News

So far, the LHC Community Benefit fund has supported local community groups to deliver in the following areas of benefit:

• Wellbeing: helping small groups to prvide social prescribing activities
• Food Poverty: families accessing fresh food and gaining cooking skills
• Social Isolation: skills workshops for LGBTQI young people
• Community Empowerment: leadership and mentoring to counter knife crime
• Environment: reclaiming unused space, community growing project
• Employment: media skills for young people, employment training

We have some Exciting news on our new batch of funded projects and partnerships below..

In Buckinghamshire

Aylesbury Men in Sheds (AMIS) £2,609

The Men in Sheds provide a ‘repair service with a difference’. Their goal is to empower people to learn a new skill - the volunteers encourage the ‘customer so that they can undertake the repair themselves – or know how to do it next time.  This is often something that many never thought possible and provides a sense of purpose and achievement. LHC has funded new equipment to help AMIS expand their service so that they can encourage more people to repair and reuse equipment.

Cllr Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health said: “We are delighted that three Buckinghamshire community projects are to benefit from funding from LHC. All three schemes will benefit our local communities in a multitude of ways.  

Men in Sheds is a popular scheme that helps promote social inclusion and mental wellbeing. This extra funding will help to ensure the scheme can continue to thrive and provide a valuable asset for local residents.  

Additionally, both the Oakside open space works in Denham and the Community Grow project in Walton Court in Aylesbury will not only provide much needed improvements to the landscape and street scene of these two areas, the initiatives will also encourage community involvement which will be of benefit to everyone who lives in the area.”

Oakside Open Space (Groundwork) £5,160

Oakside Open Space was a derelict parcel of land fenced in by a housing estate on one side, the rive Colne on the other and commercial units on the other two. This project will help the land to be opened up and improved for the local community and especially for those living alongside it on the Oakside Estate (just outside of Uxbridge). Since the area has been scrub for some time paths cut through the undergrowth quickly grow over again so the project will extend to create a circular path to allow people to safely access the site.

Community Transform £5,000

A Community Growing project in and around the Walton Court Centre. Walton Court Centre in the south of Aylesbury is a mixed use community hub with 58 residential units above shops, community centre and the healthy living centre. Aylesbury Garden Town is a partner in this project, giving a town wide perspective, links to similar initiatives, wider publicity and a growing circle of expert voluntary growing advice.

Haringey

This quarter we are delighted to partner with our friends at Haringey Giving to match LHC funds for the borough.

Haringey Giving is a new partnership that brings together people who live and work in Haringey, local community organisations, businesses, City firms, funders and other partners. Its aim is to enable people to give time, talents and funds to good causes in their area, and take action on the things that matter to them.. To date we have awarded LHC grants to two organisations – Wise Thoughts and RISE Projects - through Haringey Giving’s Together We Can programme. Together We Can supports local people to come together and take action on a shared issue. Watch this space for updates on these projects and news of further grants we will be awarding with Haringey Giving in the coming months!

For more information on Haringey Giving and the organisations funded through the LHC Community Benefit Fund, please visit;

Haringey Giving - www.haringeygiving.org.uk

Wise Thoughts - www.wisethoughts.org

RISE Projects - www.riseprojects.org.uk

In Hillingdon..

H4All capacity building for voluntary groups £15,000

H4All is a consortium comprising five prominent charities in the borough. The sovereign charities combined their expertise and resources to tackle the wider social issues that impact on health and wellbeing and to create environments where residents thrive.

Part of their remit is to provide support and development for the many smaller groups and organisations that have a role to play in promoting community health and wellbeing, which they are networking into a broad Health and Wellbeing Alliance to support social prescribing in Hillingdon.

In Construction..

One of the first London LHC grantees, We Rise from Brixton have started constructing their innovative film editing suite at their base in 3Space International House (although it will be on wheels and flat pack so can go anywhere!). Once filled with state-of-the-art editing equipment it will improve the delivery, range and reach of the work experience projects they run for disadvantaged young people in Lambeth. 

We Rise will also be able to generate extra income through the editing suite when not in use with young people. In the words of the young people: Working with We Rise …“really inspires you to visualise your future.”

“You have to work in a team, meet a deadline, that’s what you call real, real work experience.”

We look forward to seeing some great results – and some great videos – over the next few months.

Working with partners..

Hackney

In December we were pleased to join Hackney's small grants team to select two excellent projects as recipients of LHC Community Benefit grants. These are going forward as recommendations to Hackney's Cabinet in February.

Future grants

More grants are in the pipeline in Haringey, Buckinghamshire and Hillingdon. Our converstations in Tower Hamlets and Ealing are at what we hope is an advanced stage so look out for some news on funded projects in the next quarterly LHC Community Benefit Fund newsletter.