Where the grants go

“This funding means we can afford to … employ a person dedicated to the development of youth work & working with children & young people. ” Tim Nokes, Transitions Skate CiC

08.06.2021

£280,000 to projects across the West of England

Working closely with our fund holders we’re delighted to announce over £280,000 went to projects across the West of England last month.

People suffering with dementia, survivors of domestic violence and young women are just three of many groups to benefit.

Our fundholders also supported a range of other community foundation across the UK with an additional £220,000.

Young people aged 8-12 years old across Bristol will benefit from holiday activities thanks to BYCA funding awarded in May to a range of organisations including Southmead Development Trust and Children’s Scrapstore.

Skateboarding for all

Last month Transitions Skate CiC were awarded a £5,000 Express Grant for Get Your Bearings aka Campus Youth Club. Transitions Skate run two skate parks, including one in the former Bishopsworth Swimming Pool, now a purpose built indoor concrete skatepark called Campus Pool.

Founded in 2011, Campus Skateparks is a not for profit organisation that uses the positive energy and influence of skateboarding to engage with children and young people.

Transitions Skate’s Tim Nokes said: “In 2015 we converted Bishopsworth swimming Pool into an indoor skatepark. A lot has changed over the years and right now this funding is a small but very significant part of our story.

“This funding means we can afford to take a risk and employ a person dedicated to the development of youth work and working with children and young people. This is something that we have always wanted to commit to and in the past this role was just lumped in with all our other work as directors.

“But to have a person dedicated to holding real weight and pushing projects like school activities, mentoring, holiday club and even a youth club is huge for us and totally aligns with our core values.

“With our girls-only sessions growing in strength and the general increased uptake in skateboarding from girls and young women it felt like a very positive move to employ a female member of staff and ensure gender diversity within our team”.

40 West of England projects funded in May 2021

Over 40 projects from across the West of England were awarded funding to address community needs including:

£3,500 to Nailsea Tithe Barn Trust for the Nailsea Memory Cafe supporting people with dementia and their carers. Includes Memory Cafe, training for carers and people with dementia, carers support group, home visits, telephone support and advice. (North Somerset Older People’s Community Grant)
£25,000 to Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust to continue the Operations Manager post and legal fees/financial advice associated with new projects, so the organisation can focus on business development activity, strategy, new social enterprises and fundraising. (Funding the Future Grant)
£5,000 to the Carers Centre B&NES (Care Network) to fund a wide range of work and to help the group as they move forward to offer a blended service model including both online and in person activities/breaks from caring responsibilities. (Express Grant)
£5,000 to Missing Link to increase the number of triage workers to support the higher numbers of victims of domestic abuse seeking help. (Catalyst Grant)
£5,000 to Transitions Skate CiC to employ a female youth worker in order to increase participation of young people from underserved communities and to diversify the number of services offered to the local and wider community. (Express Grant)