...since covid-19 changed our lives from March 2020 we have maintained our services and operations. In particular we have continued to receive and assess applications and (between April 2020 and the end of March 2021) made grants amounting to £2.21 million. All in Lambeth. All to help low-income residents gain the opportunities and skills likely to help them across their working lives.

Winn & Coales (Denso) Ltd are a business based in West Norwood and keen to support community projects that are making a difference locally.  Through connection with Walcot Foundation, they have generously agreed to provide £60K over three years to Rathbone's Inspiring Learning project based at the Old Library in West Norwood.  

This project provides supported learning/tutoring sessions, termly 1:1 support/progress sessions, arts and sports activities and a six-week Stronger Minds resilience programme.  This project is even more vital over the coming years due to Covid-19's impact on young people's education and mental health.

This partnership between Winn & Coales and Rathbone is a fantastic example of local business providing long-term committed support to make a sustained impact in the community.

This study (May 2021, Loughborough University Centre for Research in Social Policy) summarises estimates of child poverty after housing costs in England 2014/15-2019/20. Lambeth (our 'area of benefit') comes 8th, with 42.6% of children in households below 60% median incomes after housing costs in 2019/2020. This is above the London average of 38% and the UK average of 31%. See the report here.

Read about the highlights of our work in 2020/2021

"Despite living in a global city with a level of economic performance to be proud of, many Londoners struggle to make ends meet, secure good quality affordable housing, or tie down the decent work they need to lift themselves above the poverty line. As a result, poverty is higher in London than in any other region or country in the UK. Across a wide range of indicators, there is a gulf in outcomes between Londoners on low incomes and those who are better off, both in the capital and across the rest of the UK." More

The contractor has today emailed news to those neighbouring the site.  This highlights likely higher levels of noise from 12 April  for possibly two weeks because of specific works. See their 7 April letter on this page.

We're really pleased to be able to support this important initiative.  The Lambeth Digital Inclusion Fund will enable children and young people to get access to much-needed laptops and tablets which are vital in supporting their education and employment prospects

Walcot BounceBack is a £2 million programme which will run for two years from April 2021. This is an additional Walcot Foundation programme, on top of our usual annual grants programmes.

BounceBack’s purpose is to help low-income Lambeth residents under the age of 30 find paid work. It is our major, Phase Two response to the impact of the pandemic. 

It is focused on those who (a) have been displaced from employment because of the pandemic and (b) those who are coming new to the jobs market and have found their opportunities narrowed by the pandemic’s effect on the wider labour market. 

We are now inviting proposals from organisations to deliver the programme. We expect to award up to 15 grants each worth £100,000 over the two years.  The closing date for applications is 12 April 2021. Full details here.  

IRMO has produced a new report highlighting the impact of Covid-19 on the local Lambeth Latin American community. It highlights the intersecting crises of rising unemployment, abusive employment practices, housing insecurity and increasing food poverty facing the Latin American community.  1 in 7 Latin Americans are not registered with a GP. This raises important concerns about the exclusion from future health programmes such as the roll out of the COVID vaccine.

Key findings:

• Half are out of work as a result of the pandemic
• 1 in 7 are not registered with a GP
• Half are experiencing financial hardship
• 6 out of 10 are struggling to pay rent
• A third are facing food poverty
• 27% are not entitled to benefits
• 4 out of 10 have no internet at home, and 15% have no devices

"The prefixes ‘food’, ‘child’ or ‘fuel’ make life for 14 million poor Britons seem easily fixable. In truth, radical action is needed."
Aditya Chakrabortty, Guardian columnist.
See article here