GTR announces community projects to share £448,000 improvement fund

• Train operator awards grants worth £448,000 – 20% up on last year – to support 37 local community-led social and environmental improvement projects
• Winning projects, chosen from over 200 bids, cover GTR’s rail network from Cambridge to Chichester, with more than a quarter in Beds, Herts and Cambs
• Projects are tackling homelessness and anti-social behaviour, and supporting mental health, diversity and inclusion, and employability.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has awarded grants totalling £448,000 to 37 organisations who are launching community projects close to stations served by the train operator.

The charities and community groups were chosen from over 200 organisations who answered GTR’s invitation to bid for support from its “Your Station, Your Community” fund last summer. Funding support ranges from £300 to £40,000, with larger awards split over two years.

Projects funded last year are expected to generate an estimated £150 million in social value, and GTR is aiming for an even higher figure from this year’s increased investment.

The winning projects will involve and enhance local communities in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire Cambridgeshire, London, East and West Sussex, and Brighton & Hove. They include schemes aiming to tackle mental ill-health, homelessness and anti-social behaviour, and to improve the environment, sustainability and accessibility.

[For outlines of all 10 projects in Beds, Herts and Cambs see Editors’ notes below.]

Among organisations receiving larger grants are Stevenage FC Foundation, the official independent charity of the football club, for a 12-week programme in secondary schools tackling anti-social behaviour; Bedford Citizens’ Advice, who are launching a new outreach service for homeless people; and Luton-based Bute Street Projects, whose Youth Film Programme will involve young people from ethnic minority communities in the production of film, music, art and cultural heritage projects.

Stevenage FC Foundation Chief Executive Officer Joe Goude said: “We are thrilled to be working with GTR on this innovative project. It has given us the opportunity to blend a number of offers to help tackle anti-social behaviour not only at the station, but across the town. We’re also engaging a number of key local partners to give young people in the town a chance to demonstrate their ambition and be a positive voice for mental health, that we cannot wait to showcase at the station.

“GTR continue to be an incredible partner for the Football Club and Foundation, and this funding will allow us to further our vision of an active, healthy, and positive life for all in our community.”

GTR’s Infrastructure director Keith Jipps said: “With our annual budget increased by 20 per cent, we’ve been able to make almost twice as many awards as last year when we launched the Fund, and I’m delighted to congratulate the 37 successful organisations. We’re excited to be working with them all to generate the social and environmental benefits their projects are designed to deliver.

“The projects we supported last year will generate an estimated £150 million of social value – we’re expecting this year’s programmes to top that figure.

“Thanks are due to everyone who applied. The magnificent response and extremely high quality of the bids shows the incredible energy, creativity and commitment our local communities possess.

“All the bids addressed important social needs, so it was a tough task to decide the winners. Unfortunately, we can only help fund a fraction of the projects, so many excellent bidders will no doubt be disappointed, and I encourage them to try again next year.

“Thanks again to our existing partners such as the community rail partnerships and tourism bodies, who have done a brilliant job spreading the word across our network since we launched the fund. And thanks also to our own community partnerships team, who are managing our contribution to this huge and important programme.”

Final approval of each grant award was made by the Department for Transport.

ends

Editors’ notes

Grant recipients and projects in Beds, Herts and Cambs

Bedfordshire

Bute Street Projects CIC (Luton): This newly established sister company of the nationally recognised Bute Street Film Festival Ltd, based in Luton, works parallel to festival activity to run several highly impactful ‘free to participate’ projects each year, using film, music and art as a vehicle to social equity and justice. This includes helping bridge the access and participation gap through exciting cultural initiatives for Luton’s communities and groups underrepresented in the cultural sector.

