The City of London Corporation’s charitable funder, City Bridge Trust, has awarded grants totalling over £3.3 million to 17 charities tackling inequality and disadvantage across London in its latest round of funding.

The awards ranged from projects including specialist mental health support for homeless people, specialist legal advice for migrants and assistance for disabled people and their families/carers.

Grants include:

• £66,800 to the Independent Living Agency (ILA) charity to deliver its Peer Support Brokers programme. The project funding will enable a team to support disabled Londoners to devise a personalised care plan and assist with benefit and funding entitlements.
• £283,300 to INQUEST Charitable Trust. The grant will fund a Senior Caseworker to support London-based bereaved families. This role will assist family members from the very first stages following a death and through the protracted process of the investigation and inquest.
• £100,000 to YWCA England & Wales charity for a Work It Out project. The funding will provide coaching and career support, helping young women to increase their confidence and improve relationships.

City Bridge Trust has also awarded several grants supporting the Voluntary Sector in London.

The Centre for the Acceleration Of Social Technology (CAST) received a grant of £400,000. The grant supports an initiative to make civil society more resilient by embedding digital in their strategy, services and governance. The new hub for London’s civil society, London Plus, received £500,000 towards its continued project supporting organisations and networks across London to build collaborative partnerships.

Dhruv Patel, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said:

“It is fantastic to fund the important work that these charities are doing to support communities across the capital.

“This funding will help people facing challenging personal circumstances and overcome barriers to success, which will change thousands of lives.

“City Bridge Trust is committed to tackling disadvantage and inequality in London and will continue to support charities making London a fairer and better place to live.”

Bill South, Chair of the London Volunteer Committee for the charity Crimestoppers, which has received a grant of £96,166 for its Hidden Harms project to reduce crime, added:

“This will enable Crimestoppers to deliver our Hidden Harms Programme in London over the next three years.

“It will bring a number of different abuse-related crimes into the spotlight, encouraging members of the public to be aware and keep an eye open for these types of abuse and then report their concerns or what they know to us whilst staying 100% anonymous.”

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of the City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates. It 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 8,000 grants totalling over £400 million since it first began in 1995. It helps achieve the City Corporation’s aim of changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners.

ENDS

Media Enquiries

Laura Simpson

Media Officer, City of London Corporation

Laura.Simpson@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Notes to editors

About the City of London Corporation:

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London within a globally successful UK.

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk 

About City Bridge Trust

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of Bridge House Estates, a Registered Charity, with its primary aim the maintenance and support of five Thames bridges: Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Southwark, Blackfriars and the Millennium footbridge.

City Bridge Trust was established in 1995 to make use of funds surplus to bridge requirements and provides grants totalling around £20m per year towards charitable activity benefitting Greater London. The City of London Corporation is the sole trustee of the Bridge House Estates.