Brent Cross Town has today (Wednesday 5 July) unveiled ten winners of this year’s Community Fund. Read on to find out more about this year’s winners, and how you can vote for your favourite project to receive extra funding.

 

The Fund, which celebrates its fifth year of supporting the community, has been topped up to £50,000 for 2023 and received more entries than ever before with 78 applications received – nearly double the  37 entries received last year.

Community Fund Winners 2023

All successful applicants support initiatives and activities that help improve health and wellness amongst locals, are inclusive and have a good connection with the wider community. This year there was also a focus on initiatives that encourage members of the community to get outside and be active, bringing back to life local green spaces, funding to help local refugee projects and initiatives related to youth work.

The winning projects, which you can vote for extra funding are:

• Childs Hill Primary School: An action plan called Greener Travel to facilitate and encourage more children to cycle to school.
• Claremont Primary School: A community garden for children and families that do not have access to a garden or outside space to be able to grow their own herbs, fruit or vegetables, and provide advice on how they can use what they’re grown in their family meals.
• Cricklewood Millennium Green: A local organisation that works closely with local schools and youth groups to provide outside space for children and young people to grow flowers and vegetables. Funding will ensure the project continues with the right equipment and resources to maintain the garden.
• Friends of Mapledown: Providing educational support for students with special needs and disabilities. Funding received will give students the chance to have iPads to help improve their technology skills and use them to learn in class.
• F.U.S.E – West Hendon Youth Club: A local community group dedicated to working with children and young people living in low-income families. Funding will enable a 38-week programme of multi-sports sessions for young people.
• Keep Rolling Project: A group that runs skateboarding and art workshops to inspire and empower under-represented groups aged 8-18 to get more active and confident.  Funding will support additional workshops.
• Our Yard: A local group working to protect and look after Clitterhouse Farm. Funding will help run a project to offer nature activities and play for disadvantaged children, gardening workshops for adults, and improve the community garden’s accessibility.
• Railway Terraces Community Association: A local community group that organises activities such as yoga, councillor surgeries and Santa’s Grotto. Funding will go towards replacing its community meeting shed which has been a focal point for the organisation since 1991.
• Screen Share UK: An organisation supporting local refugees that face digital exclusion and therefore struggle to access employment and education. Funding will help to provide more computers which will have a direct impact on the refugees.
• Yaran Club: A non-profit Farsi-speaking women’s group that supports women suffering from poor mental health or experience isolation and/or domestic violence. Funding will go towards facilitating English and computer lessons.

To celebrate half a decade of supporting projects in the Brent Cross and Cricklewood area, the Fund is today opening a special ‘people’s project’ awards, with local residents and members of the community invited to vote for their favourite group or project from the winning applicants. The four initiatives with the most votes will receive an additional £2,500 of funding. The winners will be announced during the celebratory event at Claremont Park on Saturday 15 July.

Click here to read more about the winning applicants and how to vote for your favourite winner. You can vote online or in person at the Visitor Pavilion from today until 12 July.

Councillor Alan Schneiderman, Cricklewood Ward Member, and Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change said: “The Brent Cross Town Community Fund is a valued source of grant funding for local projects, with dozens of groups benefiting so far and having a real impact in their communities. With nearly double the applications to this year’s fund it was a tough judging process, but huge congratulations must go to the successful applicants – it’s wonderful to see such an inspirational mix of initiatives continue to come forward.”

Morwenna Hall, Partner of Related Argent, commented: “We thoroughly enjoyed reviewing all of the fantastic applications the Fund received this year and were encouraged to see it continue to build recognition as a meaningful and valued source of local funding. The 10 initiatives chosen by the judging panel provide a fantastic range of opportunities that are well aligned with our focus of wanting to promote better wellbeing and active and healthy lifestyles. We’re keen to see as many people as possible get involved in the public vote to help further support their favourite projects.”

The winners of the 2023 Community Fund were selected by a panel of judges comprising:

Janet Matthewson, CEO, Young Barnet Foundation; Gussy Bodur, Owner, Gussy’s Ice Cream Parlour; Councillor Alan Schneiderman, Cricklewood Ward Councillor and Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change, Barnet Council; Dan Hawkins, Executive Headteacher, Childs Hill and Claremont Federation; and Morwenna Hall, Partner, and Carolina Correia, Senior Social Value Manager from Related Argent.

More details on how we are supporting the Brent Cross Town Community Fund can be found here.