Spotlight Interview with In Kind Direct
In Kind Direct
- How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?
At In Kind Direct, we believe that everyone deserves access to life’s essentials and no usable product should go to waste. In 2023, we supported a network of over 6,600 charitable organisations across the UK, including 1,160 in London, by distributing products from well-known manufacturers and retailers for charitable organisations to use to run their services and share with people they support.
We distribute a range of essential products, including hygiene and household cleaning products, clothing, and toys books and games. Across our network, 37% of charitable organisations say they use products from In Kind Direct to support school-aged children – that equates to nearly 135,000 children helped each week. In 2023 alone, we distributed over 226,230 toys books and games, that’s enough to support the equivalent of 7,540 classrooms of children. One organisation supported through our ‘Summer of Play’ campaign, which aimed to support children and families throughout the summer holidays, shared:
“We support many single parent families who are struggling to get by on Universal Credit. Little extras we provide like toys and clothing, accessed from In Kind Direct, are such a lifeline”.
- Tell us something you are excited about?
In Kind Direct was originally founded to help reduce environmental impact. We take usable products from retailers and manufacturers that may otherwise go to waste and make it available to charitable organisations for use in their communities. To-date we’ve diverted more than 36,840 tonnes of product from landfill.
Ensuring that everyone can access life’s essentials will always be our focus, but we want to make sure that we are doing this as sustainably as possible. This year, we are calculating our carbon emissions across our organisation and value chain and are excited to be releasing a sustainability strategy next year, to ensure increasing our impact doesn’t cost the earth. We are also looking forward to expanding our refurbished tech offering to our network of charitable organisations, promoting the circular economy, and aiding digital poverty. We’re excited to work more with increasing access to second hand items to ensure people have access to the products they need to keep clean, warm, and well.
- Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?
In Kind Direct was set up over 26 years ago, and we are so proud of the impact we have had since our founding. To-date we have worked with more than 1,300 companies to distribute products to over 15,000 charitable organisations across the UK, unlocking an incredible £314m in savings for the charitable sector. Through our charitable network, our products support over 365,000 people each week.
The savings we unlock help our charitable network stretch their funds further, enabling them to support more people and deliver more services. As one charitable organisation in our network put it:
“We would not be able to support our community to the extent we do without In Kind Direct”.
- What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
In addition to accessing products through our catalogue, we have partnered with a number of companies to unlock additional savings and benefits for our network of charitable organisations. This includes discounted access to workplace supplies, refurbished laptops, printers/ photocopiers, and DSC membership.
We also conduct research and advocacy on issues surrounding poverty and access to essential products. We represent the views of our network in broader sector campaigns and we conduct new research on the causes and impacts of going without, to help make the case for funding and action. An example of this is our Human Right to Hygiene report, which maps the systems underlying hygiene poverty and sets out a roadmap for change.
- What would most help you achieve your goals?
We are always looking for charitable organisations to join our network to help more people access much-needed products and help more organisations save money on essential supplies. Registering with us is free and can be done via our website. We welcome a wide range of charitable organisations, including registered charities, CICs, CIOs, community groups, food banks, most schools and nurseries and public sector run outreach projects.
- Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
In Kind Direct joined 4in10 to connect with other charitable organisations across London that are committed to ending poverty and to learn more about the activities the network is driving to support change. We are always eager to share knowledge and use our combined voices to fight the challenges that many are facing and make a difference. We would love to reach and engage with more 4in10 members and support their charitable mission by inviting them to register with us and access our services and benefits.
Spotlight Interview with BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme
4in10 spotlight blog – BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme
London Challenge Poverty Week 16th to 22nd October 2023
How are you helping tackle child poverty in London?
The UK-wide BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme helps tackle child poverty in London by providing essential grants to vulnerable children and young people in crisis, right across the city.
