Climate, Health and Community Fund helps South London orgs address climate change
We are pleased to announce that Do It Now Now, in collaboration with Impact on Urban Health, are supporting 17 organisations with grant funding and additional support needs as part of the Climate, Health and Community Fund.
The awarded organisations are Black and Brown-led, based in Lambeth or Southwark, and are addressing the climate crisis and its effects on the environment and health. Using the support from Do It Now Now, grantees will build on existing interventions and work with their communities to ensure the conversation around climate change leaves no one behind.
Grantees will attend a series of engaging workshops that will focus on topics such as creating a business model, diversifying their income, and measuring their impact. The programme will help organisations develop their work with local communities and equip grantees with the necessary skills and knowledge to remain sustainable in these volatile times.
Meet the Grantees
492 Korna Klub are an experienced collective made up of African, Caribbean and Asian artists, facilitators, and community influencers from south London that use the arts to create a dialogue about social, economic and political concerns.
The funding will also support the Black Men Consortium by co-producing high profile community engagement events that raise the awareness of how the environment affects the health and wellbeing of the Black community.
The Black Men Consortium work to educate the Black community on how to build solidarity, develop community resilience and use activism to explore solutions for climate change and better health. During the co-production process the consortium will invite local politicians and policy makers to explore new ways to improve the health and wellbeing of Black communities and the environment. The decision to focus on climate change came from a discussion from the men themselves who are keen on expanding their knowledge in this area.
Active Living Support was set up to support young people living with special needs from low-income households. They work with people from Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon. The organisation aims to provide extracurricular activities using sports, arts, and outings, as well as providing independent-living training. In addition to their offering they support carers with information, advice, respite and therapy.
Funding will go towards developing a cycle scheme for children with special education needs (SEN) and autism in Southwark and Lambeth. The scheme is centred around using cycling as an alternative mode of transport to reduce carbon emissions and improve health.
Bizzie Bodies is based in Southwark and provides a wide range of activities centred around delivering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related activities, art, craft, upcycling, media, green tech and recycling for all groups of people including parents and young people.
Black Archaeo is a new project designed to provide young people in year 12 with the opportunity to engage with heritage, the natural world and the impact of climate change. The project holds the potential of a meaningful engagement and platform where young people can be formally introduced to climate discussion.
The project plans to reach students using school assemblies and a summer school workshop. The programme is aimed at training young people on techniques to reduce their carbon emissions, how to be young advocates, and creatively solve climate issues.
Black Farmers Market was founded in 2022 to carry out activities to benefit the community, in particular Black growers/food producers in the United Kingdom. The organisation provides a physical marketplace in Brixton (Brixton Station Road) where Black farmers across the area showcase and sell their farm produce to the public.
Funding will go towards organising 5 farmer’s market events in 2023 with the plan to empower Black farmers, growers, Black-run community growing projects, and local allotment holders in the community.
BIGKID Foundation is a youth charity in Lambeth that tackles the issue of youth violence. Working with over 2,000 young people annually, young people are equipped to take control of their lives, and to find, develop and act on their potential. BIGKID supports young people through community engagement, sports, a youth club, music, visual arts, gardening and social action.
BIGKID will be using the funding provided to continue with a pilot project that uses gardening and healthy activities as a way of engaging disadvantaged young people and their families. The activities include increased greening and tree planting, composting and rainwater harvesting.
Climate Reparations Network is made up of over 1,200 people, with a core group of 10 organisations. The work of the network connects the dots between the different struggles to build on the collective power of the network for systems transformation. The network campaigns to ensure polluters who are worsening the climate crisis pay the compensation and reparations that they owe countries and communities.
Funding will go towards investing in core costs to further activities over the next year to expand the work being carried out by the network.
Feed Me Good is a disabled-led charity that specialises in developing and delivering bespoke health and wellbeing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accredited programmes for communities. The programmes promotes sustainability in the form of discouraging food waste, encouraging food budgeting and incorporating learning from nutrition studies to encourage a healthy diet.
