Over the next 2 weeks, THCVS will continue to deliver training, drop-ins and 1-1 support across the borough and online to Tower Hamlets organisations planning to apply for the Mayor's Community Grants Programme (MCGP). Click here for a list of dates of our training sessions on offer.

We have also developed a series of resources to help to get you started with your application, to help to develop your business plan, service delivery plan, co-production tips and advice on how to measure your organisations impact.

The deadline for applications for the MCGP is Monday 5 June so don't delay, book onto a session with us. THCVS can help with checking your applications and offering tips to strengthen your bid before you submit it. Due to limited capacity, we will not be accepting bids for review after 29 May.

The Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets (VCTH) is also offering support in training for Volunteer Managers: Developing your Volunteer Policy. If you are applying to the MCGP, this training will cover all of the volunteering related requirements of the organisation assessment. Click here to find out more and book.

This impact report from the London CVS Network highlights the vital role of local infrastructure in connecting, supporting, promoting and representing London’s voluntary and community sector. 

Wednesday 17 May / 7.00 to 8.30pm / St. Margaret's House, 21 Old Ford Road, E2 9PL

To mark International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia the Tower Hamlets LGBT+ Community Forum invite LGBTQ+ communities, organisations and allies to stand up to violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. Guest Speakers:

• Alistair Stewart - Human Dignity Trust
• Moud Goba - Micro Rainbow
• Sarah Baptiste - House of Rainbow

The venue is wheelchair accessible. For more information email lgbtforum@elop.org.

Wednesday 24 May / 10.00am to 2.00pm / Account3, 1-3 Birkbeck Street, E2 6JY

The LBTH Safer Community Team and the Strategic Planning Team are busy listening to women’s concerns via their Women Safety Virtual Walks that have been taking place since April.

The TH Women's Network are inviting you to hear about their findings and to encourage you to give recommendations as to how we can be safer in our streets. The event will be attended by Jennie Savage, LBTH Strategic Planning and Joshua Codjoe, LBTH Safer Communities Manager.

This event is targeted especially at women and will give you the opportunity to share
your thoughts and concerns on areas in Tower Hamlets where you don’t feel safe, as
well as presentations and lunch. For more information, please email safercommunities@towerhamlets.gov.uk 

Every Tuesday / 6.00 to 8.00pm / Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial St, E1 6LS

Join elop for their weekly LGBT+ Social support group.This is a general social group and open to all to connect and talk. For more information and to sign up email events@elop.org.uk or call 07908 553744.

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.

Mental Health Awareness Week, now in its 23rd year, runs from 15-21 May and is hosted by the charity, Mental Health Foundation.  

This year, the theme is ‘anxiety’. Across the UK, people are encouraged to get involved by sharing their experience of anxiety and the things that can help with the hashtag #ToHelpMyAnxiety.  As part of the campaign, the Mental Health Foundation will be publishing guidance on how we can manage and improve feelings of anxiety and prevent them from developing into a more serious mental health problem.

From Monday 15 May, Kooth will be releasing lots of helpful content about coping with anxiety. Whatever you’re going through, you don’t have to face it alone. Kooth have created a welcoming space for effective personalised digital mental health care available to all. Stay up to date with Kooth on Instagram @kooth_uk and find anonymous support here.

Thursday 25 May / 11.30am to 2.30pm / St Paul Old Ford, Saint Stephen's Road, E3 5JL

The Well Communities Research Consortium invites you to a health and social care World Cafe event to share your ideas on:

• What are the drivers of disparities across communities and how can Tower Hamlets Together / NEL interface with, and help develop and mobilise, community assets to help tackle health disparities?
• How can models designed to support ICSs to interface with community assets be scaled-up, embedded, sustained, and accessed to contribute to improving health outcomes, reducing disparities and creating healthier communities?

Facilitated by Professor Gail Findlay, an expert in well communities methodologies, the World Café will be set up just like a relaxed café with discussion and free hot lunch and drinks.

The aim of this programme is to amplify and centre the voices of the underrepresented and marginalised women specifically in the climate arena. The approach to this will be underpinned by values that challenge patriarchy, colonialism and white supremacy and uphold care, collaboration and non-competitive sisterhood.

