Established in 2001, Hackney’s Community Empowerment Network or CEN is the structure through which voluntary and community organisations are represented on Team Hackney - the Local Strategic Partnership - where decisions on policy, services and spending are made.

More than 60 community representatives (or reps) and networks and supported by the CEN to represent the views of hundreds of local voluntary and community sector or VCS organisations who deliver services vital to Hackney like advice, employment support, helping older people and the disabled people's services, youth clubs, after-school-clubs, language and literacy training, refugee and migrant programs and much much more.