Meet our successful Community Fund applicants
Last month we invited community organisations working with underrepresented young learners to apply for our new Community Fund grants. Read on to find out about our successful applicants…
The SLN Community Fund is a new fund designed to encourage and strengthen community-based initiatives that help remove barriers to higher-level education and motivate under-represented learners to aim high.
The applications received were of an incredibly high standard and it was a real challenge for the panel to make their final decisions. Debra Vice-Holt our Community Fund Programme Manager comments: “We could never have anticipated the range, ingenuity and quality of the applications we received. It’s truly inspiring to see the determination that so many community organisations out there have to level the field and provide enriching opportunities to young people. With the support of our Community Fund we hope that the positive impact these innovative projects can have will be even greater.”
Each of the initiatives below will receive funding of up to £5000 to deliver their projects between now and the end of April 2023.
The Juno Project seeks to encourage vulnerable teenage girls to achieve their goals in spite of the challenges they face. The Community Fund will support the implementation of the charity’s ‘This is Me’ programme in four schools across Sussex. The intensive 12-week mentoring programme supports teen girls aged 14-16 to engage more fully with their education. It also empowers them with tools to boost their self-belief, so that they can imagine themselves achieving educationally and in other areas of life, no matter what challenges they face.
Creative Waves Community Art seeks to make a difference to people’s lives through creative practice. Their funding will see them run arts workshops with neuro-diverse students and students who struggle with conventional learning methods. Through practical and inspiring creative activities students will be helped to recognise new strengths, empowering them to broaden their educational and careers horizons.
Holding Space is an Eastbourne-based charity providing support for parents and carers whose children are struggling with their mental health. Our funding will enable Holding Space to run monthly face-to-face and online support sessions for parents and carers from across East Sussex. At the sessions parents and carers will be able to access expert help and guidance, share their experiences with others and build their own friendship networks – leaving them feeling less isolated and more able to support their children.
The Sid Youth delivers support to young people in Adur, Worthing and the surrounding areas. Since Summer 2021 they have been running popular HAF (Holiday Activity and Food) clubs for local students eligible for free school meals. With our funding they will be able to extend this provision to create an after school youth hub. The club will provide young people with somewhere safe and warm to go after school. At the club they will also be able to have a meal, take part in a wide range of fun activities and access laptops which they can use to complete homework, find out about college courses, work opportunities and complete applications.
The Black & Minority Ethnic Young People’s Project facilitates the empowerment of BME young people. The group will use their funding to deliver a series of podcasts about university life all produced by young people. Through engaging in the project and interviewing inspiring BME students, lecturers and society members it is hoped that young BME learners will gain the confidence to apply for university in the future.
Producing the podcasts will also give young people the opportunity to get the inside track on a wide range of university courses and help them develop useful technological, communications and project management skills. With the podcasts shared across platforms such as Instagram and Tic Tok, young people will also learn how social media can be used as a powerful platform for social good.
Extra Time runs high quality, affordable clubs, holiday schemes and family events for children and young people with, and without, disabilities. With practical life skills being a key barrier to some young people accessing higher education, our Community Fund will enable Extra Time to run weekly term-time life skills training. The sessions will equip young people with SEND to be able to make decisions, plan their time, cook, manage their finances and support their own personal development.
We wish each of our successful Community Fund applicants the very best of luck with turning their brilliant visions into a reality. If you’re interested in finding out more about these inspiring initiatives, watch out for future SLN Now editions where we’ll be providing you with updates on their progress, as well as keeping you up to date with any other funding opportunities…