BBC Children in Need believe every child and young person deserves the opportunity to thrive and be the best they can be.. Delivered by the team at Family Fund Business Services, the Emergency Essentials programme provides items that meet a child’s most basic needs, such as a bed to sleep in, a cooker to provide a hot meal and other items critical to a child’s wellbeing. Our dedicated suppliers work hard to get grant items out quickly to families. Everything is taken care of from – delivery, installation/build (furniture) to recycling of old white good appliances.
We aim to alleviate the pressures associated with furniture poverty and the wider impact on a child or young person’s wellbeing. Growing up in poverty brings additional educational and health challenges, leading to significantly diminished life chances.
For any parent or carer, knowing your child will have a safe, comfortable night’s sleep or being able to prepare a warm meal for them and wash their clothes for school the next day, reduces parental stress and helps build better family relationships.
We work in partnership with BBC Children in Need to deliver this programme but we can only reach our goals with the support of our dedicated network of Emergency Essentials Referrers so a big thank you to them.
Tell us something you are excited about?
We’re excited about supporting BBC Children in Need’s ‘Positive Relationships’ campaign which celebrates the power of positive relationships, and the impact of these relationships in helping to support children and young people.
We’re also excited to be part of London Challenge Poverty Week 2023, to raise better awareness of the many challenges disadvantaged children in London face It’s clear we all have a crucial role to play as we enter difficult winter months and the next phase of the cost-of-living crisis. As history teaches us, ‘alone we can do so little, together we can do so much’.
We look forward to forging lasting relationships with other 4in10 members driving this work in London.
Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?
Since launching the programme in June 2018, the BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme has supported 140,000 children and young people. We have distributed over £20million to directly support the needs of children and young people in poverty across the UK.
We have around 4000 active referrers making applications to the programme at any one time and the programme received 80,000 applications and fulfilled over 100,000 items in the first five years of delivery (we’re now in our sixth year).
Our service has a quick turnaround time for decision with an average turnaround time of 5-7 days.
What can other network members learn from you or find out more about, through you?
By connecting with the partnerships team, other network members can learn about the individual grants provided by the BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme, as well as the wider grants that Family Fund provides for families raising seriously ill and disabled children (the partnerships team are employed by Family Fund as a dedicated resource for the Emergency Essentials Programme).
We have a growing network of referrers regularly accessing emergency essentials grants for the children and young people they are supporting across London. Referrers often comment about the simple application process and quick turnaround times for decisions:
“The Emergency Essentials Programme is really good, and quick and easy to do. For me it’s fantastic and means my time is not taken away from families or the children who need me, the response is quick and the delivery options for the family are amazing. The online application is easy to use, and the families really need the help.” (Emergency Essentials Referrer)
We encourage network members to reach out and connect with the partnerships team to find out more about our free training sessions and webinars, which can be tailored to your organisation’s needs.
Please email cinpartnerships@familyfundservices.co.uk for more information.
What would most help you achieve your goals?
Put simply, to achieve our main goal of- helping more children and young people in London we need to form even more new partnerships and gain more registered referrers locally.
As a team we are supportive, connected, passionate and determined. These values are echoed in the partnerships and relationships we maintain across the programme.
The BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials programme is referrer-led and is shaped by the voices of our referrers. We encourage them to take part in regular topic-based forums, coffee and connect sessions and surveys. We always welcome feedback in any form and recognise the ever-changing needs of children and young people. It’s through these engagement mechanisms that we ensure our offer remains relevant at the time of delivery.
Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
We were completely hooked after attending our first event hosted by 4in10 during the pandemic. It was clear we needed to be part of this dynamic network and movement for change.
Crucially, we love being able to connect with other likeminded people who are dedicated to improving the lives of children and young people growing up in poverty.
Spotlight on 4in10 Member Whizz-kids
How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?
We work to support young wheelchair users through 3 main strategies – Mobile, Enabled, Included. All of which have an impact upon the potential for poverty faced by young Londoners with a disability.
