Ten years ago the Teviot estate suffered high levels of crime, drug-use, poverty and unemployment. The few existing local businesses had been driven away, there was no bus service and the tube was 15 minutes walk away.

Life was difficult for the estate's 1500 residents, including Crissy - unemployed, unable to read and write, she felt powerless. But all that changed one day in 1997, when she attended a local planning day held by the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation which gave the residents a chance to say what improvements they would like to the area.

"I thought 'I'm going to get a bus route for this estate. Everyone said I had no chance but I got 7,000 signatures saying we needed that route and we got it."

She formed the Teviot Action Group. With no money and few resources TAG, scraping by on favours and good will, slowly began to rebuild what the estate had been lacking for the past thirty years - a sense of community.

Starting with a much needed kids' club, residents got together to run bingo nights, walking groups, a fresh fruit and veg co-op, karate classes, kids clubs, a job club, adult education classes and a league-topping football team.

Crissy had begun to teach herself to read and write but she still felt overwhelmed by the jargon and red-tape involved. "I used to feel sick with nerves when I had to talk to people in authority and I had to rush to the library to look up the words they were using"

In 2003, she was introduced to the School for Social Entrepreneurs - a group which trains people to use their entrepreneurial talents for social good rather than to make money. Crissy graduated from the SSE's 'Ready Steady Grow' programme equipped with the tools to bring funding, strategy and planning to the project, as well as a huge boost in her self-confidence - completing her transformation into a confident community leader.

Her latest venture, set up with a fellow SSE graduate, is a community hairdressers promising 'West-end styles at East-end prices', as well as jobs and training opportunities for local residents.

Anti-social behaviour in the area has dropped by a third. "This estate is the best it's ever been," says Pam Vincent, a Teviot tenant of more than twenty years, "A lot of people talked about changing things here. Crissy went out and did it."

Ten years ago the Teviot estate suffered high levels of crime, drug-use, poverty and unemployment. The few existing local businesses had been driven away, there was no bus service and the tube was 15 minutes walk away.

Life was difficult for the estate's 1500 residents, including Crissy - unemployed, unable to read and write, she felt powerless. But all that changed one day in 1997, when she attended a local planning day held by the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation which gave the residents a chance to say what improvements they would like to the area.

"I thought 'I'm going to get a bus route for this estate. Everyone said I had no chance but I got 7,000 signatures saying we needed that route and we got it."

She formed the Teviot Action Group. With no money and few resources TAG, scraping by on favours and good will, slowly began to rebuild what the estate had been lacking for the past thirty years - a sense of community.

Starting with a much needed kids' club, residents got together to run bingo nights, walking groups, a fresh fruit and veg co-op, karate classes, kids clubs, a job club, adult education classes and a league-topping football team.

Crissy had begun to teach herself to read and write but she still felt overwhelmed by the jargon and red-tape involved. "I used to feel sick with nerves when I had to talk to people in authority and I had to rush to the library to look up the words they were using"

In 2003, she was introduced to the School for Social Entrepreneurs - a group which trains people to use their entrepreneurial talents for social good rather than to make money. Crissy graduated from the SSE's 'Ready Steady Grow' programme equipped with the tools to bring funding, strategy and planning to the project, as well as a huge boost in her self-confidence - completing her transformation into a confident community leader.

Her latest venture, set up with a fellow SSE graduate, is a community hairdressers promising 'West-end styles at East-end prices', as well as jobs and training opportunities for local residents.

Anti-social behaviour in the area has dropped by a third. "This estate is the best it's ever been," says Pam Vincent, a Teviot tenant of more than twenty years, "A lot of people talked about changing things here. Crissy went out and did it."