Reflecting on 16 Years at 1st Place
After an incredible 16 years, Nicola Howard has left her role as 1st Place Director. During her time here, she has played a huge role in shaping the organisation and supporting children, families and staff across Southwark.
As she prepares for her next chapter, Nicki reflected on her journey and the impact of family support services over the years.
Celebrating 16 years of leadership.
Nicki’s connection with the work began long before she became Director.
“I began my journey, like many of our team, as a parent accessing services. When I joined the team in East Peckham in 2002, I was really motivated by our work giving other parents the tools to affect change.”
Those early experiences showed how powerful it can be when communities help shape the services around them.
“Seeing how services and spaces began to be shaped from the bottom up was really empowering for people whose views and opinions were not heard.”
For Nicki, the most meaningful part of the work has always been the relationships built with families.
“Knowing that something quite simple, such as providing time and space to for their needs to be listened to, can make a big difference. We know that this isn’t always the case, and my expectation of the team at 1st Place is that families who visit us for the first time will leave with more than they arrived with – even if that was just a warm welcome and an invite to our play sessions.”
“We have remained a constant place in the community”
A lasting legacy.
“Seeing the infrastructure that had been put in place in the early 2000s to support children being reduced in many communities was really difficult. We knew it worked and improved their health and early learning outcomes.”
Despite these challenges, Nicki believes the strong partnerships across Southwark have helped services continue to support families.
“There have been enough challenges to keep us all busy over the last 16 years, but more recently the obvious ones would be the pandemic and the loss of our nursery space at what was Cambridge House Settlement. We were proud to have maintained our services through the pandemic learning lots of new skills on the way.”
“Parents have used their voices to support us when we have encountered actions which have not considered the needs of others. This has given us strength to push forward when things have seemed in surmountable. I think relationships across the community are key. Being willing to collaborate at all levels, sharing what we have with other organisations so we can create something new to address emerging needs.”
At its heart, 1st Place has always focused on being somewhere families can turn to when they need support.
“We have remained a constant place in the community. At 1st Place we have a building with an open door, so families can just pop in and ask for help”
Reflecting on her time at the organisation, Nicki says she is proud of how the charity has grown and strengthened its partnerships.
“Growing the charity so that help through the services we provide is easily available to more families, and growing our partnerships so that a wider range of help is available.”
Looking ahead.
Looking to the future, Nicki hopes the legacy of early years programmes continues to support children and families.
“I hope the legacy of Sure Start will continue through the evolution of Best Start Family Hubs so we can support children in their earliest years, where it makes the greatest difference.”
As she moves into her next chapter, Nicki is looking forward to taking some time to reflect.
“I’m looking forward to having some time to think about what I would like to do next and hopefully using what I have learned to benefit another voluntary organisation. But for now, it will be settling into a new community and walking my dogs.”