We enable young people to have a chance to have a childhood through our free clubs and programmes, aimed to break the isolation of disability, and give the young people confidence, social skills and a group of friends. At no cost to the family, these can help to tackle the mental impacts of financial deprivation. For young people who are older, we also supply free Employability skill and work placement with our network of partners to provide the launchpad for young wheelchair users to beat the employment gap, and to aid in systemic change to a less impoverished disabled generation.
Tell us something you are excited about?
Morph! Yes, Morph! This year across the summer, Whizz-Kidz has teamed up with Wild in Art and Aardman Animations to do the first step-free Art Trail within London. The trail will have 50+ 6ft high Morph sculptures painted and designed running down the Southbank from Tower Bridge then across past St Pauls and into the city. Alongside the “big” Morphs will be “gaggles” of ‘Mini’ Morphs, designed and painted by schools to support the trail, and of course to support Whizz-Kidz.
Pop along between June and August to see Morph having an “Epic Adventure” in London!
Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?
It has been shown repeatedly that the right wheelchair can a big impact on a young person, both mentally and physically, allowing them to access education, recreation and employment with a greater ease and confidence. Through the Mobile strategy, Whizz-Kidz supported approx. 1,000 families through our clinical services, of which near 1/3 were from the most deprived parts of England, helping to alleviate disability related costs averaging £2,400 per piece of equipment, whilst giving a young person the same chances and childhood of non-disabled children.
What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
Our work to make our young people more included starts and ends at their voice, aims and ambitions. The Kidz Board, a group of 12 young people that help to guide and steer the organisation onto topics that are concerning to them as young disabled people, has allowed us to look at the issues around poverty and financial deficit of the disabled community from all the angles impacting their daily lives. Examples have included the non-standardised “disabled bus pass”, longer journey times due to inadequate higher education accommodations, the job market, social activities, the role of assistance dogs and many more – all of which have a financial impact on young person and their family.
What would most help you achieve your goals?
Whilst of course, funding is always helpful to a charity, we are always looking to be raising awareness of the additional issues faced by Young Wheelchair Users, as quite often they go unnoticed. Partners committing to having Disability Awareness provided by people with lived experience, or work with people with lived experience to open their horizons, and break the misconceptions around disability. The young people that we work with also need people to provide them with the opportunities to succeed, whether that is in a social setting through supporting our clubs, or a employability setting supporting Work Placements and Employability Skills Sessions.
Show these young people that they have a future just like anyone else.
Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
We joined 4in10 as we have become rapidly aware of the additional effects of having a disability on the Cost of Living, and Child Poverty issues currently within the UK, and London. As an organisation that helps to support these young people, we know that we need to be connected to others fighting this issue as well. A candle is dim, but a handful can become a lighthouse, after all.
It is great to be part of a group of organisations looking to tackle this issue within London, a city often shown by its tourist-y bits and not some of the areas of great deprivation and be able to talk about the work we are doing, and ask to help from others on the topic, and campaigns we are running.
To connect with other groups who are interested in childcare and child poverty. So far its been really useful, thank you!
Spotlight on 4in10 Member On The Record
How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?
The lack of affordable childcare and inequality in educational opportunities for the early years is a major cause of poverty. Our project ‘Grow Your Own’ is sharing the history of how people created childcare and early years education and campaigned for improvements in London from the 1960s till the present day. We hope that learning more about how childcare was created in the past could help people change the childcare system we have today for the better, and therefore help to tackle child poverty.
Tell us something you are excited about?
We are excited that we can offer 10 free places on a podcast training course running from April 20th for six weeks. People taking part will get expert training in writing, recording, researching and editing a podcast episode, with all expenses covered including childcare. If you are affected by the lack of affordable childcare or trying to change childcare for the better, and have a connection to east London, please apply to join the course!
Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?
We’ve only just begun, but we have found a lot of people already with really interesting stories to share from decades of work making childcare better. We are starting to plan a program of events where we’ll share some of that experience and learning.
