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

Black Thrive, with funding from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, is running a community-led £300K grant programme over two years to improve employment outcomes for Black people with long-term health conditions (LTCs) in Lambeth.  The Walcot Foundation is providing free grant-making administrative support and advice to Black Thrive during this two year programme

In its first funding round, Black Thrive's Employment Project Community Working Group allocated a grand total of £122k across 8 new projects, that will test new approaches to providing employment support for Black people with long-term conditions. 

As a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation's Governors have made the decision that the following five priorities will apply for organisation/school grants in 2021/22 :
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Top Priorities

1. Directly support for the academic achievement of pupils, particularly projects that will help close the attainment gap between pupil premium pupils and their peers. 
2. Support young people (under 30) into employment – priority will go to projects that are able to offer routes into secure employment at London Living Wage level and/or working with young people who are furthest from the labour market.  
3. Maximising access to free, independent advice from accredited sources, particularly in the fields of debt, housing and employment. ​

Subsidiary Priorities
      4. To address student (re-)engagement with school, particularly in transition years and students at risk of exclusion.
      5. Early intervention projects that address the mental health needs of our target pupil groups where it is clear they               cannot be funded by school or state.

​More information below the line here.

In the programme launched today, the London Community Response is taking applications for grants of up to £10,000 to help groups support Londoners affected by Covid-19 over the next six months. Applications will be assessed on a first-come-first-served basis, with a final deadline of 5pm on Thursday 3 December 2020.

More information can be found on the London Community Response website.

We are grateful to Vauxhall MP Florence Eshalomi for responding to our concern about Lambeth Advice Centres by asking the Secretary of State for Justice about the steps he proposes (See Hansard, here). Following the question in the Commons she wrote to him with further questions: "In the Chamber, I highlighted that access to justice is under threat. In my constituency of Vauxhall, we have just lost one of our most established independent legal advice centres. As you will know from your own casework, access to free independent legal advice is essential for our citizens, especially the most disadvantaged. And in some instances, it can be life changing."

Business Launchpad (BLP) supports disadvantaged young people to start and run their businesses. They offer resources for all stages of entrepreneurship, coaching young people from the very early stages of a business idea to those who have already started trading. BLP is primarily funded from profits of the Trident Business Centre in Tooting. In 2019 they launched a ‘Youth Innovation’ hub at International House, Brixton, providing free training, services and community for local young entrepreneurs. Currently over 70% of their clients are from BAME backgrounds. 

In May 2020 BLP was awarded £43,000 via the London Community Response Fund to launch a new online entrepreneurship training and support programme, aimed at young people in South London particularly at-risk during lockdown. The grant was jointly funded via the Walcot Foundation and City Bridge Trust, with work planned in Lambeth, Wandsworth and Southwark. Their plan was formulated as the COVID 19 pandemic unfolded and BLP were confronted with a sharp increase in the number of young people self-referring for support, with many expressing fears that lockdown and a COVID inspired recession would spell the end for their business idea.  ​More details can be found below by clicking on the Read More button . ​  ​ ​