-year-old Kobi Miller, pictured here with youth worker Randy Ashie, has won a competition organised by social exclusion charity City Gateway to design a pair of shoes.

YOUNGSTERS who have turned their life around and pulled themselves up from unemployment in London's deprived East End have 'graduated' this week with an international law firm.

Thirty who weren’t in jobs or education joined a City Gateway course with mentors and an introduction to the world of work.

They have now graduated onto a Gateway apprenticeship scheme.

CRIME AND DRUGS

Stephen Beer, Common Good Magazine, Issue 200, Summer 2009

On Monday 15th September 2008, the investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and the world changed. That event, and the various financial problems that led to it, have altered political debate for at least a decade.

City Gateway’s work, in partnership with other organisations, has seen NEET (young people not in education, employment or training) figures in Tower Hamlets fall from 15% to 6.7% in the past two years.

The New Statesman reports that of the 250 young people removed from the Borough NEET register in 2007, City Gateway had worked with 220 of them.