The Mercers’ Charitable Foundation has awarded £689,432 to eight community and faith-based organisations in the Northeast of England and Greater London, which strengthen disadvantaged communities and deliver better outcomes for families.
Our work with these charities, where funding spans three years, seeks to build positive and inclusive relationships and increase a sense of belonging and reduce isolation in line with our Church & Communities priorities.
Funding:
Key Community: Provides services to marginalised families and young people aged 11 to 24 at risk of homelessness in South Tyneside. Funding will contribute towards a family support service, which provides immediate crisis support, poverty prevention and advocacy for young people and their families at risk of homelessness and experiencing hardship.
The Genesis Project: Provides a range of crisis and poverty support to people living in an area of Middlesbrough that is within the 1% most deprived in the country. Funding will support the core running of this project.
Handcrafted Projects: Empowers people who have been disadvantaged, faced social exclusion, experienced abuse or have been in the care system in the Northeast of England. Funds will support the charities Gateshead Hub, which provides training, support, enterprise opportunities, and four supported flats.
Midaye Somali Development Network: Support BME migrant communities living in West London and many of whom do not speak English as a first language so that they may have every opportunity to succeed, thrive and invest in our shared future. Funds will support a programme of emotional and practical support for families.
Barnet Youth Project: Delivers services and activities to support families and young people experiencing poverty, unemployment, and disadvantage from the Rainbow Centre on the Dollis Valley Estate, Barnet in Greater London. Funding will support the core costs for this charity.
First Love Foundation: Supporting the most marginalised in the community, designing and delivering innovative ways to tackle crisis and social injustice that influences how the UK responds to poverty. Funds will support advocacy and accredited advice to low-income households in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Praxis Community Project: A human rights charity supporting migrants delivering advice, support and campaigns so that migrants and refugees in the UK can live with safety, dignity and respect. The funds will be used for welfare support.
St Aldhelm Church, Enfield: Funds will be used for community activities in a disadvantaged area of Enfield. Projects including a café and bakery run by young people with disabilities; a stitching group; food bank; warm bank in the winter months; free access to the internet; and a gardening project.
Read more about our Church & Communities programme and/or how to apply for funding here.