London Community Foundation

Neighbourhood building grant program concludes in 2009

Neighbourhood connections, like social connections, provide children, young people and their families with experiences of belonging and shared membership. We believe these connections are contributing factors in the overall well-being of children, young people and parents individually and the well-being of the family as a unit.

London Community Foundation’s neighbourhood building grant program has supported healthy neighbourhood development through local youth-led initiatives in two communities – Limberlost and South London, since 2003.

The grant program was a six year, $500,000 Community Foundation strategy to invest in renewal of low income neighbourhoods.

Limberlost is a neighbourhood of 152 townhouses in the northwest corner of London. The subsidized housing is home to many families, including many immigrants and refugees. There are approximately 600 children living in the complex.

Westminster Park is an under-serviced area near South London that, as of 2003, did not have its own resource centre.

South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre received its first grant of $50,000 in support of the establishment of a youth council in Westminster Park. The grant enabled the centre to hire a youth worker and establish a youth program in the immediate area housed in a portable facility owned by the Optimist Club.

The Limberlost Chaplaincy received its first grant of $30,000 to establish a tutoring program for youth known as Learning for Living. This program is located in the Chaplaincy’s town house unit of the Limberlost Road complex of the London Housing Authority.

The following year, Glen Cairn Resource Centre, a non-profit serving individuals and families in the Glen Cairn/Pond Mills community of South London, received its first neighbourhood building grant. Funding continued at regular intervals over the next five years. Being able to count on this income meant the Centres were able to concentrate on developing and delivering impactful programs. Their efforts centred around engaging community members in volunteer roles, strengthening parenting support programs, youth activities and much more.

Though the program concludes at the end of 2009, some programs have been able to develop, flourish and attract other sources of funding.

The Learning for Living program has become self-sustainable with committed volunteers. It has expanded to include a tutoring program for younger children as well. South London has been able to evolve its resource centre and programs.

Though six years of funding youth programs has not solved underlying socio-economic issues facing these areas such as high unemployment and language barriers, we have clear success in terms of the positive relationships that have been built within the neighbourhoods.

Thank you to everyone who committed his or her time and energy to this grant program. A detailed report on this grant program will follow in the New Year.