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Greenhouse Sports uses sports coaching and mentoring to empower young people who are facing disadvantage and help them unlock their full potential. The charity partners with schools in high areas of deprivation, placing full-time coaches and mentors into the school environment to deliver programmes when the young people are most vulnerable to the likes of neglect, antisocial behaviour and crime. These programmes run before, during and after-school as well as during school holidays and on weekends to motivate and inspire young people growing up in disadvantage.
Growing up in poverty puts a good childhood at risk, threatening secure relationships and a decent education. Greenhouse Sports make sure these young people get the best possible chance to do well in life and have the resilience to overcome life’s difficulties. Greenhouse participants attend an average of 5-8 more school days each year, achieve 30-40% higher GCSE Maths and English grades, develop essential life and employability skills and benefit from improved mental and physical wellbeing.
The inequality gap has only increased due to COVID-19. 37% of children in London are now growing up in poverty, with the number of children in poverty in the UK increasing to 5 million. The gap between rich and poor pupils in England has grown by 46% over the last year. Greenhouse Sports is here to ensure these young people have an opportunity for a better life through the charity’s vision that every child has a fair chance to succeed.
Greenhouse Primary is an exciting new initiative launched in 2020 to ensure earlier intervention and support young people growing up in disadvantage from the earliest possible stage. This programme runs across two Primary Schools in Central London where the majority of young people attending are from marginalised communities and live in areas of high deprivation. The Greenhouse Coaches deliver structured and engaging sessions designed to encourage the young children and develop important life skills.
In addition, 3i is supporting the Greenhouse Discover programme in Clapham, South London where 70% of students live in areas of high deprivation. The Greenhouse Coach at this secondary school will develop the STEP (Social, Thinking, Emotional and Physical) skills of the participants through intensive coaching and mentoring designed to improve attitudes to learning, engagement with education and physical & mental wellbeing. Both Greenhouse Discover and Greenhouse Primary will have a transformational impact on the lives of 300+ young people in need.
“Greenhouse Sports uses sports and mentoring to teach young people key life skills we often take for granted, previously working solely with secondary schools across London. In September 2020, we extended our provision to primary schools because we were so concerned about the growing amount of young children affected by adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance misuse in adulthood. We are so grateful to 3i for funding the launch of Greenhouse Primary in Westminster and Greenhouse Discover in Clapham, giving hundreds of children in London a fair chance to succeed.”
Béatrice Butsana-Sita CEO, Greenhouse Sports
Leonard Cheshire supports disabled people to live, learn and work as independently as they choose - whatever their ability. The charity supports disabled people to claim their rights, access quality learning and work, and live as they choose; works with families and communities to be inclusive; and addresses additional barriers faced by girls and women.
The charity also champions rights, promotes inclusive behaviours and challenges discrimination. It also campaigns to increase access to education, employment, transport and buildings for disabled people; works with organisations to foster inclusive practices; and promotes inclusive innovation in technology, products and services.
There are 14.1 million disabled people in the UK and one in five of us will be affected by disability at some point in our lives. Nearly half (49%) of 25 - 64 year olds with a learning disability or difficulty in Great Britain have no qualifications and, at the age of 26, disabled people in the UK are four times more likely to be out of work or not in education compared to non-disabled people.
The ‘Changing Futures’ programme will enable 150 disabled youngsters in London to benefit from work experience and volunteering placements as we emerge from the pandemic. The programme will give 18-24 year olds work experience in an area suited to their interests and aspirations; the scheme also provides one-to-one support for employment advisors and access to a variety of interactive modules to develop skills and confidence. Leonard Cheshire’s training and consultancy team will work with employers to make sure their organisation is inclusive and has the right tools to support Changing Futures’ participants.
“The Changing Futures programme will make a huge impact to young disabled people in London, at a time when schemes like this are needed more than ever. Our charity found 71% of disabled people who were employed in March 2020 had their employment impacted in some way by the pandemic: such as being furloughed, losing income, feeling at risk of redundancy, or losing their jobs. Changing Futures is an important step in supporting young disabled people during the post-Covid recovery. We are extremely grateful to 3i for funding this.”
