Tower Hamlets CVS has been told by the Council that the Mayor’s Community Grants programme (which was supposed to launch on 17 April) has been delayed. We do not yet know when it will be open for applications, but as soon as we have any information we will send a standalone newsletter with all the details that we have been given.

The budget for the main grants programme is about £3.5m a year, with the programme lasting 3.5 years in total. A summary of all of the grants information is currently available on the council’s website. The programme was agreed at the Cabinet meeting on 29 March and the information given then can be found here (item 6.6 on the agenda). When the prospectus and application process is published we will let you know straight away.

THCVS is here to support your group if you would like to apply, and as soon as the launch is confirmed we will be announcing a programme of support at locations across Tower Hamlets. We will also be offering support on where else to access funding for those who aren’t eligible, decide not to apply, or are unsuccessful in their applications.

Tuesday 25 April / 1:30 to 3.00pm / On-line

We can only create real change if we collaborate, both within the voluntary & community sector and with statutory partners. How we can work together to influence change, create more equitable partnerships and address structural inequality in Tower Hamlets?

We will hear from some of those working to influence change in Tower Hamlets and have an opportunity to think about how we can strengthen the influence of the voluntary and community sector on decision makers, statutory partners, funders and commissioners.

We will also hear from Tower Hamlets Council about the results of the community consultation and launch of the Mayor’s community grants fund, with a chance to ask questions.

The Tower Hamlets LGBT+ Community Forum is looking to find out more about what work is being done in the borough around LGBT+ inclusion in schools.

The LGBT+ Forum would like to hold an initial cross-organisational meeting that brings together, parents, teachers, school governors, charities and organisations working with young people and any other relevant partners to come together to discuss LGBT+ inclusion in schools in Tower Hamlets.

Please get in touch with Lauren Steele on lgbtforum@elop.org by noon on Friday 21st April to sign up to join the meeting.

Wednesday 26 April / 7.00 to 8.30pm / Christ Apostolic Church Top Floor, Devons Hall, Powis Road, E3 3HJ

The Churches Health Action Partnership has provided vital health, wellbeing and cost of living support to many people in the borough. The projects were run at churches predominantly attended by Black African communities, but offered activities support to the whole community. The projects are an excellent example of how faith groups play vital role in the health of the whole community. Join us to hear about the great outcomes achieved, including:

• Raising physical and mental health awareness
• Signposting to local services
• Providing a warm space and food in a trusted setting
• Keeping people fit
• Providing health checks such as blood pressure
• Tackling loneliness
  

Speakers include: Revd James Olanipekun, Christ Apostolic Church
Brenda Scotland, Public Health Programme Manager, Tower Hamlets Council
Daniel Singleton, National Executive Director, FaithAction
A great event to network with others, celebrate faith and health, and enjoy free tea, coffee and cakes!

Friday 28 April / 2.00 to 4.00pm /  The Green House / 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road / E2 9DA

In this session, THCVS will engage participants in understanding and accessing newer initiatives within the borough. This is an opportunity to have your queries and concerns addressed by THCVS members. DPN meetings also provide a unique platform of networking with fellow disability based organisations within the borough.

A brief overview of discussion points are:

• Understanding and working with the new health and wellbeing structures
• The Insights survey
• Support with funding applications for the Mayors Community Fund from THCVS
• Health Determinants Research Collaborative
• How can we promote the opportunities to ensure the voice of people with lived experience involved in the resident panel

The purpose of this survey is to find out about how LGBT+ people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets experience discrimination and view their LGBT+ rights. The Equality Act 2010 identified 9 protected characteristics that makes it unlawful to be discriminated against based on your sexual orientation or gender identity.
Give 2 mins of your day to answer anonymously! The survey is aimed at those who live, work, study or socialise in the borough of Tower Hamlets. Please only complete this if this applies to you.

The Tower Hamlets Women’s Network (THWN) have just released their latest report: Women Poverty and Equality in Tower Hamlets: Mind the Gap. The THWN aim to shed some lights on the realities of women living in Tower Hamlets and help to raise their voices and concerns in regard to tackling gendered poverty, in addition to understanding race as a large determining factor of this reality.

The Equalities Hub is key to the new direction for the Council’s equalities provision, providing a central strategic focus, responding to the community’s needs and issues. The Hub will be vital to bringing about a more coordinated approach to equalities in the borough. If you want to find out more on how to get involved or if you have information you would like to share with the networks please get in touch.

Group 1: * Only for Women - Monday 17, 24 April &1 May / 11:30am / Selby Centre, N17 8JL 
Group 2: * Open to Everyone - Sunday 16, 23 & 30 April / 1.00pm / Kurdish Community Centre, London N4 1HU

Roj Women provides group sessions to all who have been impacted by the earthquakes in Kurdistan, Syria and Turkey. Do you fit in one of these descriptions? Then, Roj Women think it would be helpful to attend their group sessions. 