What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
About the history of childcare, including how parents set up their own community run nurseries in the 1970s when they couldn’t find any childcare, how they campaigned to get their local councils to fund them, and how their work setting up community nurseries directly influenced the Sure Start Children’s Centres that were set up in the late 1990s. We want to get the most useful information to you to help you achieve your goals today.
What would most help you achieve your goals?
Reaching lots of people – so please help spread the word!
Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
To connect with other groups who are interested in childcare and child poverty. So far its been really useful, thank you!
Spotlight on 4in10 Member Education and Skills Development Group
How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?
At the Education and Skills Development Group (ESDEG) we strive to alleviate child poverty through education in the London borough of Ealing. We run several programmes that provide support to the children belonging to refugee and deprived communities so that they can perform at par with the rest of their school cohort and enjoy a dignified childhood.
Supplementary Schooling: ESDEG was started to help children from refugee and deprived backgrounds to perform better in school. Around 2005 a bunch of us noticed that the attainment rate for children from refugee families in the Ealing was pretty dismal. Somali children were struggling in school and consistently underachieving, so we started after-school homework clubs. Our tutors not only provide children help with academic subjects in particular English, Mathematics and Science, but also offer a safe space to share their experiences in and about school.
Summer Camps: Over summer and other holidays we team up with other local organisations to organise camps, family fun days, seaside trips, sports and other recreational activities because we realise that some of the parents from deprived backgrounds cannot afford to take their children on holidays and day outs.
Family and Schools Partnership: Our work with children and parents made us realise how much some parents from deprived backgrounds whose first language is not English struggle to communicate with the teachers and school staff. The challenge gets multiplied for parents who were not raised in the British education system. From this stemmed our next service, our Family Support Liaison Officers work as a communication bridge between schools and children and their parents. One of the major issues our liaison officers are working on are school exclusions, both formal and informal. We have also produced a research document based on case studies of exclusion cases among the Somali community in Ealing (report available in our website www.esdeg.org.uk)
Youth Mentoring Project: This project is designed to provide individual and group mentoring to inspire young people; help raise their self-esteem and aspirations; improve their attainment and behaviour; and reduce the likelihood of exclusions, crime and anti-social behaviour. We motivate them to study and succeed in life by looking up to successful role models. Moreover, we equip our mentees with the resilience, emotional intelligence and growth mindset to help them overcome their barriers. Our experienced mentors provide structured and engaging sessions to young people from minority backgrounds, offering guidance, support and encouragement aimed at developing the competence and character of their mentees. Young people often disclose concerns and problems that parents/carers and school staff are not aware of. Our mentors also detect and report any safeguarding concerns and help young people overcome issues of abuse, bullying, radicalisation, neglect etc.
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Project supports children in Ealing with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Our aim is to bridge the gap between families, schools and the Local Authority by working with both the parents and the children to ensure the child is receiving all the support they need for educational success. Our specialised staff focus on identifying the reasonable adjustments a child with SEND may need to reduce the disadvantages they face as well as providing extra encouragement in their learning and support with physical and personal care difficulties.
Tell us something you are excited about?
ESDEG’s integrative therapist has recently launched an initiative which encourages school children to express themselves through art. These exercises have been very effective with children who suffer from anxiety. Children not only express themselves more candidly through colours and pencils, they enjoy the process and are eager to come back for more. Seeing the success of this initiative, our counsellor is planning to expand this to other children as well.
Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?
Last year (2020-2021) we supported over 180 students through our supplementary schooling – helping to raise their academic achievement, self-esteem, and social skills. Over the last seventeen years since ESDEG started, we have seen the children who attended supplementary schools improve their performance in school, secure college places and go on to have successful careers.
What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
ESDEG works with refugee and minority communities, the so-called hard-to-reach target groups. One of the main reasons for our successful outreach is that many of our staff are from minority backgrounds ourselves. Not only do we belong to the same community and speak the same languages, we understand the cultural and religious nuances which enhance communication and our clients feel confidence in our ability to provide them with high quality services.
What would most help you achieve your goals?
