Background

The idea for the “Fulham Welcomes You” programme came out of an initiative of the RSA.

The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce - commonly known as the RSA was founded in 1754 by William Shipley, a painter and social activist, on a manifesto to embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine arts, improve our manufactures and extend our commerce".

Today the RSA's work is framed by five manifesto challenges:

• Encouraging Enterprise
• Moving Towards a Zero-Waste Society
• Developing a Capable Population
• Fostering Resilient Communities
• Advancing Global Citizenship

that reflect the original mission in 21st-century terms. These challenges are delivered through a portfolio of projects and a lecture programme consisting of over 100 events every year. It remains an independent, non-aligned, multi-disciplinary body, supported by 25,000 Fellows and registered as a charity in England and Wales.

Coffeehouses have long been places for discussion, debate and ideas; places where people meet and engage in conversation. Many innovative ideas have originated from discussions in coffeehouses – the RSA and Lloyds of London are examples.

The Coffeehouse Challenge has been developed by the RSA as a way for people to come together over coffee to talk about the issues they care about and maybe do something about them. It takes place throughout June and is organised in partnership with Starbucks, T-Mobile, TimeBank and BBC Action Network.

Starbucks are providing £10,000 in awards for some of the best ideas generated in discussion to help them get going.

The Fulham Coffeehouse Challenge facilitated by Jane Emmanuel, an executive coach and Stefan Lubomirski de Vaux, a photographer, was held on 19th June from 7.30 to 9.00pm at Starbucks, 809 Fulham Road, SW6 and the theme was “Fostering a positive sense of belonging in Fulham”

12 residents of Fulham attended and a fruitful discussion ensued, coming up with the idea of addressing the problems associated with the transitory nature of a significant proportion of Fulham’s population. The need for some form of a "Welcome Pack" for new residents emerged which would ease their integration into the community and enable them to benefit more quickly from the services, facilities and opportunities for social interaction that the borough offers.

In October we were advised that we had been awarded £500 to develop our idea further. Subsequent discussions including Cathy Robertson, a Strategic Marketing, Business Planning Consultant and one of the original 12 participants developed the ideas further concentrating particularly on the need for there to be actual face to face social interaction resulted in the proposal to arrange quarterly "Fulham Welcomes You" evenings each at a different Coffee House, with a guest speaker as the core of the programme. We believe this addresses several of the manifesto challenges.