From Tokyo to Tower Hamlets: Professor Matsui Visits Streets of Growth’s EpiCentre

Streets of Growth hosted a special guest visit from Japan this week at our pioneering youth intervention EpiCentre in east London. Professor Mariko Matsui – Founder of the Research Institute for Civil Society flew in from Japan to learn of our pioneering model of best practice that combines harm reduction with employability. Professor Mariko was visiting to research the “collaboration” between local authorities and civic organisations in the London. In Japan, “collaboration” means civic organisation participation in local authority policy formation. Mariko said “Having viewed your organisation's activities on your website, and learning of your model of approach, I found them to be exceptionally original and meaningful, which I can take back to explore in Japan.