Like the other grassroots organisations we are also striving to operate with a limited pot of funding. Added to that is our struggle to secure office and training/meeting spaces for our day to day activities in the Ealing borough of London. The third challenge we face is in recruitment, training and retaining our staff. We feel that we could concentrate on our work a lot better if these administrative issues could be sorted.
Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
To connect with like minded organisations who are working with disadvantaged groups. Also being part of the 4in10 network helps us be part of the collective voice of the sector.
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Spotlight on 4in10 Member Praxis and the NRPF Action Group
How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?
Praxis is a charity for migrants and refugees. We provide immigration advice, housing and peer support and through all of these ways our work helps to protect children from poverty. We have become a leading expert in finding pathways out of destitution and supporting migrants facing homelessness, and our training and campaign work has national and international impact. Our core purpose is to help migrants in crisis or at risk, ensuring they can live in safety, overcome the barriers they face, and take control of their own destinies. You can read more about our strategy here, find us on Facebook, Twitter and our website here.
As part of this work, we facilitate the No Recourse to Public Funds Action Group, which is made up of campaigners with lived experience of the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) policy, to build campaigns to end this policy. You can find out more about our campaign, and read the NRPF Action Group’s manifesto calling for the end of NRPF here.
Tell us something you are excited about?
We are really excited that the group has decided to focus on campaigning for free school meals. The overarching goal of our campaign is to ensure free school meals for all children living in poverty, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. We’re launching with a specific call to the Government to make permanent the temporary extension of free school meals to some groups of children living in poverty affected by No Recourse to Public Funds, which was brought in during the pandemic.
We are also calling for free school meals for all children in poverty, regardless of immigration status, to take into account the fact that children with insecure immigration status are not covered by the extension of eligibility.
Our policy briefing sets out our campaign asks in more detail – you can find that here;
Additionally, here are some posts you can share if possible:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PraxisCommunityProjects/posts/325409016299148
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Praxis_Projects/status/1500765019050500096
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CazDWYtoCQa/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6906533946969186304
If you can support our campaign on social media, in your email networks and newsletters, this would be hugely appreciated! Please do reach out if you would like to collaborate in any way!. Any support you can offer to our campaign is hugely welcomed and thank you for all you do – Pascale.robinson@praxis.org.uk
Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?
We were one of the organisations that helped to uncover the Windrush Scandal originally and we’re proud to have been part of the work to campaign to change the system.
What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
- We can offer advice for those who need help navigating the migration system: Get Help — Praxis for Migrants and Refugees.
- We are experts in finding pathways out of destitution and supporting migrants facing homelessness. Please reach out to collaborate on this!
- We can offer training on the immigration system for a variety of organisations (depending on our capacity).
What would most help you achieve your goals?
We want to make sure that migrants can live in safety, overcome the barriers they face, and take control of their own destinies. To do this, we campaign for systemic change. We’re building alliances and working in partnership with experts by experience to create positive, long-term changes to the policies and practices that create exclusion and destitution. We’d love to collaborate on work to achieve these goals!
Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
Though we have only been in contact with the 4in10 team for a short while, 4in10 has already provided a brilliant chance to forge connections and collaborate with other amazing organisations working in the capital!
We are so looking forward to working together more, especially on our campaign to make sure all who need them have access to free school meals regardless of their immigration status.
Spotlight on Restorative Justice for All
Spotlight Interview with 4in10 Member RJ4A
- How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?
The Restorative Justice for All International Institute (RJ4All) is a charitable, user-led NGO with a mission to address poverty and advance community cohesion and human rights. We redistribute power in a more equal way by delivering social justice and poverty relief projects, educational programmes, intercultural dialogue, internships and high-quality volunteering opportunities to the most marginalised groups of society. Child poverty in London is not only a reality, but also a persistent societal failure. That is why we put emphasis on making a difference by providing local direct services from the RJ4All Rotherhithe Community centre, where we are based. It is not possible to achieve equality and community cohesion, if poverty and disadvantage are not rooted out first.
