London City Airport Community Fund awards £41.5k funding to local groups to support East London’s recovery

London City Airport has announced the successful applicants to the latest round of grants in 2022 from the airport’s £75,000 Community Fund.

In total, £41,580 of funding has been awarded to 15 local groups and community organisations covering six East London boroughs including Newham, Hackney, Lewisham, City of London, Tower Hamlets and Barking and Dagenham. Each successful applicant will receive grants of up to £3,000 to enable significant and positive change in their local communities.

Successful grantees that have secured funding in this latest round include Newham All Star Sports Academy, who are working with young girls in Newham and neighbouring boroughs to support with mental health and wellbeing through sport, plus Blind in Business, based in the City of London who work with surrounding East London Boroughs to support blind beneficiaries by raising aspirations and getting them into employment.

Jago Streete-Campbell, Director of Basketball Operations at Newham All Star Sports Academy (NASSA) said:
“We are thrilled to be successful in receiving funding for our project. The London City Airport Community Fund grant is going to make a significant impact to the young people from disadvantaged communities. This grant will give us the opportunity to provide more accessible sessions in the community for boys and girls ages 11-15, as well as volunteer opportunities for young adults ages 16-24.”

Commenting on the award, Dan Mitchell – Director of Blind in Business said:
“Blind in Business welcomes the kind donation from London City Airport to train blind children in career planning, giving them confidence to think of their future careers.”

Each organisation has been awarded a grant of up to £3,000 in line with the Community Fund’s aims to build stronger, safer, healthier communities, create pathways to employment, engender more sustainable, greener communities and raise the aspirations of East Londoners.

Since launching the fund in 2019, London City Airport’s Community Fund is delighted to have awarded grants totalling more than £300k to 100+ local charities and not-for-profit organisations. London City Airport’s Community Fund has also commissioned a video that highlights the great work the successful awardees have been able to achieve with the funding and promotes the fund widely to encourage local organisations to apply.

Another recipient, XLP, works with marginalised, excluded and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their potential in Newham, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Tim Sledge, Director of Fundraising at XLP said:
“XLP is thrilled to have been awarded a grant from London City Airport’s Community Fund. We work with thousands of disadvantaged young Londoners who experience a lot of turbulence in their lives. This grant will help more young people take-off and soar to the heights and reach their potential by providing them experiences they have never had before.”

Made in Hackney, who were another recipient, will run cookery classes to support the local community eat healthier, affordable meals.

Fran Humber, Development Manager at Made in Hackney commented:
“London City Airport’s funding will be critical for us to provide 1:1 affordable and healthy eating advice and to those managing health issues. This is even more important during the cost-of-living crisis, where many people are struggling to feed themselves well.”

The funding comes at a critical time for local community organisations surrounding the airport as East Londoners continue to recover from the effect of the pandemic, amidst a cost of living crisis.

The grants will provide a financial boost to these local community organisations working to support people in the community, particularly those affected by the cost of living crisis and the pandemic, covering areas such as employment; training for young people, women and the elderly; wellbeing, physical and mental health ; food poverty and biodiversity.

The 15 local community groups receiving this latest round of funding are based in or are active in the following London boroughs: Newham, Barking & Dagenham, Hackney, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets, as well as Blind in Business who are working with beneficiaries from the following boroughs Newham, Greenwich and Lewisham.