LDN Community Engagement Academy
Project Spotlights
The LDN Community Engagement Academy empowers learners to turn community insight into meaningful action.
Working across local authorities, participants are strengthening consultation, engagement and stakeholder relationships to improve outcomes for residents and communities. Through projects focused on housing, social value, service improvement and community participation, learners are applying the skills developed through the Academy to deliver lasting impact.
Below, we highlight learners whose projects demonstrate the real-world impact of the LDN Community Engagement Academy, showcasing how effective community engagement can drive positive change for residents, organisations and the wider communities they serve.
Maria Hill
The London Borough of Havering
Maria Hill has made a significant contribution to The London Borough of Havering through the LDN Community Engagement Academy apprenticeship, delivering projects that have improved resident engagement, enhanced housing services and supported the council’s wider social and environmental ambitions.
Working as a Senior Resident Liaison Officer, Maria has played a key role in ensuring residents remain informed and involved throughout major housing improvement programmes. She developed new stakeholder engagement and communications plans that are now embedded across multiple workstreams, helping project teams manage relationships more effectively and maintain clear communication with residents, contractors and key stakeholders.
Maria also redesigned the council’s resident feedback process, replacing a lengthy survey system with a simplified digital approach and easy-to-use feedback postcards. The new method has since been adopted by multiple teams, creating a more consistent approach to gathering resident insight and improving services.
"Through the programme, I have developed stronger communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder engagement skills, helping to improve the customer experience for our residents and strengthen relationships with contractors and colleagues.”
A significant part of Maria’s work has focused on initiatives that improve housing quality, increase energy efficiency and support efforts to reduce fuel poverty among residents. She supported Havering’s successful participation in a London Councils consortium bid, helping secure £2 million of Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund investment. This funding contributes to wider plans, supported by £27 million of council investment, to improve energy efficiency, reduce fuel poverty and help council homes reach an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C by 2030.
Maria has also delivered community events, energy advice initiatives and social value projects, including a construction skills programme where care-experienced young people successfully achieved industry-recognised qualifications. Through these projects, Maria has strengthened community trust, enhanced resident outcomes and delivered lasting value for both Havering Council and its residents.
Adetola Okunuga
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Through the LDN Community Engagement Academy apprenticeship, Adetola Okunuga has helped the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea strengthen support for vulnerable residents while improving the consistency and quality of housing services.
Working within the Accommodation Solutions Team, Adetola has delivered a range of projects focused on homelessness prevention, resident engagement and service improvement. Her work includes carrying out detailed suitability assessments for households in temporary accommodation, ensuring families can access appropriate housing solutions and progress through the housing pathway. She also played a key role in urgent accommodation moves, contributing to a process that achieved a 50% reduction in urgent housing cases over a three-month period.
Adetola has driven improvements in internal processes to support consistency, helping colleagues capture key information and improve efficiency across the team. She also supported the development of staff capability by mentoring a new team member through structured shadowing and tailored learning approaches.
“I have gained valuable experience in applying project and change management principles within a Local Government setting. It has allowed me to build my confidence, develop my leadership skills, and understand how structured project work can support meaningful service improvement. This project has made an impact by strengthening resident engagement, improving accountability through the ‘You Said, We Did’ framework, and supporting RBKC’s commitment to becoming a more transparent, resident-focused and responsive Council.”
Beyond day-to-day service delivery, Adetola led the way in exploring housing best practice across other councils to identify innovative approaches that could inform future improvements within RBKC. Her work with residents demonstrates a strong commitment to personalised support and early intervention. By championing tailored approaches, she has helped individuals facing complex challenges related to homelessness, employment barriers and mental health needs access the support, advice and services most relevant to their circumstances.
Collectively, these projects have helped improve service quality, strengthen internal processes and deliver better outcomes for residents navigating housing need.
Emily Baldwin
London Borough of Havering
From improving access to local services to strengthening community participation, Emily Baldwin has delivered projects that are helping to create more connected and collaborative communities across the London Borough of Havering.