Since COVID19, we prioritized poverty relief and wellbeing projects, focusing on making a change locally and by prioritizing services for groups who are faced with extra challenges. One of these groups are children and young people in the South East London area where we are based. These local services are provided from the RJ4All Rotherhithe Community Centre, which has become a hub of community empowerment and cohesion. It offers a food-bank, a community fridge, free sport classes, a community library, COVID19 tests and educational workshops to children, young people and professionals. It is also a safe place for anyone who wants to pop in for a coffee, use our facilities or just chat with our interns, volunteers and team.
- Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service.
Last year, RJ4All was the recipient of the Best Charity Award from the Southwark Business Awards due to its youth-led COVID-19 poverty relief project “You are not Alone”. During the pandemic, children and young people came together and with the support of the RJ4All Director, Dr. Gavrielides, they set up the project to help their peers who were struggling. The project started with a small grant that RJ4All managed to secure, providing food and PPE to children, young people and their families. It then quickly expanded across London, resulting in generating over 500 volunteer placements, a mental health helpline run by children and young people for children and young people, online courses and a bank of online resources, internships and online fitness classes. The project is now under the auspices of the independent youth-led FRED campaign, hosted by RJ4All. Dr. Gavrielides also received the Southwark Civic Award 2021 as a result.
- What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
We encourage members to learn more about restorative justice and its underlying value of power sharing. Restorative justice is not just a justice practice. It is an ethos and a methodology for carrying out projects, or even how to lead our lives. We would be happy to introduce members to restorative justice and we encourage them to take our free CPD certified courses by visiting https://rj4all.uk/online/
- What would most help you achieve your goals?
Our mission is to address poverty and advance community cohesion and human rights. We do this by using the power of education, sports and art, as well as the practices and values of restorative justice including power sharing, fairness, equality, dignity and respect. We start locally and thus any support for our community service provision in SE16 London would be much appreciated. Our food bank and community fridge are always in need for stocking up!
- Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
We were very pleased to join the campaign in October (London Challenge Poverty Week), and we very much enjoyed working with the network given that we share similar values and goals. We often operate in silos making our work harder and our impact smaller. By connecting our minds and hearts, we come closer to addressing power abuse and the inequality that impacts on our children.
Spotlight Interview with Voices of Hope
4in10 Member, Voices of Hope, share their work.
How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?
Voices of Hope was established to help restore and rebuild hope in individuals, improving physical and mental health through community based projects. We work with groups across our community including families and individuals at risk of food insecurity, women who have experienced domestic violence/abuse and those with complex physical and or mental health issues. VoH also run a community choir and an innovative breathing support service.
Our BRITE (Building Resilience In Today’s Environment) Box project is a weekly recipe meal kit containing all the ingredients and a step by step, child friendly, illustrated recipe guide to resource and enable families to enjoy preparing and eating a healthy meal. We work closely with the Local Authority, Voluntary Sector and schools to reach families who will benefit most from engaging with the project and each family joins BRITE Box for a school year, receiving a new recipe meal kit every Friday.
Beyond the need to help children in immediate food poverty through providing a weekly balanced family meal at no cost, BRITE Box also addresses the impact of food scarcity on children through increasing skills, confidence and enjoyment in trying new foods and cooking from scratch – a life skill which can have a long term impact on physical, emotional and mental health and wellbeing.
We have also set up The Good Food Co-Op, a not for profit spray free, fresh fruit and vegetable box scheme, with the aim of ‘making healthy, fresh produce accessible to all’. Every box purchased by customers allows us to offer heavily subsidised boxes to referral customers, with community cooking events and courses planned for 2022.
Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service.
BRITE Box has grown from 40 boxes a week in May 2020 to 450 boxes delivered to families each week across Kingston, Richmond, Southwark and Elmbridge. We have worked very closely with Local Authorities, schools, businesses, volunteers and VCS partners to create a truly community led project. However, our main achievement is the engagement and feedback we have received from families and schools taking part in BRITE Box.