WEN is able to offer partner organisations a grant of £2,500 to cover admin and outreach costs in relation to the programme. If you would be interested in partnering with WEN, please email roshini@wen.org.uk. Deadline: 17 May

Thursday 18 May / 2.00pm to 4.00pm / on Zoom

When was your Volunteer Policy last reviewed? Are you confident that it reflects good practice? Or maybe you don’t yet have a Volunteer Policy? A robust Volunteer Policy is the minimum element of good practice if your organisation involves volunteers.

If you are applying to the LBTH Mayor’s Community Grants Programme, this training will cover all the volunteering-related requirements of the organisation assessment.

Tuesday 23 May / 2.00 to 3.00pm / Online

Join the CiviPlus team as they explore some top tips about how to make your communications stand out to your audience. Find out what makes a killer subject line, when’s the best time to send your email newsletter and which technology you’ll need to make it all happen.

Wednesday 24 May / 2.00 to 3.00pm / Online

What is trauma, what is trauma informed care and how can you benefit from training to help you in the care you provide to our communities?

Join NEL Training Hub for this introductory session to learn what the training programme involves and how you can get involved. The programme is brought to you by NEL Training Hub and is delivered by Teeside University for the benefit of all health and care staff across north east London.

Wednesday 24th May / 31st May / On Zoom

Work with a small team of corporate volunteers to tackle a specific project management issue you might be facing. For more information and to sign up please email community@elba-1.org.uk.

• Session 1 Deep dive: Wednesday 24th May, 10.00 – 11.00
• Session 2 Workshop: Wednesday 31st May, 10.00 – 11.30

Information open meeting: Wednesday 17 May / 6.00 to 7.00pm / Brady Arts & Community Centre Hanbury Street, E1 5HU

Deadline for receipt of proposals: Monday 5 June @9am

LBTH arts, parks and events team is putting together a programme of events for Black History Month for October 2023 and seeking proposals for community-focused, cultural, arts, and heritage-based activities and events that celebrate Black history, arts and culture.

Every Wednesday / 12.00 to 2:00pm / Aberfeldy Community Centre, Aberfeldy Street, Aberfeldy Village, E14 0NU 

This programme is open to females aged 18 and over from diverse ethnic background living, working, and studying in Tower Hamlets. Sessions will improve fitness and activity levels in weekly in-person group exercise class, led by qualified fitness instructor Laura Williams.

These fitness sessions are FREE to attend: online registration and Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) form are required for enrolment and need to be emailed prior to participating. 

Wednesday 24 May / 1:00 to 5:00pm / Room LG6, Queens Building, Queen Mary University of London Mile End Road, E1 4NS

Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with Poplar Union, Alternative Arts, Creative Wick, and Hackney Circle, are hosting a catered networking event which we'd like to invite you to!

The networking event is for arts organisations and for GPs, link workers, and other clinicians interested in meeting arts organisations working in socially engaged practice in East London. The event will be hosted by Drs. Maria Grazia Turri & Francesca Cornaglia (Queen Mary University of London).

Until Tuesday 30 May / Mon-Fri, 9.00am to 7.00pm - Saturdays 10.30am to 4.30pm / Brady Arts Centre 192-196 Hanbury Street, E1 5HU

An exhibition of photographs by Paul Trevor celebrating East London's Bengali activists of 1978. This exhibition reveals the dramatic events which were sparked by the racist murder of Altab Ali, a 24-year-old Bengali leather garments worker, and pays tribute to the activists who mobilised around the rallying cry of justice that followed.

Local East End photographer Paul Trevor documented how members of the local Bengali community endured racial abuse as a constant factor of everyday life, and the moment at which they mobilised against racist violence and institutional police racism. The exhibition brings together 75 of Trevor’s photographs for the first time, alongside oral history recordings by original activists.

Wednesday 7 June / 10.30am to 2.00pm / Mile End Stadium, Mile End Road, E3 4DH

Vallance will be holding their 13th Annual Disability Sports Day Festival for people with Special Educational Needs & Learning Difficulties. This event is free! There will be a lunch and refreshment break between 12. 30pm to 1.15pm (please bring your own lunch). A medal will be provided to ALL participants.Click here for the timetable.

