The Best Possible Life ChancesWe have a very special responsibility to help to improve the life chances of all sectors of our community. Young people are very important. Compared to the rest of Southwark SE15 has a very high proportion of under 15s. Through education, youth work and supporting their aspirations we can help them achieve their potential.
In addition to supporting the local economy, an important aspect of improving prosperity in SE15 is increasing our community's access to other employment, especially well paid jobs in central London, the City and Docklands, areas clearly visible through the glass walls of the Peckham library lifts.
Young people 
The borough wide umbrella for children and young people is Young Southwark. Its aims are
- Improved literacy and numeracy
- Reduced rates of teenage pregnancy
- A reduced incidence of crime against children and young people
- More for children and young people to do
- Reduced rates of childhood obesity
In SE15 Peckham Programme works with a variety of organisations, partners and council departments to help achieve these outcomes locally.
Peckham based Wisegem is a local organisation that supports teenage mothers but also through peer education and going into schools hopes to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancies. Nunhead and Peckham Rye has the highest proportion in the borough.
The From Boyhood to Manhood Foundation and the Eternal Life Support Centre work with young people to prevent them becoming the victims or perpetrators of crime and to help them achieve their aspirations.
And Peckham Programme itself runs Star Academy, the annual talent show and media careers fair. It supports the highly successful Southwark Tigers Cheerleaders and football clubs such as Peckham Town FC for boys and girls. Among those training is Peckham born Mary Phillip, the Arsenal and England women's defender.
 Spaces for young people in SE15 include the refurbished BMX track, which with luck is training young riders for the Olympics, the sports pitches at Spark in Brimmington Park and the supervised activities for 8 to 13s at Central Venture Park in Kelly Avenue.
The new adventure playground on Peckham Rye, a project from the previous round of CGS awards, is nearly complete.
Peckham Programme always caters for young people at its festivals such as I Love Peckham and Flavas This year it put on an ice rink for seasonal fun this December.
Employment
Children growing up in poverty are twice as likely to be poor as adults. 2008 will see various approaches to getting access to employment or better employment for our adult population.
This could be through promoting better childcare, training and career development or 'whole neighbourhood' approaches to tackling deprivation.
Tackling poverty
Nearly half the population of Peckham is poor or borderline poor. While promoting routes into work for residents, Peckham Programme wants to increase financial inclusion.
Peckham Programmw works with Southwark's credit union to promote services for the thousands of Peckham residents who don't have access to mainstream financial products such as bank accounts and are, in many case, reliant on doorstep lenders charging punitive interest rates for loans.
Pensioner poverty is another area for concern. Southwark as a whole has managed to help pensioners claim more than £2 million in benefits owed to them.
Contact us
Peckham Programme
Tel: 020 7525 1021
getinvolvedinpeckham@southwark.gov.uk
Sumner House
Sumner Road
Peckham
London
SE15 5QS
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