The City of London Corporation’s charitable funder, City Bridge Trust, has awarded grants totalling over £2.5 million to 34 charities tackling inequality and disadvantage across London in its latest round of funding.

The grants include: £77,250 to environmental charity Hubbub to take children on educational ‘plastic fishing’ trips in the River Thames on the world’s only boat made of recycled plastic, £113,960 to the Royal Society for Blind Children towards an apprenticeship programme for 40 blind and partially sighted young people and £120,000 to Depaul UK for a service supporting homeless young people with mental health issues.

An additional grant of £38,450 was given to the Sutton Centre for Voluntary Service towards the development of Sutton Giving, an initiative working with businesses and charities in the local area to create a network of organisations supporting people in Sutton.

The Trust has also given charity Gingerbread £50,000 for a piece of research into the needs of single parent families in London.

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

“In our latest round of funding we have awarded grants to a wide variety of charities; from projects tackling plastic pollution in Britain’s waterways to mental health services supporting migrants and refugees suffering from trauma.

“We are funding work tackling inequality in the capital which will really make an impact and change the lives of Londoners with our support.

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

Dr Tom Pey, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Blind Children, commented:

“The funds will allow us to build on the great successes we have already achieved gaining employment for blind and partially sighted young people by developing an apprenticeship programme.

“We look forward to being able to expand our partnerships with inspirational employers such as GSK, TfL, and the NHS to ensure the growing numbers of young people we work with realise their full potential in the workplace.”

Trewin Restorick, Chief Executive and Co-founder of Hubbub said:

“There is increasing concern about the amount of waste plastic littering our oceans and waterways.

“The children will see first-hand the impact that plastic can have if it is littered. They will also learn how waste plastic has a value and can be turned into a variety of products. One of the boats they will be using is the Poly-Mer, a traditional punt constructed by the Queen’s boat-builder out of 8,000 plastic bottles.

“We hope that the trips will stimulate students to take action in their schools helping to turn the tide on the growing amount of plastics being dumped.”

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