We are delighted to announce the three organisations that successfully secured funding from the Coventry University and Coventry 4 Good grant scheme have all started their activity ahead of the project start deadline January 2016.
Here’s a brief overview of the organisations and what the funding will help them to achieve:
Coffee Tots
Three Spires Tots charity practically supports vulnerable and disadvantaged parents and children in Coventry, helping them to build relationships and networks though the provision of a parenting support project called Coffee Tots. They aim to:
- Remove families from isolation
- Create confident, positive parents who feel well supported and loved,
- Improve the parent-child bond
- Increase the families life experiences and expectations
Their job club project will ensure that disadvantaged and isolated parents – often with little or no qualifications will receive the benefit of increased skills, recognised qualifications and access to vital help to get them in to employment. Each parent who comes off benefits and into employment increases the life chances of their children; it breaks the cycle of low expectations at school and allows them higher expectations of what they can achieve.
Foleshill Women’s Training (FWT)
FWT is an award winning women only organisation with 26 years experience of supporting hard to reach and isolated women from Coventry & surrounding areas to overcome barriers to achieve positive social, health and economic outcomes. FWT scopes and engages hard to reach and disadvantaged women across Coventry, with current targeted engagement for health programmes in Foleshill and Hillfields. In 2014, they secured the use of an outreach venue, Hillfields Community Hub, to deliver weekly women only coffee mornings.
Currently, volunteers and work placements from FWT run a coffee morning on Wednesday’s from 9-12. They want to expand and develop the weekly ‘Women’s Wellbeing’ workshops at the Hub to engage more women in the Hillfields community, so the hardest to reach and most isolated women are identified, supported, and can take their first steps towards full engagement with FWT’s programmes. They also want to develop arts & crafts skills of women in the community and create informal opportunities for entrepreneurial development at a targeted market place event, such as Fargo village.
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust (WWT)
WWT aims to protect and enhance wildlife, natural habitats and geology throughout Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, and to encourage a greater awareness, appreciation and participation in all aspects of nature conservation and the environment.
The grant will be used to create exciting opportunities for university students and the local community to come together to transform shared green spaces in Hillfields. With the University they have identified the community of Hillfields as being a priority area to focus on, supporting both a high student and culturally diverse local population which is also close to the universities facilities and residences.
The project will run regular environmental volunteering sessions (two per month) on 4 key green spaces in Hillfields; East Street Pocket Park (Vauxhall Street); St. Peters Centre; Asian Daycare Centre (Vauxhall Street); and some community planters on residential streets. Each space will receive bespoke improvements to increase wildlife diversity and to encourage greater use by people. These improvements will be delivered by volunteer work parties which will act as forums for students and local people to meet and work together.