Ruth Owen OBE CEO, Leonard Cheshire
The London Community Foundation exists to help build strong and connected communities. They do this by inspiring London’s generosity to invest in small charities and community groups. Since 2010, they have committed over £65m in grants to support London’s grassroots organisations. In March 2020, LCF launched the London Communities Coronavirus Appeal, which had mobilised over £9m of essential funds to the Capital’s grassroots charities and community groups by November. These donations have supported over 330,000 Londoners. £1.3m has helped to ensure people have food and other emergency supplies; nearly 20% of the funding has gone to charities addressing domestic abuse and domestic violence and 30% of the funds have supported BAME-led organisations.
3i’s donation will go towards the London Community Response portal, a collaborative effort of over 60 funders across London that has been offering urgent and emergency funding to frontline organisations since April. LCF is managing all donations and funds received through this portal. 3i’s donation will be directed towards charities focusing on the themes of mental health, disabled people, BAME communities and domestic violence.
The collaborative effort between funders has supported the sector by reducing time spent applying for funds and reducing pressure by creating one easy access point. To date, nearly £42m (over £9m from LCF) of funding has been distributed through this portal, supporting organisations across London to be able to continue to carry out their critical work supporting their local communities during the pandemic.
"Throughout the pandemic, grassroots charities and community groups have been a vital lifeline in their local communities whilst facing challenges to maintain their services and survive the pandemic. Thanks to the generous donation from 3i, we will be able to support more organisations with their critical work, helping them reach the people and communities who need them."
Kate Markey Chief Executive of The London Community Foundation
Speaker’s Trust has over 15 years of experience in providing high quality, professionally delivered workshops, events and educational resources on public speaking and communications skills. They are an enabler of social mobility and help build a stronger society in which the voices of young people are heard, whatever their background. Speaker’s Trust works with one in every five state secondary schools in England, plus youth organisations across the UK.
Speak Up Yorkshire, which will reach over 50,000 young people each year, will be delivered in partnership with 3i. The programme offers free communication skills training to Year 10 students in every state school in Yorkshire either as an in-person workshop or as an online course.
We will be delivering 100 full day public speaking and communication skills workshops across the whole of Yorkshire reaching a total of 5,400 young people. We will offer these workshops to the areas of Yorkshire most in need. They will be delivered by expert communication skills trainers and supported by 3i volunteers who will share their experience and expertise with the young people. To ensure that no young person misses out on the opportunity we will offer an additional 100 state secondary schools in Yorkshire access to our online training resources reaching a further 50,000 young people.
‘We are so grateful to 3i for their support on this new project. Thanks to their funding we are able to build the skills and confidence of over 50,000 young people in Yorkshire, giving them the opportunity to be speak up and be heard on the issues that matter to them. Following a year where young people's education has been so disrupted, this opportunity is more important than ever.’
Russel Findlay Chief Executive, Speakers Trust
Starlight Children’s Foundation is a UK-wide charity that uses the power of play to make the experience of illness and treatment better for children and for their families. They achieve this by making the experience of hospital more positive, by creating opportunities for social connection and by sharing the unique insight and knowledge they have gained from working with sick children, their families and health professionals for over 30 years.
The urgency and resource needed to deal with physical illness can sometimes mean that childhood activities are overlooked. Illness in the ‘formative years’ can have a serious, long-term impact on children’s development. Starlight's services help to reduce anxiety and isolation and help children communicate and meet developmental milestones.
Demand for Starlight services in the NHS has increased during the Covid crisis, as hospitals close many of their play facilities and children have faced even more isolation with fewer visitors.
The 3i donation will enable Starlight to launch its first ever proactive play and distraction services to hospitals in some of the most deprived communities in the UK. Sadly, these communities are often referred to as “hidden voices” because, although they are disproportionately represented in hospital admissions, their voices are rarely heard in the development of services to meet their needs. Starlight will provide a bundle of services to the value of £1,000 which will include their distraction and boost boxes; gaming consoles and story-telling and pantomime services. The charity plans to work closely with a health professional in each hospital to ensure that they get valuable feedback on the impact of Starlight’s services, and how they might be even better tailored for the specific needs of these hidden communities.
