Local Hammersmith & Fulham community group, Nubian Life Resource Centre Ltd - which aims to improve the quality of life of older African Caribbean and Asian residents - has received a share of £9.5million of National Lottery funding to help recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The £49,998 grant has been awarded through the Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme (CCLORS). The scheme is led by independent trust Power to Change in partnership with Locality, The Ubele Initiative and Social Investment Business, and was part of The National Lottery Community Fund’s Coronavirus Community Support Fund, that launched in May this year.
Older people attending the day centre have become disorientated and demotivated as their daily routine of attending the centre stopped abruptly due to Covid-19. They are experiencing isolation away from their peers, relatives and the structured support of the day care centre. Unpaid carers report that their relatives living with dementia are declining due to the lack of daily structure and social engagement. Feedback from weekly telephone calls and door step visits, have noted that some clients seem to be suffering with mild depression, i.e. sleeping throughout the day and not getting dressed. Relatives have requested more support as they have not had the respite the day care centre provides and are not tapped into mainstream carer networks. Some relatives have not been able to work due to shielding their relative and overall, the impact of Covid-19 on our main community has been stressful, emotionally draining and financially depleting
The grant will enable us to co-produce with older Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people an accessible, therapeutic and culturally diverse activity platform to provide critical home focused services during shielding and enforced lock down.
Jazz Browne, CEO of Nubian Life, said: “This grant will give us resources to further develop our online threptic activity platform Reminiscence in Action; as well as developing training and support for relatives and carers to deliver activities at home should the lockdowns continue; with the aim of restoring a sense of connection to their peers and day centre."
In total, 302 community-led organisations have received a total of £9.5million through CCLORS to help recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The total includes 205 community organisations led by, or that support, BAME communities.
Grants of up to £100,000 have been awarded to community-led organisations in England facing severe financial difficulties as a direct result of the coronavirus lockdown. It has helped them to launch health and wellbeing projects, develop digital education workshops and continue providing vital services for their communities.
Vidhya Alakeson, CEO of Power to Change, said: “Whilst Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on people right across the country, it has disproportionately affected Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. By bringing together this strategic partnership, we’ve ensured this much-needed financial support is reaching those communities that need it most.”
In 2017 Nubian Life published its manifesto which demanded better health and social care outcomes for older people from BAME communities. Recent research has reported huge health inequalities for many older people from these communities, worsened by the impact of Covid-19. The recommendations made in our manifesto are even more relevant today. Please join our campaign and demand better health and social care outcomes for older people.
Nubian Life is a vibrant and successful charity operating a community resource centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1995 in direct response to a recognised gap in the service provision within the borough for its aging African Caribbean population. Alongside the provision of activity based care the charity delivers a range of community initiatives, such as the Josiah Braithwaite Community Garden, volunteering opportunities, work placements for local residents as well MSC placements for student social workers.
About Power to Change Power to Change is the independent trust that supports community businesses in England.
Community businesses are locally rooted, community-led, trade for community benefit and make life better for local people. The sector owns assets worth £890m, and comprises 9,000 community businesses across England who employ 33,600 people. (Source: Community Business Market 2019)
From pubs to libraries; shops to bakeries; swimming pools to solar farms; community businesses are creating great products and services, providing employment and training and transforming lives. Power to Change received its endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund in 2015.
We are the largest community funder in the UK – we’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since June 2004, we have made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that have benefited millions of people.
We are passionate about funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.
About The Ubele Initiative
The Ubele Initiative (Ubele), is a civil society organisation based in London, though works across the United Kingdom and Europe, working with disadvantaged communities, most notably black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Ubele, is taken from Swahili and means ‘The Future’ and is an African Diaspora led intergenerational social enterprise founded in 2014. Our primary mission is to help build more sustainable communities across the UK.
About Locality
Locality is the leading membership charity that exists to unlock the power in local communities to build a fairer society. Locality supports community organisations to be strong and successful through hands-on advice, peer-learning and resources, and uses evidence from members to influence government and funders. Locality are hundreds of community organisations, at the heart of communities, bringing people together to transform lives.
Social Investment Business provides finance to create fairer communities, helping impact-led organisations improve people’s lives. They do this by providing the money and support they need directly, working with partners to support them and using their knowledge to inform their own work and influence others.
Since 2002, SIB has deployed and managed over £400m of loans and grants into over 2,000 organisations, and enabled almost 1,000 more to get dedicated support through programmes.
Comments