Volunteers Week 2025: Responsibility Value awards

Our Responsibility Value award goes to Juan Leal with runner up Julie Harris-Cohen

A resident who has helped hold others accountable to deliver improvements to our services or provide solutions.

This resident may have actively given feedback to help others or contributed to improve a service. The resident takes into consideration the wider resident voice and seeks collaborative feedback from others to help make meaningful decisions.

Responsibility Value award winner, Juan Leal

Juan thought of an opportunity to improve the communal gardens at Phoenix Court and partnered with community group Seeds for Growth.

In January 2025, he successfully secured a £19, 565 grant from the National Lottery and has since led weekly planning meetings with residents and Seeds for Growth.

His leadership consistently brought together a group of residents, fostering a strong sense of ownership, making the project self-sustaining.

The initiative aims to build community cohesion, reduce social isolations and alleviate food poverty through a weekly veg box scheme for residents facing food insecurity.

It also provides a space for residents and the wider community to develop skills in horticulture and biodiversity, while serving as a flagship model for community led projects.

A community organiser at Seeds for Growth, praised the project saying,

“In my time supporting residents on estates to start community growing spaces, I have never seen a group that will guarantee success of this project like Phoenix Court Residents – they have already done this community proud.”

A ribbon cutting event will take place this Thursday, 5 July at 2pm with the mayor and local MPs.

Responsibility Value runner up, Julie Harris-Cohen

Neighbourhood champion Julie Harris-Cohen is passionate about the community she lives in and helping vulnerable residents. She is an actively involved resident who recently advocated for all residents at Orchehill Court, where replacement roof works was carried out and things have not gone to plan.

Works that residents were told would happen, within an agreed time scale, didn’t take place and what was then agreed was different to the original plan.

Julie listened to all resident's concerns and frustrations, and she passed on the feedback to the relevant people at L&Q.

Julie has demonstrated responsibility by taking the lead for ongoing resident enquiries and working with housing officers and grounds maintenance contractors to come up with solutions.

Julie also makes sure to advocate for her fellow residents when volunteering her time to feedback and scrutinise our decision making to help improve the services her and her fellow resident receive.

To become an involved resident, register your interests.