Lisa and Kirk both received bursaries from the Trust to study architecture, Doreen Lawrence has said she’s ‘extremely proud’ of them stading for election. Read their election statements here:

The Architects Journal published a piece on the elections and Kirk and Lisa, which you can read in full here:

ARB elections: Stephen Lawrence Trust backs candidates

10 February, 2012 | By Merlin Fulcher

The Stephen Lawrence Trust has come out in support of two ethnic minority candidates running for election to the ARB’s board

Lisa Basu and Kirk Ray Morrison are the only ethnic minority candidates campaigning to join the board, which currently has no black or Asian members.

According to the latest figures from the Fees Bureau, 93 per cent of architects in the UK are white – a statistic Basu described as ‘eye-opening’.

She added: ‘If we can invest in getting more diversity on the board, that will promote getting people from different backgrounds involved in architecture.’

Basu said her main objective was to be a ‘voice on the board’ for ‘young blood’ and future generations of architects. She also raised ‘concern’ over the current challenges faced by students attempting to complete their part 3 qualifications.

Morrison said the ARB’s ‘shamefully’ low election turnout – 15 per cent in 2009 and 23 per cent in 2006 – needed addressing. ‘The variety of issues we are campaigning for would help to increase the amount of people voting’.

Both candidates were helped to become architects by the Deptford-based charity, which was set up in memory of murdered teenager and aspiring architect Stephen Lawrence to give disadvantaged young people access to the profession.

An electoral victory would send a ‘powerful signal’ that UK architecture is committed to ‘a level playing-field’, claimed trust managing director Paul Anderson-Walsh.

Stephen’s mother, Doreen Lawrence added she was ‘extremely proud’ of both candidates for standing.

The endorsement comes a week after the RIBA controversially backed four candidates, calling for a ‘minimalist’ ARB operating strictly within the scope of the Architects Act (AJ 02.02.12).

ARB vice-chair and current electoral candidate Gordon Gibb – who turned down an offer of endorsement by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland – questioned whether the RIBA should promote its members ahead of others.

He also criticised the ‘pointless’ ARB Reform Group – which aims to ‘define and restrict’ the ARB’s powers and has held five out of the seven seats available to architects since 2006 – claiming it hadn’t ‘reformed anything.’

But ARB board member and Reform Group activist George Oldham has hit back, claiming Gibb’s stance was ‘as extraordinary as it is unsustainable’. He said the group was responsible for lowering the retention fee, among other reforms.

In a letter to the AJ, Oldham said: ‘It is a matter of public record that the group initiated and persuaded the Board to ratify the following reforms: the prosecution of title abuse and the 22,000 audit of the directories, restricting the wasteful monitoring of PII and Competence, better preparation of the Budget, lowering of the Retention Fee, Abolition of the Working Groups and institution of the Third Party Review.’

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Doreen Lawrence, Stuart Lawrence (brother). Imran Khan (family solicitor) and BBC reporter Mark Daly. The discussion following the screening will cover the struggle of the Lawrence family, institutionalised racism and the power of investigative broadcast journalism to effect change, chaired by TV correspondent, Rageh Omaar.

Location:  Bafta, Princess Anne Theatre, Piccadilly, W1J 9LN

Ticket Price: £10

Book a Ticket

Since its formation in 1998 The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust has been committed to supporting young
people from diverse, disadvantaged backgrounds, helping them to break the social and economic barriers that
stood between them and a career in architecture and urban design, Stephen’s chosen career. We have to date
been able to award nearly 100 bursaries and have seen our eighth “Stephen” qualify as an architect.

In 2008, with the help of public funding, we opened the magnificent Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford SE8 as
a centre of excellence for architecture and design and the wider built environment. Whilst we are pleased with
the achievements and the change that we have in some small measure been able to encourage within this
profession, we want to do more, a lot more, helping to create a level playing field not just in architecture, but in
the Law, Finance, the Media and other areas of life where disadvantaged young people find themselves
confronted with seemingly insurmountable obstacles to entry.

With this is mind the Trust has resolved that the Stephen Lawrence Centre should not just be a centre for
architecture and the built environment, but a place in which aspiring young people can be built up and readied to
be change champions in their own right. And so the Stephen Lawrence 18:18 Access & Opportunity Fund was
conceived to coincide with the 18th anniversary of Stephen’s death, Stephen, who was 18 when he died. Its goal is
to have as much impact in the realm of social justice as the Lawrence case has had on the criminal justice system.
It is a fund that will underwrite a range of new personal learning and development programmes jointly titled
“Ready, Steady, Grow” and I very much hope that you will recognise the importance of these programmes and
engage with the Fund in whatever way you can.

Doreen Lawrence OBE

As you may be aware the Trust is holding its very first Criminal Justice Lecture later this month.  In the wake of the recent verdicts and on the eve of the 13^th anniversary of the publication of the landmark Macpherson Report, this event will be a poignant and unique opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned and to consider how we can create a legacy of hope.

Normal ticket price £150.00 now £18.18

As you can imagine, places are limited and sold on a strictly first come first serve basis

Sponsored by the Daily Mail and hosted by the City Law firm Freshfields, Doreen Lawrence will be joined by guest speakers:  Paul Dacre Editor of The Daily Mail and Editor-In-Chief of Associated Newspapers; the former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Lord Ian Blair of Boughton; former Attorney General, Baroness Scotland; former Home Secretary, The Right Honourable Jack Straw MP and Garth Crooks OBE, who will chair a Question and Answer session.

Accordingly we continuously ensure that each donation goes as far as possible supporting our beneficiaries by running as lean an operation as possible.