Feed Me Good is looking to expand the reach of people engaging with these sessions through the development of a train-the-trainer model. Through building resources and content for social media, followers will be able to learn from people within their own communities that they identify with.
Hello Beautiful Foundation is an illness-prevention charity that promotes non toxic practice and positive social change. The organisation was set up in response to the founder’s personal experience with cancer on the premise of using personal sustainability as the means to help prevent chronic degenerative disease and improving mental health. Their work focuses on targeted nutritional strategies and raises awareness through a host of workshops that teach people how to use organic plant-based foods to activate the body’s innate ability to help in the healing process.
Nature Vibezzz is a registered charity that organises forest school sessions as well as environmental and practical nature conservation sessions across London for young people and their families.
Funding will be used to increase internal capacity. Activities run through the forest school are popular and there is a need to be able to scale the level of delivery into other areas such as Burgess Park, Galleywall Nature Reserve, Streatham Common, and Knights Hill Wood.
No Limit Cycling Club is a non-profit cycling club set up in 2021, a diversity driven cycling group with the ambition of making cycling a mainstream activity for all. The club is passionate about promoting inclusivity and an active lifestyle. They aim to provide everyone with the opportunity to gain knowledge, skills and confidence in all aspects of cycling.
No Limit Cycling Club will use the funds to continue their community programme in Southwark to benefit 200 people.
The Soul Shack LDN is a youth-led social enterprise. The organisation was set up to promote the health and wellbeing of young people, educate locals on conservation and assist with environmental practice. They also work on tackling youth violence through youth and community-led summer programmes, such as half-term programmes, cooking workshops, free Black psychology healing circles for young people, and Christmas food distribution.
Together We Ride was set up during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide a space for people of colour to enjoy cycling, from children ages 8 to 16 years, to adults. TWR is a community-driven initiative dedicated to promoting the numerous benefits of cycling, including its environmental advantages, to the residents of the Lambeth and Southwark boroughs.
Funding will be used to expand their work by engaging more people through cycling.
Uffo Athletic and Leisure Group was set up to promote access to physical activities in the Somali and Muslim community, through walking, running, football and athletic exercise.
Funding provided will help reduce the impact of climate change by promoting physical activities. The group would like to continue with their current walking group for Somali women and to establish a new walking group for 40 Muslim men in Southwark.
UpCYCLE runs a Bike Maintenance and Cycle Skills courses at The Remakery in Brixton, where young people can get a refurbished bike for free and learn how to maintain it. The mission of the organisation is to address the lack of diversity in London’s cycling community by creating a fun and inclusive environment for young people from ethnic minority groups to share their passion for cycling.
UpCYCLE would like to build on their current bike repair workshop projects by delivering a formal mentoring and sports programme for a group of young people with the aim of teaching them about climate change and the benefits of cycling.
Yuniya focuses on using African mythologies to communicate environmental messages and showcase the intersection of culture, community and nature. Stories influence how people understand and think about themselves, affecting how they interact with others and the world. Since ancient times, the African oral storytelling tradition has been rooted in the natural world and is woven out of the human experience. From these stories of intersectionality, people learn the importance of an intricate balance between themselves and the world.
The funding will be used to build upon existing services to increase capacity, develop their virtual platform where they currently store their rich content and animation and to produce content in the form of books and resources that can be used during sessions.
Wood and Water is a not-profit narrative change consultancy, based in Southwark that focuses on environmental and international issues that are driven by colonial, extractive, and oppressive systems supported by narratives.
The group prides itself on delivering pioneering engagement work to different community groups, charities, corporate groups and youth centres using the transformative power of narrative change to build unity and increase equity.
Funding will be used to further develop a pilot programme that was delivered to a group of 15 young people at the Salmon Youth Centre in Southwark. The programme is designed to deliver educational, and narrative change workshops to 50 Black and Brown young people from ages 15 to 25.
