Joanna Kennedy has been announced as Chair of the growing place-based giving scheme in H&F

UNITED in Hammersmith & Fulham Board have announced that Joanna Kennedy has been appointed to succeed Kevin McGrath as the Chair of the Trustee Board . She will lead the young charity through its next stage of development, with the aim of taking it to a mature and sustainable status which will help it make a noticeable impact on the Borough. Her tenure began on 11 August.

Announcing her appointment, Joanna said:

“I am very excited to be joining this Board at a crucial stage in the development of the charity. Place based giving schemes are an energising and cooperative development in the life of a borough and United in Hammersmith & Fulham has already made a big improvement in the lives of residents and I hope I can help it develop that work.”

Executive Director, Savraj Kaur, said:

“I am delighted to be working with Joanna, with her wealth of relevant experience and passion for the local area. I am sure that she will prove to be a strong leader at this very important time for us all.

The board thank trustee Julian Hillman who was Acting Chair since the charity’s first ever Chair Kevin McGrath DL OBE, stepped down in December 2021, and Deborah Xavier of member organisation London Funders who assisted in the hiring process.

You can read more about Joanna, at her profile link here.

[ First published by LBHF Council on 27 May 2021]

Leaders from the three faith communities in White City have pooled their energies and resources to support those struggling in the pandemic as a result of poverty and educational disadvantage.

Supported by grants from the Winter Wellbeing Fund – set up by Hammersmith & Fulham Council and administered by UNITED in Hammersmith & Fulham – the new White City Interfaith Partnership has seen the leaders of the Church of England, Roman Catholic Church and Islamic communities come together.

“If we can work together, we can bring things into the neighbourhood that will lift everybody,” said the Rev Ben Humphries, vicar of the Church of St Michael and St George in White City.

Rather than focus on differences, the partnership’s aim is to show that more unites us as a community than divides.

Uniting those in need

The group has been providing emergency food packages to families for five years, with surplus supermarket food, UNITED funding and H&F Council’s Winter Wellbeing grant securing extra items for the hardest-pressed.

“If families can’t afford to buy food, then they’re not going to buy toothpaste it’s as basic as that,” said Mr Humphries.

Funding has ensured that essentials such as toiletries, cleaning products, sanitary items and food basics have been bought, with a focus on breakfast items to ensure children are not hungry before school. “That ought to make a big difference to what parents give our most vulnerable children,” he added.

Additionally, the partnership received around 70 boxes, each containing enough food to make a week’s worth of half-term lunches, for those on free school meals.

Winter Wellbeing helps 32 local projects

In total, the Winter Wellbeing fund has given £142,836 in grants to 32 different local projects, prompting UNITED executive director Savraj Kaur to thank everyone who has helped.

“Winter is always harder than any other time of year, and that is especially true for families experiencing additional hardship due to the past year’s crises,” she said. “We’re delighted that our young charity could partner with the council to help, and we will use this experience to help others in the coming year too.”

Cllr Sue Fennimore, Deputy Leader of H&F Council, praised the hard work of the individual projects, and the fund administrators. “By helping to channel the grants to grassroots activities it could be used most effectively,” she said. “It’s been fantastic to see so many groups and communities come together to support all of H&F through the pandemic.”

On the left is Church of St Michael and St George and on the right is an outing to Kew Gardens for some of the families involved with the Shepherds Bush Families Project

Community response

Others to have benefited from the grant programme include Dad’s House – a Fulham-based community charity that has worked in partnership with Solidarity Sports to supply food to those who need it and assist children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“A lot of the families did lose jobs, and through losing jobs, there was, unfortunately, a lot of family breakdown going along, side-by-side,” said Billy McGranaghan from the charity. A £5,000 grant covered the cost of winter bills for struggling families, including single dads. “UNITED and H&F Council’s partnership has been instrumental in helping us,” he said.

Another to benefit has been the Shepherds Bush Families Project. Awarded £9,000 from the Winter Wellbeing fund, it has been busily helping families caught between a lack of housing and high rent charges.

