About CEN

Established in 2001, Hackney’s Community Empowerment Network or CEN is the structure through which voluntary and community organisations are represented on Team Hackney - the Local Strategic Partnership - where decisions on policy, services and spending are made.  

More than 60 community representatives (or reps) and networks are supported by the CEN to represent the views of hundreds of local voluntary and community sector or VCS organisations who deliver services vital to Hackney like advice, employment support, helping older people and the disabled people's services, youth clubs, after-school-clubs, language and literacy training, refugee and migrant programs and much much more.

What does the CEN do?

The CEN aims to bring grass roots expertise to Hackney Council, Team Hackney and other relevant bodies and feedback information from these agencies to grass roots organisations through:

• Being a “network of networks” and bringing together representatives from large established networks, like the Children and Young People Providers Forum and the City & Hackney Health & Social Care Forum, and small newer networks - like Hackney Vietnamese Network, Hackney Advice Forum

• Selecting or electing CEN representatives or reps to Team Hackney
• Bringing together reps and network leads to respond to local and national policies and consultations – for example, we have recently commented on the NHS white paper and are now looking at the community impact of the current round of cuts - see how on our Resources page
• The CEN also facilitates reps and network leads to influence the local policy framework – for example the Sustainable Community Strategy, which sets out Team Hackney’s 10 year plan and the Local Area Agreement, which sets out Team Hackney’s joint targets for the year.

CEN reps take their expertise about community needs to policy makers at Hackney Council, Team Hackney and other relevant bodies.   Including the Local Area Agreement which sets out what the key agencies in Team Hackney will target its spending on for the next three years.

Download our Guide to find out more about the CEN

• If you are from the voluntary and community sector, Download our Guide for the VCS here
• If you are a Hackney Councillor, Download our Guide for Councillors
• If you are from a public sector agency, Download our Guide for the Public Sector here

How the CEN is funded

The CEN is hosted by Hackney CVS and is funded through Hackney CVS’s core contract with Hackney Council.