Rose Small, founder of Community Cares at Keir Hardie Methodist Church in Canning Town, speaks about supporting the borough’s young people in schools and the wider community

What’s your connection with the borough?

I live in Newham and volunteer as a community development worker at the OCC.

I founded and coordinated Our Community Cares Solutions, an organisation that works with vulnerable women and family in the borough.

What’s the best thing about working or living in the borough?

It’s a multicultural society. The events organised in Newham incorporate all races.

What one thing would you change?

I would have more advice centres and support for our youth and disabled residents. And I would do more for our disabled residents in the borough than we do at the moment because it’s important.

Use three words to describe the area.

Close-knit community.

Who is the most inspiring person you have ever met?

John Ajiferuke, the director of LearningSure, is the most inspiring person I’ve ever met.

The LearningSure centre acts as a private exam centre. However, thanks to John, pupils, and parents like myself, it’s more than a centre.

John supports pupils who have not managed to get their target grades or are at a stage in life where they’re not sure how to proceed. John supports them emotionally and academically and really encourages them to achieve their full potential. He believes in them at a time when no one else does.

What new law would you introduce if you were the prime minister?

I would give Newham residents priority when it comes to parking and housing in the borough.

If you were the editor of this paper, what issues in the borough would you focus on?

I would focus on children with special needs and how schools are supporting them. I’d look at what more they can do to further support these children by holding a meeting on a regular basis and making parents more aware.

I’d also look at how we are supporting Newham’s youth and what we’re doing to eradicate bullying and knife crime.