The City of London Corporation’s charitable funder, City Bridge Trust, has awarded grants totalling over £2.4million to 20 charitable organisations tackling inequality and disadvantage across London in its latest round of funding.

The grants include: £113,000 to Rushey Green Timebank towards their Wild Cat Wilderness project, a community green space in Catford where the local community can explore nature and the wildlife, and learn new outdoor skills or crafts; £103,700 to Stay Safe East, a charity which works to tackle violence and abuse against disabled and deaf people; £69,600 to Carney’s Community towards a new programme to help change the lives of vulnerable young people through boxing and mentoring support.

The Trust has also agreed two major grants for initiatives in four outer-London boroughs, awarding £300,000 to the Young People’s Foundations in the boroughs of Brent, Harrow and Barnet to continue their work supporting youth organisations across London, in partnership with the John Lyon’s Charity. The foundations provide a collective voice and pool of resources for all the local organisations, large and small, running activities for young people in the boroughs. A grant of £450,000 was given to the Participatory City Foundation to deliver the Every One Every Day neighbourhood project across the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. This £6.4m initiative, jointly funded with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Big Lottery Fund, will work with 25,000 residents across the borough to create over 350 neighbourhood-led projects and form more than 100 new businesses over the next five years.

Alison Gowman, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said:

“This summer we have given grants to such a wide variety of charities, including, nature, sport, theatre and mental health with the aim of targeting the most vulnerable members or society and those most in need.

“We fund work focused on tackling disadvantage in London and give to charities that are making real change to the lives of many across through their services and support.

“City Bridge Trust is committed to tackling disadvantage across the capital and making London a fairer and better place to live.”

George Turner, co-founder and CEO of Carney’s Community, added:

“Since moving into a new space three years ago our numbers have grown quickly and it has been difficult to meet the demand, which is why we were so pleased to hear that City Bridge Trust have agreed to fund part of our program for the next three years.

“Some of our participants come from horrific backgrounds and have not had the same opportunities as many others. It is only through funders like City Bridge Trust that we are able to help some of the most troubled youngsters.

“It opens up access to new opportunities that help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to be the best they can be.”

City Bridge Trust is London’s biggest independent grant giver, making grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantage across the capital. The Trust has awarded around 7,700 grants totalling over £370 million since it first began in 1995. It helps achieve the Corporation’s aim of changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners

ENDS

Media Enquiries

Kristina Drake

Media Officer, City of London Corporation

Kristina.Drake@cityoflondon.gov.uk

07710860884 / 020 7332 1125