UBS help Hackney become one of the most improved boroughs in the country

Through 27 years of local involvement in Hackney, UBS has helped it become one of London’s most improved boroughs.

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UBS's Community Affairs programme, focusing on education and regeneration, was launched in the 1980s to support a range of projects in Hackney, the UK's 4th most disadvantaged borough. The programme has since involved co-founding Business in the Community, the East London Business Alliance (ELBA) , Groundwork Hackney (now Groundwork London), and establishing the UK’s first adult to pupil mentoring programme Roots and Wings.

Since 2005 UBS has worked collaboratively across Shoreditch in a regeneration partnership, “Project Shoreditch”, with Deutsche Bank, Linklaters, ELBA & the Shoreditch Trust (also now including British Land and Hammerson).

Corporate funding pays for a community broker who has enabled almost 7,000 employee volunteers to be placed with more than 200 community and voluntary organisations. Project Shoreditch volunteers are targeted to meet specific and priority local need as mapped initially by the New Deal for Communities initiative. Volunteers offer support through business planning,, pro-bono legal advice, mentoring, training, web design, workplace visits, team challenges, and fundraising. Over 50% of volunteers have been from UBS. 

UBS was the first financial services organisation to sponsor an Academy.  The Bridge Academy in Hackney is a leading example of a business / school partnership; UBS’s ambition is to create an outstanding school at the centre of its local community.  Working with The Bridge Academy, UBS uses the learning from its volunteering and educational partnerships gained through working in Hackney for over 27 years. Since 2003 over 1,300 volunteers have collaborated to support the school impacting positively on student attainment and self-development.

As Jules Pipe, the Mayor of Hackney says “UBS has taken CSR to a level where no City institution has gone in modern times.  The firm demonstrates a serious and sustained purpose in reaching out from its City base”.

Impact / Input                                                                                            

• Currently approx.  25% of the UK workforce (around 1,500 employees) volunteer each year giving around 12,000 hours of time in support of the local community. 
• Since 2005, UBS has directed nearly £16m of support (financial, in-kind and employee volunteering) into Hackney, leveraging a further £3.56m to partner organisations.
• Independent evaluation showed that, amongst other achievements, Project Shoreditch has helped narrow the gap in KS2 educational attainment levels between Shoreditch and the national average from 22% to 12%.
• OFSTED’s report on Bridge Academy concluded that “outstanding partnership makes a strong contribution. It benefits pupils in ways that could not be provided  otherwise. Volunteers provide good role models that help raise student expectations of what they might achieve.”
• UBS support has enabled Hackney Business Venture contribute to 189 business start-ups, create 233 jobs and leverage £214,000 from its small business loan fund (2008-2009).
• In the English intervention project at Bridge Academy, volunteers helped 79% of pupils to improve by at least one sub-level.