“It helped me out when I was struggling and shows how cheap it can actually be to buy and make food from scratch”
“It was amazing, I learned new recipes and it created a great task for me and the kids to do together, a weekly treat, it gave the kids something to look forward to”
“I haven’t seen a project so well engaged with and so embraced by staff, children and adults. It is particularly impressive how enthusiastic the children have been through and how engaged they have remained. the collaboration of adults engaging with and talking to the children has been fantastic. It has built confidence, communication and self-esteem”. (School Head)
What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
Effective partnership and working across the statutory, VCS and private sectors has been vital to the continued development and funding of BRITE Box. We place a high value on working relationally – listening, learning and sharing experiences.
What would most help you achieve your goals?
In order to allow more families to take part in BRITE Box we are keen to develop diversified sustainable funding streams and partnerships with like-minded community partners in other areas. We predominately serve Kingston, Richmond, Southwark and Elmbridge but are keen to work with others to serve other parts of London as we grow.
Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
4in10 provides a fantastic opportunity to be part of a network to learn, share insights and work together with a collective voice to reduce inequality across London.
For more on VOH go to https://www.voh.org.uk/index.html and if you are interested in partnering with us please get in touch.
Members Spotlight: West London Zone
SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW
West London Zone
- How are you helping young people in London?
We help children and young people build the relationships and skills they need to get on track Socially, Emotionally and Academically. We call this creating a SEA change.
We believe that by targeting these key areas of development we can empower children to fulfil their potential.
We work in West London - an area of deep inequality where 1 in 5 children and young people aren’t getting the support they need to thrive. Our research shows that there are 12,000 children and young people currently living in our community that need additional support.
- Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns we adapted quickly to provide online support to children and young people. In the first lockdown, between 23 March - 17 July, we provided on average 3 Link Worker interactions per child per week. We also delivered remote support, working really closely with our partners to adapt to this way of delivering.
Now that we are able to provide face to face support, we are extending it for those who would normally be finishing their two-year programme in July to provide experiences and opportunities until the end of August.
Our aim is to offer children the opportunity to participate in sport, drama, music, art and crafts and a range of trips and visits - as well as accessing some additional support from where needed.
These activities will support them with much needed social interaction with their peers, to promote positive emotional wellbeing and have the chance to take part in some fun-filled activities after a very challenging year.
We raised £21,135 this month to go towards funding these activities throughThe Childhood Trust’s Champions for Children campaign!
- What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
We have a funding model that sees each child supported by their local council, central government, their school and philanthropy. This means we are not reliant on one source of funding alone and can provide more support with these parties together than any one of them on their own.
We work to ensure that every child gets on track socially, emotionally and academically – and we have designed our funding model in a way to help us deliver this. Our commissioners pay us in instalments over the course of a child’s two-year programme, when we provide evidence of their participation in the programme and their progress at the end.
With payment explicitly tied to each individual, we are driven to achieve for every single child on our programme.
Our funding model means we work really collaboratively with our funders and partners - we have learnt a lot about how to do this effectively over the years. You can find more about our insights on this in our most recent Impact Report.
- What would most help you achieve your goals?
We are continuing to be purposeful and strategic with our aims for growth so that we can reach more of the 12,000 children in our Zone that could benefit from our support. We are growing so we can be truly 'deep' in our place - supporting children across the community and working together to impact a generation of young people in West London. We’ve grown quickly, and aim to support 3,000 children and young people a year by 2025.
We have a big ambition - and we are focused on one place. By working with local organisations and people, we think it is possible to enable all children in our community to have access to the support they need to thrive in adulthood.
- Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
4in10 is a really important network, and we believe it’s important to constantly share our insights and learn from other organisations. We really enjoy receiving 4in10’s newsletter filled with details on events and opportunities for organisations. 4in10 do a brilliant job of bringing together organisations to unite to tackle inequality in London.