• I did not experience the earthquakes myself but I was exposed to them by news items and visual content which affected my mental health
• My friends, relatives and loved ones experienced the earthquake and this has impacted me emotionally
• I volunteered for / supported those who were directly affected by the earthquakes on the ground and this experience had an impact on my well-being
• I experienced the earthquake myself and need help because l am struggling
  

For more information, email info@rojwomen.org.uk or call 07935 855300

Limehouse Project is offering confidential and impartial one to one information, advice and support in English and Bengali on:

• How you can save energy by cutting energy usage
• Help you with grants and fundings to support you when you need help paying energy bills
• Help you get better tariffs and affordable payment plans
• Help you maximise your income through welfare benefit checks
• Provide you with information and advice on money management
• Provide you with information on weekly workshops on Energy Efficiency

For more information please contact Energy Efficiency Advisors Hanifa Ahmed or Shujia Begum on 02075380075 / or email h.ahmed@limehouseproject.org.uk /
s.begum@limehouseproject.org.uk

Weight Action Programme (WAP) is a free 12-week in-person or online (via Zoom) programme run by specialists from the Health and Lifestyle Research Unit. This service is for adults who live/work/study in Tower Hamlets or registered with a local GP. The programme provides a good chance of finding at least some routines that can be adopted long-term by giving participants a series of tasks throughout the course.

To register for the course, please click here. If you have any questions, text 07860040277 or email wap@qmul.ac.uk

Eat Well and Move is a free 12-week programme for adults who live/work/study in Tower Hamlets or registered with a local GP who are living with overweight/obesity and are living with a physical disability. The programme offers one-to-one and small group exercise and nutrition sessions that are very supportive and tailored to individual needs. For more information call 020 8980 7778 or email reception@abilitybow.org

Community Learning Disability Service and Create are running a free 12-week programme to support adults with learning disabilities within Tower Hamlets to lose weight and to develop healthier, more active lifestyles. Participants, and their carers or support workers, will be supported to develop personalised timetables and identify weekly goals. To self-refer: telephone 0207 771 5500 or email elft.shapeup@nhs.net for more information.

LBTH are dedicated to eradicating harmful attitudes and behaviours and want to launch an Anti-Misogyny Campaign to help tackle this. They are seeking residents aged 18+ for their ideas and opinions to help contribute to developing this campaign. It will be a 45 minute 0 1 hour online session where they can provide a valuable voice to help tackle this problematic matter and ultimately help to end violence towards women and girls.

Are you a male 18+ who ives/studies in Tower Hamlets or can help recruit a group for this survey? Please contact vawg@towerhamlets.gov.uk or call/text 0783 440 5911

LBTH have organised digital women's safety walks at locations throughout the borough. These are safe and inclusive sessions where you can tell LBTH your thoughts and concerns on safety issues so they can make improvements to benefit everyone.

Superhighways practical and interactive training helps you gain the confidence you need to better use digital, data and technology to further your cause. 

Superhighways knows that you do a lot with little time and limited budgets. So you'll find out about the best free and affordable online tools, apps and devices to use in your everyday work. Courses include comprehensive learning materials and free follow-up support. Book your training and advice surgeries!
Click here to scroll through courses and to book online. If you haven't already attended Superhighways training you will be asked for some simple information about your organisation the first time you book a place.

Aishah Help's Worktop to Desktop programme offers a holistic employment and enterprise programme focusing on supporting and empowering those from ethnic minority communities to build their skills and confidence to reach their potential. For those who want to return to work or start their own business, the Worktop to Desktop programme is designed to help them achieve this goal.

Wednesday 26 April / 10.00am to 12.00pm / John Smith Children and Family Centre, 90 Stepney Way, E1 2EN

Early Help & Children’s and Families Services have partnered up with local providers WORKPATH and Sugarman Education to secure paid work in Tower Hamlets schools. These opportunities are available for all families who live in Tower Hamlets who have a child 0-19 years old (25 years old with SEND). 

Register your interest by Wednesday 19th April 2023. For more information, please contact PAE@towerhamlets.gov.uk / 0207 364 2240

Wednesday 26 April 2023, 10.30am to 1.00pm / on Zoom

Knowing the difference that your volunteer programme makes to volunteers, service users and your organisation is crucial in today’s competitive environment. It can help to secure funding, recruit more volunteers and improve your services. Having strong data and examples will help your organisation to stand out from the crowd.

On this course, you’ll learn how to create an evaluation plan that will enable you to understand and demonstrate the difference your volunteer programme makes. We will look at what “making a difference” means (to whom and how), developing realistic and measurable outcomes for your volunteer programme, practical and user-friendly tools for gathering information, including digital tools and how to analyse and communicate the results of your impact assessment. This session is suitable for experienced Volunteer Managers as well as those who are new to managing volunteers.