The Children’s Society provide specialist support that empowers young people to make positive changes and rediscover their hope. They want a future they can look forward to and we’re here to make sure they get it. Working alongside young people, their families and community, we will not rest until together, step-by-step, we've created a society built for all children.
Young people come to us when they have low self-esteem and need someone to talk to, for therapy or sometimes just a bite to eat. To help with their court case, to talk to their mum, social services, their teacher and to sometimes not talk at all. We work with young people for as long as it takes and we’re with them no matter what.
COVID-19 has resulted in heightened feelings of anxiety and worry and could have exacerbated low-mood and other mental health conditions. As we step into a new way of life, children and young people may find it even more difficult to access support – from problems as they first arise and for those who are at crisis point, so we need to make sure we are there for them.
3i’s donation will help support our Mental Health and Resilience programmes, which provide tailored support for children and young people up to the age of 25, reach more young people in the West Midlands and Greater Manchester. Providing youth work and therapeutic support through a variety of interventions such as group workshops, creating art and talking with highly qualified and experienced project workers to ensure positive outcomes.
Set outside a clinical environment to create a warm and friendly space, our practitioners are there to put children and young people at ease. They talk to young people about whatever is concerning them, signpost to appropriate resources and work with them to learn techniques to manage their emotions, and build resilience and coping mechanisms. Some children want support for just a few months, whilst others need ongoing support to help them recover and manage their mental health.
1 in 5 young people struggle with their mental health. 3i will help ensure we are there to provide the support children and young people need; preventing a whole generation from growing into adulthood with no hope, aspirations or resilience to cope with daily life.
"Here at The Children’s Society our goal and vision is built around the hopes of young people, to achieve long-lasting change for this generation and the ones to come. Thanks to the generous support from 3i, we will be able to reach more children and young people who have lost their hope. Helping them to build and manage resilience during these unprecedented times and helping them to recover from the challenges and disadvantages they have faced."
Pippa Lock Head of Corporate Engagement, The Children's Society
The Elephant Group, which aims to support ‘top third’ students from non-selective state schools to access ‘top third’ universities, was founded in 2018 by school principal Matt Jones and fellow headteachers to address the systematic underrepresentation of students from non-selective state schools at top universities.
Just 19% of non-selective state school students are offered places at ‘top third’ universities and state schools receive no budget allocation towards helping students access university and often have limited knowledge on how to navigate complex applications and admissions.
The Elephant Group provides state schools with knowledge, resource and opportunities for teachers and students. They create regional partnerships with school leaders, universities, corporates and third sector partners and co-deliver their Year 12-13 Elephant Access Programme to support students to achieve their potential.
3i’s donation will fund a regional hub manager for two years to develop and deliver the charity’s successful existing programme and roll out its model further across Yorkshire and the North East.
“Schools work hard to support ambitious young people in gaining access to top universities and professional careers – but without adequate funding, knowledge of admissions and a teacher-led approach, too many young people miss out. 3i’s support will help us to work directly with headteachers and young people, particularly in Yorkshire and the North East, spreading opportunity and cultivating talent across the UK, which is so desperately needed as we emerge from the current pandemic.”
Matt Jones Founder & Executive Principal, Ark Globe Academy
The William Wates Memorial Trust exists to celebrate the life of William and to help disadvantaged young people fulfil the potential they were born with.
The Lewisham Youth theatre was founded in 1987. They use theatre and performance to engage young people in tough life situations, giving them confidence and new skills. They have been imaginative in the face of social distancing restrictions, by helping their young people conceive, write and perform new productions entirely online.
"3i and the William Wates Memorial Trust share a commitment to helping disadvantaged young people fulfil their potential. We are grateful to 3i for entrusting us to find great charities that connect their generous funding with young people who really need it. The profound negative effect of COVID 19 means that need has rarely been greater."