Weeknote 13, 25th-31st March

Mother’s Day is always a really important moment in Little Village’s calendar. We like to offer every mum we meet a small treat for themselves and this year we’ve had a brilliant response to our campaign. Here’s some of our Southwark volunteers wrapping up all the donations into gorgeous gift packs, ready to be handed out.

What I’ve been doing

Monday morning kicked off with a train journey as I multi-tasked between media work (we had knocked Brexit off the front page of the Daily Mirror) and trying desperately to fix our email system (something I’m woefully unqualified to do). Quite a start to the week. I spent Monday in Bath talking vision, values and plans. Tuesday was all about the team: we had our monthly Site Directors meeting, which this time included our fabulous new Ops Manager Em C. We had a meeting with the new finance manager who starts next week. I caught up with one of our Board members who has been on maternity leave, then our Chair, and then we had our termly Board meeting. I met up with two wonderful women who totally inspire me: Becca Dove from Camden Council, and CJ Bowry who runs Sal’s Shoes. Finally I went on Channel 4 News to talk child poverty, which continues to rise even by the government’s own standards.

What I’m learning

I feel like the project of my early 40s is to reconnect to what my heart is telling me, and to lead from there. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that this week. I realise this is in danger of sounding a bit indulgent: frankly I just need to raise some goddamn money for Little Village. But actually I think it is vital to building an organisation that is authentic, and more importantly, it is vital for me and my happiness. Everything about modern life — our education systems, technologies, economic models — puts analytical thinking over feeling and intuition. But our bodies can tell us so much, if only we listened more carefully.

What I’m celebrating

I’m celebrating not f*cking up my appearance on national TV! And I am also feeling incredibly grateful to the wonderful new people joining the Little Village team. They’ve already brought a new energy, and such warmth, into our work. It’s infectious.

What I’m feeling

I am feeling a bit broken. My Wednesday was wiped out by a vicious migraine, which left me feeling vacant for much of Thursday too. And we had a weekend of actual socialising, which makes me realise how hard it is to do that, plus my job, plus parenting. So I’m sitting here on Sunday night trying my best to dredge up a final burst of energy to see me through this week, until I have a week away. I can’t help but think that everyone I know seems to suffer with the pace at which they are living. Are we slowly but surely driving ourselves mad?

Who I’m working with

Two people in particular to pay tribute to this week. The generosity, trust and playful energy of Jim Godfrey was just what I needed. Frankly any coach who leaves me with homework to do more ‘silly dancing’ is right up my street (I’ve signed up for this in response… gaaah). And Becca Dove, who is everything you could ever hope for from a public servant: visionary, collaborative, respectful, generous and generative. I am so excited about working more closely with her as we develop the peer-based element of Little Village’s model.

Photo of the week

It felt like a big responsibility to everyone working to tackle child poverty when I was invited into the Channel 4 News studio to respond to the awful figures published by government this week. We talked about the fact that 72% of poor kids now live in a household where someone is working. Work could be the route out of poverty — but only if it is decent work that pays a proper wage. Sadly that’s rarely the case for the parents we meet. Watch the piece here.