The Young Foundation are currently researching racial wealth disparities in London with researchers from the London School of Economics. They are looking to recruit Bangladeshi Londoners to take part in a paid online focus group during which you will be asked questions about your understanding and experience of the racial wealth divide. 

Participants will receive a £40 incentive for taking part in a 90 minute focus group and participation is confidential. 

Wednesdays / 12.00 to14.00pm / Aberfeldy Community Centre, Aberfeldy Street, Aberfeldy Village, E14 0NU

Starting this Wednesday, the team at the Aberfeldy Centre will officially resume their free to access Move and Stretch fitness programme for females with Laura Williams.It is free to attend. Please register your details here before you start the session. The Aberfeldy Centre will also be offering opportunities for two people to get involved and learn to become trainers in their sessions.  

The Aberfeldy Centre are also offering the services to the local community such as Taekwondo and Reflexology. If anyone is keen to learn more, please contact Victoria.Coakley@poplarharca.co.uk

Thursdays / 10.00 to 11.00am / St. Hilda's East Community Cantre, 18 CLub Row, E2 7EY / Join Aristea for this Free Women's Yoga Class every Thursday. All abilities welcome.

Thursday 27 April / 11.00am to 2.00pm / St Hildas' East / Club Row, E2 7EY

St. Hilda's are running an energy saving event alongside their Food Coop. It’s a chance to get a free CO alarm and a free slow cooker along with energy saving and healthy eating advice.

Monday 24 April / 12.30 to 1.15pm

Come along to this informal session to find out how your voluntary group, CIC, social enterprise, church, school, sports club or charity can use the free easyfundraising platform to benefit from unrestricted funding.

Becky from easyfundraising will show you how your volunteers, staff and supporters can use the free easyfundraising platform to raise donations for your organisation when they shop with leading retailers. There will be a live demo of how it works, tips on making the most of it and a Q&A. If you would like to set up your free easyfundraising page ahead of this session, you can do that here.

Deadline Tuesday 15 August

The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme wishes to commission research on interventions aimed at reducing loneliness. Although social isolation and loneliness often come together, they are conceptually and empirically distinct from each other. This call is primarily interested in intervention aimed at reducing loneliness. The PHR programme is predominantly interested in interventions that are likely to have impact on populations at scale, addressing health inequalities and the underlying wider determinants of health

Deadline Tuesday 31 October 2023

Magic Little Grants is open for applications for £500 grants. It has simple 20-minute application process and an outcome within six weeks. Organisations must be in their first year of operation or have an annual income under £250k. Funding can be used to launch new projects, support existing ones, or cover core costs.

Charities and not-for-profit organisations working with children and young people can apply for Project Costs grants for up to £15k from BBC Children in Need. No deadline.

The National Databank provides free mobile data, texts and calls to people in need via Good Things Foundation’s network of local community partners. Think of it like a ‘food bank’ but for internet connectivity data. Community organisations can apply to access the databank, enabling them to provide data to people in their communities who need it.

Do you run a community group or any small organisation that supports One Housing or Riverside residents? One Housing have made £250,000 available in 2022/23 through their new Community Fund to help fund projects that promote opportunities and wellbeing and tackle poverty in our communities. If you’ve got an idea that could make a difference, they want to hear from you.

The 30th year of the Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Entrepreneurs (DBACE) gets under way with applications open from Tuesday 31 January. This could be your chance to secure: Up to £20,000 investment to start or grow your enterprise;
Membership to MeWe360's Incubator programme, including 12-months of business support with MeWe360 and Deutsche Bank's high calibre industry & business mentors. DBACE offers a range of fantastic resources to support you with your application.

This funding aims to help communities across the UK to address climate change.

National Lottery Community Fund are looking for projects that focus on the link between nature and climate. They want to fund projects that use nature to encourage more community-led climate action. The NLCF expect these projects to bring other important social and economic benefits. Like the creation of strong, resilient and healthy communities or the development of ‘green’ skills and jobs.

Grants of between £300,000 and £500,000 are available, with grants of £50,000 to £150,000 over 12 to 18 months also available to constituted groups or clubs, voluntary or community organisations, registered charities, CIOs, SCIOs, CICs and more. The deadline for applications is ongoing.

Grants of between £300 and £10,000 are available for charities, voluntary groups, schools, and local authorities in England to carry out projects that will improve their local community. The aim of the grants programme is to support communities to thrive by funding projects that build strong relationships in and across communities. The deadline for applications is ongoing.

Do you require support with putting together or reviewing funding applications? The East London Business Alliance (ELBA) is a charity brokering opportunities to connect the corporate and community sectors. They are currently offering volunteer support to organisations who need help with writing and reviewing grant funding applications.

Employee volunteers from across ELBA's member companies have offered their time to assist charities to complete applications to the many funds that have emerged as a response to the current crisis. They are able to assist you with writing the application and/or reviewing a completed application. In some cases, they may be able to write a grant funding application on your behalf.

Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions, please contact Orlaith: orlaith.mcguinness@elba-1.org.uk