Specific to the Trust, the events of recent weeks have highlighted that the cause of criminal justice has been long-neglected. Similarly, the charitable cause has also suffered from the same neglect in terms of donations. The 18:18 drive already drew attention to the long delay in progressing criminal and social justice and yesterday we renewed our appeal for support in light of the judicial vindication of our cause.

Now more than ever, a charity such as the Trust that does so much to combat social injustice, by promoting equality of opportunity, good race relations and the elimination of racial discrimination must not be allowed to fail for lack of funding.

Together with the memory of Stephen, your financial support enables us to wedge open the door of opportunity for others. You can be assured that the Trust fully intends to continue to pursue its aims and objectives, creating a legacy of hope in Stephen’s name.

HOW YOU CAN GIVE MONEY

To donate to the 18:18 campaign:
Justgiving.com/slct/donate
ONLINE: At www.stephenlawrence.org.uk
Bank account details sort code 30-94-08 bank account 02963035
BY CHEQUE: Made payable to Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust
and sent to the trust at 39 Brookmill Road, Deptford, London SE8 4HU.
BY TEXT MESSAGE: Text SLCT18 followed by the £ symbol, then the
amount to 70070. Donations will appear on your next phone statement.
Pay as you go customers will be debited from funds on their balance

We at the Trust are proud to announce the Doreen Lawrence Text  £2 appeal for the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.

Donate Now Text: DLAW02 £2 to 70070

Your support for the Trust is vital and would go along way to ensuring that January 4th 2012 will be more than a day to be remembered. If you wish to donate more please visit:

www.justgiving.com/slct/donate

For more details please click on the link -Doreen Lawrence  £2 Text Appeal

Looking for work?

Living in South London?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to the questions above then why not visit the Stephen Lawrence Centre on Monday, 6th February.  Between 10am and 1.30pm you can find out about a variety of apprenticeship schemes that are available to you and sign up to any that take your interest.

Organisations attending include:

• Greenwich Local Labour and Business (environmental and business admin roles)
• London Apprenticeship Company (business admin roles)
• M.B.D.A

“We at The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust welcome the decision reached by the jury today with a sense of huge relief.  Throughout the 18-year ordeal, the Lawrence family’s desire has been the pursuit of justice – today, justice was served.

As one door closes, they are determined to make sure that other doors open.  The family is only too well aware that had Stephen got on the bus that fatal April night, he would have escaped one criminal injustice only to be confronted with a series of deadening social ones that would have stood between him and his desire to become an Architect.

Stephen Lawrence’s murder leaves in its wake a changed criminal justice landscape, but it is a change in the social justice topography that the Lawrence family hopes will be Stephen Lawrence’s lasting legacy.

The greatest desire of the Lawrence family is to give to others what was so cruelly snatched from Stephen – a chance to fulfill their potential in life.  Through the Trust that bears his name, Doreen Lawrence and those who work for and with the Trust are helping to grow a fairer society by watering the seeds of ambition, one “Stephen” at a time.

Whilst Stephen’s death has become a metaphor for individual and institutional racism, Stephen’s mother, the inspirational Doreen Lawrence OBE is a metaphor for the very best of British values: dignity, courage and sheer tenacity.  Thanks to the work of the Trust, Doreen Lawrence’s  “extended family” now includes the ever-expanding group we call “The Stephens”, our beneficiaries, who are a metaphor for ambitious, bright, hardworking young people, who, like Stephen, make up for what they lack in privilege, access and opportunity with attitude, determination and resilience.

The “Stephens” are young people from the “invisible middle” of our society.  Much of the attention in the education system is given either to the gifted and talented or the troubled and so for various reasons the “Stephens” and their hidden talents often go unnoticed.  They are however, good, responsible young people, who with a little investment could be great.

We support these ambitious young people to realise their untapped potential thus improving their life chances, empowering their communities and enriching the organisations with whom they work.

On their behalf, the Trust seeks to combat social injustice by removing both the internal and external barriers that prevent social mobility.  We promote equality of opportunity, good race relations and the elimination of racial discrimination.  We aim to achieve this through education, employability and enterprise programmes as well as advocacy and advisory services. Our goal is to ensure that the “Stephens” are “prepared for life”…

The need for the Trust’s work is all the more acute in the light of recent surveys from The British Council and the British Chamber of Commerce that raise real concerns around the employability of school leavers.

The British Chamber of Commerce [BCC] findings in its report entitled “Skills for Business: More to Learn” asserts that often the reason that business confidence in school leavers is very low is because professionalism or communication skills are lacking.   Crucially, we enable the “Stephens” to bridge the reality gap between education and employment.   That gap is becoming a chasm.”

Notes

Paul Anderson-Walsh is the CEO of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. For more information about this communication or the work of the Trust e-mail paul@stephenlawrence.co.uk or call 0208 100 2800

HOW YOU CAN GIVE MONEY

To donate to the 18:18 campaign:

ONLINE: At www.stephenlawrence.org.uk

Bank account details sort code 30-94-08 bank account 02963035

BY CHEQUE: Made payable to Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust

and sent to the trust at 39 Brookmill Road, Deptford, London SE8 4HU.

BY TEXT MESSAGE: Text SLCT18 followed by the £ symbol, then the

amount to 70070. Donations will appear on your next phone statement.

Pay as you go customers will be debited from funds on their balance.

 6th January 2012 – 27th March 2012

We are proud to host an exhibition celebrating the works of contemporary photographers from Central Asia.  This will  provide a platform for amateur photographers to exhibit their works  and introduce the wider audience to  the art and culture of Central Asia.  The exhibition curated by Hana Smeeth will introduce the works of Aziza Karieva, Khurshid Raupov, Madina Turdieva, Sardor Shaahmetov and Hurshida Hamdamova.

Press coverage of the exhibition in Uzbek press http://www.uzdaily.uz/articles-id-9489.htm