All groups and individuals who want to compete and are not members of Vallance need to arrive before 10-30am for registration and fill in the consent form at the Mile End Stadium reception. If your group will like to put out a stall on the day or if you have any questions, please email info@vallancecsa.org.uk.

Saturday 10 June /  11.30am to 4.30pm / Stepney Green Park

Sunday 11 June / 11.30am to 4.30pm / Queen Mary University’s Mile End Campus

The Festival of Communities was created by Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with Tower Hamlets community groups and organisations, to provide an opportunity where everyone can come together and share experiences. Save the date in your calendar for loads of FREE family activities, games and interactive experiences. Bring your family and friends and celebrate the best of Tower Hamlets!

Thursday 20 July / 1.00 to 4.00pm / Mile End Hospital Gardens Bancroft Road, E1 4DG

After a 4 year hiatus, it's time to reconnect and reunite across Tower Hamlets Together, our health and care partnership! Join THT to meet people working across Tower Hamlets, learn about each other's programmes and services, and enjoy refreshments, lunch, giveaways, wellbeing activities, and games in the Mile End Hospital Gardens. We will also be celebrating the 75th birthday of the NHS!

Why not apply to host a stand? If you are interested in hosting a stand at the event, just complete the short online form, outlining how your stall will demonstrate and benefit integrated working across the THT footprint. Closing date for applications:  21 May @5pm.

Rolling deadline until 30 September

Wakefield Tetley Trust will offer grants from £500 to £6,000 for local initiatives that support their fund priorities to support marginalised communities and individuals by:

• Supporting urgent work 
• Supporting core activities and services
• Making a practical difference  

Grants of £6,000 will be exceptional; most awards will average £3,000. Please get in touch with them first if you intend to apply for the maximum amount. Organisations with an annual turnover under £600,000 and a track record of delivery are eligible to apply. Deadline for applications are open on a rolling basis, but the round will close when funds are allocated and no later than 30 September.

Round 1 deadline: Friday 19 May

The Smallwood Trust have been awarded £3.2 million in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, to support women in financial hardship and organisations led by and serving women. The Women’s Urgent Support Fund Round 1 is now open and accepting applications.

Round 1 of the fund will offer emergency funding for organisations delivering frontline services that are led by, for and/or serving women with an income of £1,000,000 or less. The funding will help them address the increase in demand for priority basic needs of women who are most vulnerable to poverty due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Deadline: Monday 22 May @9am

Groundwork London is delighted to continue to administer the Mayor of London’s Shared Endeavour Fund (SEF) on behalf of The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). For Call Four, grants of up to £100,000 will be available to support initiatives that challenge racism, intolerance, hate, extremism and terrorism, offline and online, in London.

Deadline: Monday 22nd May @12noon

Fund Priorities: The Social Prescribing Pilot Fund has been established by NHS North East London to pilot and test activities that can support people’s health and well-being. Projects should be able to establish swiftly, prioritise referrals from social prescriber link workers and provide evaluation by September 2023. 

Grant Amount: Grants of up to £5,000 are available to a single organisation; and grants of up to £10,000 for organisations applying as a partnership. Please click here to read the guidelines for the fund.

Grant Deadline: Monday 22 May @4pm

Fund Priorities: School holidays can be pressure points for some families because of increased costs (such as food and childcare) and reduced incomes- more evidently with the current cost of living crisis. To address this, The Department for Education is providing funding to local authorities to coordinate a holiday programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities to benefit entitled Free School Meals recipients during the Summer Holiday. These activities must last for a minimum of 4 hours per day and for a minimum of 8 days over the summer holiday. Healthy meals must also be provided. Please read full guidance for all details.

Grant Amount:  Grants are available depending on the number of places per day (daily attendance) of the summer club with an uncapped bid amount for SEND-focused summer clubs. Please click here to read the full guidelines

Fund Priorities: EECF has two funding streams: the Isle of Dogs Grants Chest and the Millwall Park Endowment Fund. Both funds will award grants to support positive community activities across their geographic areas of benefit. Through their grant-making, they aim to fund high-quality projects or services that will make a positive and long-lasting difference to local residents. Grant Amount: Grants of up to £10,000. Please click here to read the full guidelines.

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.

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 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