“For those with housing needs, the need has been really bad,” says Tina Mayers from the project. “It’s been really difficult to have three or four children in a one-bedroom flat, not being able to go out more than to do their daily exercise during the pandemic.”

Billy McGranaghan (right) founder of Dad’s House

Photojournalist Cinzia D’Ambrosi and visually impaired campaigner Ramona Williams are among six local residents who have joined UNITED in Hammersmith & Fulham’s new Community Grants Panel which pilots distributing decision making power to local people.

The place-based giving scheme’s first ever community panel will receive full training and go on as a group to make independent decisions to allocate pots of funding which support community initiatives for the next 18-months. Together, they will bring unique insights and represent the needs of people with their experience of diverse communities in the borough.

The full list of successful panellists (in alphabetical order) is below:

• Cinzia D’Ambrosi
• Iashia John
• Louise Jones
• Jeannetta Orton
• Trey Campbell-Simon
• Ramona Williams

All will work part time and be paid the London Living Wage for their training, and for assessing and distributing each round of grants, thanks to funding from City Bridge Trust.

Trey Campbell-Simon of Fulham, and the youngest of all the panellists, said:

“It fills me with immense pride to know that through this role I will be able to give back even more to the borough that has given so much me.”

Savraj Kaur, Executive Director of UNITED said:

“This panel is a vital step in helping us continue our mission to help make Hammersmith & Fulham an even better place to work, live and play. We are lucky to have these six incredible residents in our first cohort, who will no doubt bring great energy, independent thinking, and challenge and assure our grant making ways.”

A further announcement about applications for the first round of funding will proceed in the Summer months.

You can read more about each panel member at the link here.

[First published by LBHF Council on 19 March 2021]

A £10,000 grant to London charity Advance is helping to change attitudes and make Hammersmith & Fulham a safer borough for women.

The grant from the charity UNITED in Hammersmith & Fulham and H&F Council supports the work of an organisation set up in 1998 to campaign for an equal, violence-free world for women who have experienced domestic abuse.

Chief executive Niki Scordi said that Advance already works in partnership with many of the council’s departments, including housing and social care, and – in the last year alone – has assisted 7,000 women and children.

Niki believes that the issue of women’s safety is changing. “H&F is committed to helping, and provides wide-ranging services as well as reaching out to us,” she said, emphasising how the Advance charity had a much wider remit than women’s safety.

We support women

She said Advance works with the police, the court service, housing and social services, providing helplines and advice for people in need of support.

“We support women, children, specific communities with specific needs, female genital mutilation, sexual abuse, stalking, harassment and more,” she said.

While better street lighting and CCTV are all well and good, she added, the solution to the issue of women’s safety goes much deeper.

“Women are also assaulted in broad daylight, and in the home,” she said. “This goes well beyond wearing longer skirts… it’s about men changing their behaviour.”

Tackling violence against women

Cllr Sue Fennimore, Deputy Leader of H&F Council, backs the work of the Advance charity, which was set up in the wake of a 1996 statistic that revealed there were just 10 convictions out of 2,000 reported cases of domestic abuse that year.

“It is vital that we work together with organisations such as Advance to tackle violence against women and girls. It is unacceptable that one in five women will experience some form of sexual abuse in their lifetime, and one in four women will be victims of domestic abuse,” she said, pledging H&F Council’s continued commitment to ending all forms of violence and ensuring that the borough remains a safe place for all.

Demand for support for women experiencing domestic abuse has increased fourfold during the pandemic, with 70% of those seeking help having children.

Financial support

The latest £10,000 grant, building on other financial support which the council has given, will also support women caught up in the criminal justice system or who are at risk of offending.

Savraj Kaur, director of the UNITED charity, said: “In the middle of Women’s History Month, Sarah Everard’s disappearance and murder sent shockwaves through the community, and raised feelings of trauma for many, many women and girls.

“We know there are local women in dangerous circumstances and we hope this £10,000 will help Advance’s all-women staff ensure those who seek urgent safety can access it without delay.”

If you need the support of Advance, you can ring 020 8741 7008, email [email protected] or visit the charity’s website.