Evolve has created its first Social Enterprise Lead role and is welcoming long-serving team member, Taylor Barrett, into the position. With two cafés, three years and numerous awards to its name, the social enterprise is entering a new dawn with Taylor at the helm, which it hopes will see a period of tremendous growth… and even another venue. Since opening its doors in 2017, Evolve has helped provide young people facing barriers to employment with training, qualifications and job opportunities. Created by addiction support charity Aquarius, Evolve has since gone on to help 28 young people, offering over 1,000 hours
After launching an urgent appeal last week, Heart of England Community Foundation has received almost £80,000 to support local communities across the region during these unprecedented times. The charity opens its Coronavirus Resilience Fund today, which local community groups and projects can apply for, in order to help ease financial concerns during the current pandemic. The fund, which was announced by Heart of England Community Foundation last week, will be available to constituted groups providing services such as food banks, social eating projects, emergency food parcel deliveries, and those engaging in outreach activities; all vital for various constituencies within the West
Heart of England Community Foundation, the region’s leading supporter of community projects and local charities, has launched an urgent appeal in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. Calling for businesses, or individuals, to pledge their support for a Coronavirus Resilience Fund, the money will help those in need during this international crisis. Heart of England Community Foundation has helped over 6,000 projects across the region and awarded over £20 million since being founded 25 years ago. The Foundation, which is based in the heart of Coventry, prides itself on the support it offers to the region and wants to ensure important
The Heart of England Community Foundation has announced its plan to support over 50s in an all-new Edgbaston and Northfield Neighbourhood Network Scheme (NNS) Fund. The charity’s latest fund has a pot of £400,000, which will provide help to community projects within the local area. Funded by Birmingham City Council, it will support and provide opportunities for older people within the wards of Edgbaston and Northfield. The Foundation will work alongside Age UK Birmingham, Gateway Family Services and Northfield Community Partnerships, as the lead facilitators for the new grants scheme. After extensive research, Birmingham City Council found there was support
Coventry Building Society, with the support of the Heart of England Community Foundation, is launching a new fund providing grants of up to £10,000 to community projects in Coventry and Warwickshire. The Society has funded 125 projects across the West Midlands since its partnership with the Foundation which began in 2012. Working with the Heart of England Community Foundation has allowed Coventry Building Society to have ownership over where and how the grant money is spent, but also allows it to tap into the charity’s wealth of experience in grant-giving across the West Midlands. The Society’s latest fund will focus
This month sees the Heart of England Community Foundation celebrate its quarter century milestone, marking a whopping £20 million awarded to almost 6,000 projects across the region. Since its inception on Valentine’s Day in 1994, the charity has put the community at the heart of its giving; helping hundreds of thousands of people every single day. From Bilston to Birmingham, Sandwell to Solihull, the Heart of England Community Foundation has spent the past 25 years supporting projects that tackle key issues across the West Midlands. Last year alone saw the charity award a grant total of £2.3million to 760 projects,
As it gears up to its 25th birthday, the Heart of England Community Foundation has appointed a new trustee; Russell Bailey. Russell, who is currently a Regional Director at Faithful+Gould, is the latest representative to join the board, and brings his 15 years’ of business expertise to the table. After first being introduced to the charity through its Building Better Lives initiative – a programme pledging over £3m to support housing charities in the West Midlands – Russell was inspired by the Heart of England Community Foundation’s work. With a further insight into the diverse causes that are supported by the
At such a vital time for mental health services, Living Well UK is continuously expanding as an organisation, and it is taking its reach to new heights, with the appointment of new CEO, Ben Howells. Ben will be joined by two new trustees, Aftab Rahman and Lovemore Masiane, and together the trio hopes to further propel Birmingham’s largest mental health consortium’s objectives in 2020. Having gained over 10 years’ experience at addiction charity Aquarius as Area Manager, Ben is already a prominent figure in the local mental health and wellbeing sector. He’s worked tirelessly to partner with companies in the
Heart of England Community Foundation kicked off the most wonderful time of the year with its popular Christmas Quiz last week. The festive annual event, which the Foundation has hosted for the past three years, saw teams from across the region battling out, all for a good cause. The festivities saw 15 teams head to HOECF HQ to participate, but only one team could be crowned the winner. Bright stars, HCB Accountants, wrapped up the battle having pipped last year’s winner, The Friendship Project, to the post. The charity raised over £800 at the evening, which will all be used
The Heart of England Community Foundation has pledged over £3m to support a trio of charities across the West Midlands. The charity distributes on average around £2.7m per year to hundreds of grassroots projects across the West Midlands so to award over £3.1 m to just three organisations is a monumental step change for the Foundation. Thanks to incredible anonymous donors the funds will be shared between YMCA Birmingham, St Basil’s and Black Country Women’s Aid. The grants are being awarded through the Heart of England’s ‘Building Better Lives’ Programme, which focuses on the need for purpose-built housing for vulnerable people