The Together Fund is a continuation of Sport England’s Tackling Inequalities Fund which was created in April 2020 to reduce the negative impact of coronavirus and the widening of the inequalities in sport and physical activity.
London Sport, is distributing £530,000 of grants through Sport England’s Together Fund. This funding will help more than 50 community organisations step up their efforts to encourage Londoners to be more active, with grants focusing on the most deprived areas of the capital. The fund also targets communities and people most adversely impacted by COVID and, more recently, the cost of living crisis.
Among the projects funded by London Sport is “Free Your Instinct”, a charity based in Camden helping girls from diverse ethnic backgrounds get active via weekly after-school parkour sessions. Elderly residents of Lowry House in Tottenham are also benefitting, with funding granted to help continue their daily “health walks” in local gardens. These walks are combined with gentle indoor exercise sessions and are designed to help people not only improve their physical health, but also boost mental wellbeing and reduce isolation.
Targeted Funding for London
The Tackling Inequalities Fund saw an additional £200k of investment into the capital’s community sport and physical activity sector, supporting local communities to start and remain active as society began to reopen following the covid-19 lockdown.
The investment, which was led by London Sport and supported by a number of sector partners, distributed to community-focused organisations working across eight London boroughs that demonstrate higher levels of inequality and physical inactivity.
These boroughs were: Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Harrow, Hillingdon, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Lewisham and Newham
Projects that we backed with investment focused on supporting people that are most at risk of inactivity due to the impact of covid-19.
The £200k Tackling Inequalities Fund for London was focused on the following target audiences:
- Lower Socio-Economic Groups
- Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities
- Disabled People and People with Long-Term Health Conditions
Our work focused the London funding to the specific audiences through three strands:
- Disability and Inclusion
- Children and Young
- People – Place-based work
Individual grants of up to £10k were targeted towards groups working in communities, with projects also receiving support and guidance from London Sport throughout the term of the programme.
Success Stories
Our Tackling Inequalities investment has bee spread across the capital and focused on supporting those who were hardest hit by the effects of the pandemic. Click here to learn more about four specific projects including:
- Bexley Mencap ran weekly sessions via Zoom to engage people with disabilities
- Saracens Foundation helping build the confidence of young people with disabilities
- Coin Street Neighbourhood Trust collaborated with Kings College to give women sole access to an under-utilised facility
- Mottingham Library installed interactive play equipment to support young children and their families
- Legacy Hayes supported women from ethnically diverse communities to restart, or pick-up cycling
Tell your story
If you have a great story about how taking part in physical activity has had positive effects on your life, or if you are an organisation that is helping people lead better lives through physical activity, we want to hear it!
By answering 10 simple questions, we can help tell your story and show how people can live longer, healthier and happier lives through physical activity. We also use real-life stories to help us shine a spotlight on our sector to help influence policy, leverage funding and create more opportunities for people to be active.
Complete the form and return to [email protected]
If you are an organisation being supported by the Together Fund, please click here to complete a survey for your project.
More information and contact details:
For more information around our Together Fund work, please contact project lead Alex on [email protected]