Emily has played a leading role in the development of the Live Well Havering programme. She created a community services directory, generating more than 3,000 engagement opportunities across local libraries, GP practices, schools and community venues to ensure residents could access support, including those who are digitally excluded. She also led the launch campaign for the new Live Well Havering website, which attracted more than 2,000 visits on its first day, increasing awareness of over 500 local services and more than 100 pages of health and wellbeing information.
“The programme gave me valuable skills, confidence and a helpful portfolio of work to share with colleagues! One of my proudest moments was being invited back to speak to a new cohort about my work on Live Well Havering and inclusive engagement, which felt like a real full-circle moment.”
Her work has also strengthened community-led decision making. Emily redesigned the £80,000 Community Chest fund, shifting it from a commissioner-led model to a participatory grant-making process involving local residents. Feedback showed 100% of applicants rated their panel experience as Good or Very Good.
Through these projects, Emily has increased community influence, improved access to information and built stronger partnerships between residents, voluntary organisations, the NHS and the council.
Jeneil McDonald
Westminster City Council
Since joining the LDN Community Engagement Academy apprenticeship, Jeneil McDonald has delivered projects that have strengthened strategic decision-making, partnership working and community impact across Westminster City Council’s Sport, Leisure and Active Communities service.
A significant part of Jeneil’s work focused on supporting the delivery of the ActiveWestminster Strategy. She helped map 26 council strategies, identify more than 150 programmes and initiatives, and develop a Year 1 delivery plan that improved alignment between teams, reduced duplication and highlighted opportunities for greater cross-department collaboration. This has helped create a more joined-up approach to improving physical activity, health and wellbeing across Westminster.
Jeneil also enhanced how the service works with partners and communities. She designed the team’s first partnership survey, creating a framework to measure relationship strength across key stakeholders and generate insights to improve collaboration. She relaunched the ActiveWestminster Partnership Meetings, bringing organisations together around shared priorities and helping the council gather valuable feedback to shape future service delivery.
“The Academy has challenged me to think more strategically, be more intentional about how I use evidence and insight and consider the wider impact of the work we do. I've been able to grow in confidence throughout the programme, and it has been very rewarding to see how my learning has translated into practical improvements for my team, our partners and our residents.”
Her commitment to equality and inclusion shone through across multiple projects. This included recruiting residents from diverse and underrepresented groups for strategic focus groups, developing a new funding assessment framework, improving service-wide monitoring processes, and leading an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion data workshop for colleagues.
Through these projects, Jeneil has helped Westminster City Council strengthen governance, improve stakeholder engagement and build more inclusive, evidence-led services for residents.
Zoe Christodoulou
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Zoe Christodoulou has delivered a series of impactful community engagement projects through the LDN Community Engagement Academy apprenticeship, helping the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham strengthen partnerships, improve services and deliver measurable outcomes for residents.
A key achievement was leading the development and evaluation of the borough’s Warm Spaces programme. Zoe secured funding, designed an open application process and worked with local voluntary, community and faith organisations to expand support for residents affected by the cost of living crisis. The programme funded four community organisations and generated significant engagement, including 54 events delivered by one partner alone, attracting 844 attendees.
“It was a great experience to be part of a group with other local authority officers across London. The Academy was really well structured and it's a genuine learning opportunity for local council officers - I really hope to see more people signed up in the future!”
Zoe also played a central role in the Connect social isolation programme, bringing together health, community and voluntary sector partners to support residents experiencing loneliness. Early evaluation identified an estimated £295,903 of social and financial benefit across nine resident case studies, with projected long-term benefits of more than £3.2 million if outcomes are replicated across the full cohort of 100 participants.
Alongside this, Zoe contributed to the borough’s VCSE Strategy, coordinated a £100,000 Faith Leaders Network health inequalities programme, delivered funding and partnership initiatives, and created the Participation and Engagement team’s first work experience placement for a care leaver.
Through these projects, Zoe has strengthened community partnerships, improved resident outcomes and helped embed more collaborative, evidence-led approaches across the organisation.
Want to get involved?
For further information, please email our Local Government Partnership Manager, Emily Graveling, via