Grant Winners July 2006

The project provides a sustainable all year round gardening club for residents at Hackney Road and other Providence Row HA projects. The aim is to encourage residents to take up local volunteer placements at City Farm and other Tower Hamlets conservation projects. Participants will gain skills and experience to help with future employment prospects. The money will be used to buy gardening equipment.

A group of Travellers have set up a mobile learning / entertainment facility for children. They already have their own computers and software and are running literacy, numeracy, music, art and IT classes. Their grant will be spent on solar panels, a charge controller and an inverter to power the classroom with a clean source of sustainable energy. This will increase the time available for children to use the facilities.

Word of Mouth are a group of Travellers based on two sites in North London. They are running a youth area at a local festival, including a performance stage, information stall and live graffiti art. The event is designed to raise awareness of issues affecting young people, including homelessness. The way the event is organised is designed to pass on event organisation skills from the experienced members of the group to young people, through a series of workshops. The grant will also fund administration and promotion of the event.

A group of young homeless people from Ipswich are taking their housing situation into their own hands by creating a Housing Co-op. Their grant will be used to register Random Camel as a Housing Co-operative with Catalyst Collective and pay the first year service charge with Radical Routes who will provide support and guidance through the development of the Co-op. The grant will also be spent on publicity material to generate interest in loan stock to fund the Co-op.

T-Designs is a group of three young East African hostel residents who are designing and printing t-shirts, caps etc. for sale at community events. The money was used to buy plain t-shirts, fabric paints, stencils, canvas frames, a camera, brushes, needles and thread.

The Black Poppy Festival Collective are a group of volunteers who provide specialist drug advice, support, help and information at indoor and outdoor festivals. The money bought a marquee, groundsheet, lighting, a heater, two stretchers and a tea urn.

A group of squatters in Sheffield have opened a café serving Vegan food. They also host benefit gigs, film showings, activist gatherings etc. They bought a glass tea urn, a large blender, a large spoon and 6 coffee cafetieres.

DGLG is a group of Romany Gypsies who are setting up a national conference to link all the 9 regions via the web. They plan to host a conference in each of the 9 regions promoting healthcare, education and access to accommodation. They have already successfully gained planning permission for several Romany and Irish travelling families. The money was spent creating a website. Look at their website: dglg.org

Stephen Wiltshire is applying for planning permission to develop 4 transit sites and 2 permanent pitches. He is following the guidelines laid out in the government white paper with regards to planning permission for travellers and gypsy sites. The Scarman Trust has agreed to support him with further funding once he gets the planning permission through their Community Champions Fund.  The money he received is being used for the first stage planning permission and the expected appeal.