GTR’s grant will support the organisation’s Youth Film Programme, run in association with Barnfield College, Luton 6th Form, Denbigh High and Bedfordshire University. An open call will invite bids for three commissions across film, music and art; students at the partner institutions will be invited directly. In addition, groups from each institution will work on cultural heritage projects based on 'People of Luton' or 'Spaces of Luton'. Each piece will be shown to cultural, youth and community experts, with the final pieces exhibited at the festival at the Hat Factory, an important local heritage site. Contact: Benjamin Cyrus-Clark benjamin@butestreetfilmfestival.com

Citizens Advice Bedford and Mid Bedfordshire Citizens Advice: In partnership with GTR the charity will pilot a new outreach service to help people living on the streets. A dedicated Outreach worker will work with staff at Bedford station to connect with those who are currently living around the station area, then support individuals into temporary and emergency accommodation, identify their accommodation challenges and the root cause of homelessness, as first steps in securing settled accommodation and life-changing support. Helping the people of Bedford | Citizens Advice Bedford (bedfordcab.org.uk)

Empowering Education (Luton): delivers empowering education, digital inclusion and employability support to hard-to-reach, economically inactive residents. GTR will fund their ‘Digital Inclusion’ project, enabling marginalised south Asian women from deprived areas in Luton to use computers and other digital devices to engage with the digital world and take advantage of the opportunities presented. Empowering Education – Just another WordPress site

Fun 4 Young People - F4YP (Bedford): F4YP provides creative and educational courses, activity holiday clubs, psychotherapy and pastoral support to vulnerable young people. The project supported by GTR will provide a range of positive opportunities for around 80 young people, supporting their emotional and physical health and wellbeing and providing a support network around them and their families. Who We Are — Fun 4 Young People (f4yp.org)

Hertfordshire

Junction 7 Creatives (Stevenage): GTR will support this artists’ community to install “pop-up” venues in empty spaces in and around Stevenage station, and at J7C’s own community art space nearby, where the widest possible range of people can come together to enjoy and participate in art, music, poetry, and performance. Home-Junction 7 Creatives C.I.C.

Stevenage FC Foundation: (Stevenage) The aim of the project supported by GTR is to provide both targeted interventions within education settings, alongside open access opportunities using space close to Stevenage station to engage with young people aged 14-18 who are either disengaged with mainstream education or identified as in need of additional support to refocus their energy and enthusiasm to make positive life choices. A 12-week programme will be delivered in all six of Stevenage’s secondary schools, alongside the Education Support Centre (local PRU), and the Stevenage FC scholars programme. Stevenage FC Foundation – Official Independent Charity of Stevenage Football Club

Cambridgeshire

Centre 33 (Huntingdon and Peterborough) provides vital mental health and/or practical support for young people in need in areas such as employment, education, finance, housing, relationships, and sexual health. Their established and well-regarded ‘Someone to Talk To’ (STTT) service is offered via five local support hubs, of which one is in Huntingdon and one in Peterborough. GTR’s funding will support the launch, promotion and delivery of the service from a new, second hub in Huntingdon. find us - Centre 33

Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership: creating community artwork for the underpass between Meldreth station and Melbourn village, to improve the environment and tackle anti-social behaviour. Home (meldrethsheprethfoxtonrail.org.uk)

Network wide

Grassroots Suicide Prevention: GTR will support the Stay Alive Network Campaign to publicise and distribute the successful Stay Alive app, which provides immediate assistance and resources to people at risk of suicide and those who are supporting someone at risk. The app, developed in 2014, has had over 750,000 downloads, and has been translated into 14 languages. It includes a searchable database of crisis resources, a Safety Plan, a LifeBox to store life-affirming photos and videos, and educational articles. The campaign is designed to engage commuters, rail staff, and local communities associated with Great Northern, Southern, Gatwick Express, and Thameslink. Grassroots Suicide Prevention | Educating, Connecting, Campaigning (prevent-suicide.org.uk)

Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT) funds regional groups led by blind and partially sighted volunteers called Sight Loss Councils (SLCs) who use their lived experience to increase the accessibility of public transport. SLCs have worked with GTR to provide blind and partially sighted rail travellers with apps that provide a live personal guide around stations via their phone’s camera. The apps are now free to use at 12 stations. TPT will use their new grant award to create audio guides for six of the stations: Brighton, Eastbourne, Sutton, Blackfriars, Luton Airport Parkway and Stevenage. Available on the internet, these guides will allow users to get information about stations and trains while planning their journeys in advance. TPT estimates that as many as 130,000 people could benefit. Learn more about Sight Loss Councils: sightlosscouncils.org.uk