8 further community projects are set to receive cash from the Isle of Wight Foundation, in its second year of grant funding.
The Isle of Wight Foundation, a charitable trust founded in 2014 by Island Roads and its partners, was established to help fund charitable and community projects on the Island that help tackle social exclusion. In particular, its focus has been on supporting projects which help people get the training they need to help them improve their life skills or opportunities for employment and projects which help build stronger, more inclusive communities.
In its first year of operation, the Isle of Wight Foundation awarded funding of between £4,500-£14,000 to: Storeroom2010, UKSA, The Law Centre, The Way Forward Programme, YMCA, Niton Community Project and GROW.
This year around £80,000, in grants of between £3,500 and £16,000, has been awarded to the following successful grant applicants:
Aspire
Awarded funding to transform and upgrade a redundant church building into a community hub with creative workspace and access to IT. The space will be used to help facilitate community entrepreneurship and encourage young people, in particular, to develop youth-led social enterprise to tackle community problems.
Nature Therapy – Expedition Leaders
Awarded funding to support 15 people (aged 16 and over and not in education or employment) across the Island to gain leadership qualifications to help them gain confidence and employment.
Bodster Equine
Awarded funding to support up to 100 individuals aged 16 years and over lacking self-confidence or with low self-esteem through working with ponies and gaining qualifications and self-development skills to aid their prospects of employment.
The Way Forward
Awarded funding to extend the current training for ASDAN qualifications to train more people and provide more in-depth and longer courses. The funding will also support the training for a peer programme to assist learners with a disability.
Linking Carers – Islandwide
Awarded funding to help carers across the Island transitioning from under 18 services to feel less socially excluded, by providing access to online support and social networking.
Shanklin Voluntary Youth and Community Centre
Awarded funding to provide an enriched programme of activity promoting active citizenship for the young people and community of Shanklin and South East Wight.
Independent Arts – Creative (Digital) Cafe
Awarded funding to help address older people’s social exclusion by providing training in the use of touch screen and other digital technology to enable older people to connect, learn and exchange information.
Daisy Chain Club
Awarded funding to help provide a replacement mini bus used to provide days out for those who are elderly and wheelchair bound, helping to address isolation and loneliness.
Phil Jackson, Chair of the IW Foundation board said:
“It’s been fantastic to see the kind of impact that the funding has made to the various projects that we supported last year. They have made significant progress as a result, in helping people on the Island to get the skills they need to secure employment or to be more involved in their community.
“Island Roads and its partners are pleased to be able to help support people in this way and we hope that this second round of grant awards will also make a similar kind of impact.”
Chris Bagnall from Wight Home Care, organisers of the Daisy Chain Club, said:
“We’re absolutely delighted to receive this money from the IW Foundation. It will help us to continue and expand “Daisy”, enabling us to support more people to get out and socialise with others. Our aim has always been to locate isolated people and give them the opportunity to do the things that we sometimes take for granted, regardless of any mobility issues.
“Our current members are so excited about the prospect of a new bus and are really looking forward to an adventurous new year.”
Photographed L-R: Graham Scambel, Brenda Brooks, Diane Radcliff, Cllr Reg Barry, Heather Holbrooke and Chris Bagall receiving the cheque from the IW Foundation for the new Daisy Chain Club bus
