2025 Community Vitality Recipients Announced!
2025 Community Vitality Recipients Announced!
London Community Foundation’s Community Vitality grant program – one of the Foundation’s largest funding streams – has awarded a record $1.53 million to support nine transformative projects by organizations in London and Middlesex County.
The Community Vitality grant program provides vital support to organizations tackling the most critical issues in our community, building a sense of belonging, and supporting equity-deserving populations. This year’s grant recipients embody these principles by improving food security and health services for underserved and marginalized groups, growing pathways to employment for Indigenous youth, film-makers, and people leaving the justice system, and by protecting our environment with a collaborative, knowledge-sharing approach.
“These projects involve either piloting a new approach or expanding on one, demonstrating each organization’s willingness to take bold steps toward a more equitable community. The Foundation’s Board of Directors is honoured to support these groups and their transformative work.”
Lori Runciman, Director of Grants, London Community Foundation.
The 2025 Community Vitality grant recipients are:
Alzheimer Society Southwest Partners: Dementia Support for Marginalized Communities ($232,400 over 3 years)
Forest City Film Festival: Vital Signs Program Support ($75,000 over 3 years)
Growing Chefs! Ontario: Learn to Grow, Grow to Give ($225,000 over 3 years)
John Howard Society of London & District, John Howard Society of Ontario, and Goodwill Industries: Fair Chances Employment Pipeline Project ($109,500 over 2 years)
Ontario Nature and Chippewas of the Thames First Nation: Cross-cultural Collaboration to Enhance Climate Resiliency ($170,000 over 3 years)
Progressive Animal Welfare Services: Enhancing Well-Being of London's Vulnerable Communities through PAWS ($60,000 over 3 years)
Southwest Middlesex Health Centre: Mental Health and Wellness Support for Indigenous Patients ($138,544 over 2 years)
STEAM Education Centre: Building Indigenous Equity in STEAM for the Jobs of Tomorrow ($225,000 over 3 years)
Type Diabeat It: Type Diabeat It Kitchen ($300,000 over 1 year)
The annual Community Vitality grants are made possible by Community Fund fundholders, as well as donations from families, individuals, and businesses to London Community Foundation’s Community Fund. These funds pool contributions to enable collective support for organizations that are addressing the issue areas in the Foundation’s flagship Vital Signs report: climate & environment, gender equality, good health & wellbeing (including mental health and addictions, and the arts), housing, reduced inequalities, and zero hunger.
Donors and fundholders trust the volunteers from the London and Middlesex region who make up the Foundation’s Grants Committee to review all Community Vitality applications and select the recipients for review and approval by the London Community Foundation Board of Directors.
“The Community Vitality grant program is possible thanks to the generosity of the London and Middlesex community. We are so grateful for the belief and trust the community places in our Grants Committee and the organizations it recommends each year to help build a community where everyone can thrive,” said Runciman.
Since its launch in 2011, the Community Vitality grant program has awarded 70 grants totaling more than $14.4 million to organizations in London and Middlesex County.