Agenda item

Report of the CGO

The Committee considered a report of the CGO advising Members of funds to be approved that would usually be approved under delegated but are presented instead to the Committee in order to be able to confirm the total grants awarded this financial year.

A Member advised that some organisations had reported difficulties in their relationships with Ethical Property Foundation, and asked whether this had come up during the assessment process. The Member also noted the conditions attached to the grant to London Wildlife Trust and asked whether this was due to any particular concern. Another Member asked whether current Covid-19 restrictions would impact the proposals in respect of the Deafinitely Theatre application.

The CGO responded that officers could look into any issues relating to grantees, but were not aware of any feedback from organisations regarding Ethical Property Foundation and undertook to discuss this with the Member. The CGO then advised that the condition attached to the London Wildlife Trust grant recommendation was unusual but had been included due to the change of circumstances arising from Covid-19 in this context. However, officers were confident that the workplan would be fine and did not want to delay the application further.

With regards to Deafinitely Theatre, the CGO advised that the project had been postponed until April 2021 due to Covid-19, and approval of the grant would allow the organisation to start planning how the project could be delivered. Noting the ongoing challenges for live theatre and other creative industries, the CGO added that the security of a five-year grant would be important.

The Deputy Chairman asked whether officers knew how many currently-funded schemes were on pause due to Covid-19, noting that CBT had also offered grantees the ability to reroute funding from specific projects to core costs. The CGO responded that there were very few projects that were completely paused, although many were now being delivered in a different way. This was in no small part to the flexibility afforded by CBT and LCRF grant funding to the sector.

RESOLVED – That the City Bridge Trust Committee receive the report and approve the recommended amounts for the following applications:

1. Abbey Community Centre

APPROVED £250,000 over 5 years (5 x £50,000) to support the salary costs of the Project Coordinator and Community Projects Development Manager and associated project costs to deliver a range of activities for older people in Camden.

2. Anna Freud Centre

APPROVED £250,000 over four years (£63,000; £75,000; £77,000; £35,000) for two ‘First Steps’ group therapy programmes with women who have experienced repeated removals of children from their care. The costs of the programme to be partly funded by Anna Freud Centre and Pause.

3. Arts For All

APPROVED £50,000 over five years (5 X £10K) for the costs of delivering The Rainbow Club, including a contribution to the Key Worker’s salary; volunteer expenses; day trips; materials and charity governance.

4. BeFriend (formerly Volunteer Link Scheme)

APPROVED £130,000 over 5 years (£25,000; £25,500; £26,000; £26,500; £27,000) to contribute to the salary costs of the Befriending Coordinators and associated project costs to deliver a Befriending Service for older people in Ealing.

5. Deafinitely Theatre

APPROVED £200,000 over 5 years (5 x £40,000) to contribute to the costs of the Youth Programme for deaf young people in London.

6. Ethical Property Foundation

APPROVED £150,000 over three years (3 x £50,000) towards staff, associate and running costs to continue to provide a property advice service to benefit London’s voluntary and community organisations.

7. Ezra Umarpeh

APPROVED £136,100 over five years (£25,600; £24,400; £24,500; £30,750; £30,850) towards the salary of a Home Equipment Delivery Technician (20 hpw), training, and vehicle operation costs.

8. The Federation of London Youth Clubs

APPROVED

a) £97,000 towards the costs of a package of support through to January 2022 to organisations funded by the Young Londoners Fund, and

b) Provision of a fund of £150,000 for individual Awards for organisations achieving the London Youth Quality Mark.

9. Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)

APPROVED £104,200 over three years (£36,840; £33,260; £34,100) towards salaries of the 0.8 dpw Networks and LEAG Officer and the 2 dpw Training Officer, and associated project costs of a capacity building programme for organisations supporting London communities at risk of labour exploitation, modern slavery and trafficking. The grant includes a contribution to overheads.

10. Highgate Newton Community Centre

APPROVED £74,000 over a further and final two years (£36,700, £37,300) towards the p/t salary of a Project Coordinator and p/t/ salary of a Meals on Wheels Coordinator and a contribution to association freelance sessional staff costs to deliver a wellbeing programme to older vulnerable community members.

11. Limehouse Project Ltd.

APPROVED £117,100 over three years (£37,900; £39,000; £40,200) for the salary of a full time Universal Credit Support Worker and related running costs.

12. London Bubble

APPROVED £51,600 over a further and final two years (£24,400, £27,200) towards the salary of a project coordinator and evaluation lead, freelance artists and associated costs, to deliver creative sessions for older people on Southwark.

13. London Wildlife Trust

APPROVED £216,000 over five years (£42,200; £42,300; £43,000; £43,850; £44,650) for the salary and project costs towards increasing the participation of under-represented groups at Woodberry Wild. Release of the grant is conditional on the organisation providing a satisfactory year one activity plan for its community engagement work.

14. Park Theatre

APPROVED £36,200 over two further and final years (2 x £18,100) for the delivery of accessible performances for disabled audiences, deaf awareness training, and Evac Chair training.

15. Peter Bedford Housing Association

APPROVED £125,700 over 2 years (£61,600, £64,100) for a Creative Industries Enterprise Coordinator p/t (25hrs per week) and associated costs to provide a creative industries programme of activities and opportunities for people with a learning disability to develop life and employability skills.