In February 2023, Lewisham Local in partnership with Lewisham Council launched the Community Food Justice Grants Programme. The fund was aimed at voluntary, community and faith organisations based in Lewisham that were delivering projects that tackle food insecurity and are experiencing increased demand and/or reduced capacity due to the cost-of-living crisis.
There was a total of £113,000 available which broke down to offer 21 grants of up to £3,000 to support existing community food giving projects already in operation (including foodbanks, social supermarkets, community pantries and delivery services) to provide additional resources to address the multiple challenges facing food giving projects in Lewisham.
Five additional grants of up to £10,000 were offered to food giving organisations to help organisations meet the needs of their clients and to develop additional capacity to support the vision and priorities of Lewisham’s Food Justice Action Plan.
Aims and Objectives
This funding was intended to provide resources to address the multiple challenges facing food giving projects in Lewisham such as increasing demand from residents experiencing food insecurity, decreasing donations, and increasing food prices.
The cost-of-living crisis continues to negatively impact residents’ ability to afford food. In Lewisham in 2020, 35% of people were living in poverty, including 37% of children and 20.7% of residents were earning below the London Living wage. The cost-of-living crisis has resulted in an increasing number of people falling into poverty and food insecurity, which has placed a growing strain on local emergency food provision services and demand for these services has risen rapidly.
This fund was established to support local community groups in Lewisham to meet the growing demand for emergency food aid caused by the cost-of-living crisis. The fund acknowledged that local community groups, with their long-standing connections to their respective communities, are most capable of reaching and assisting individuals who are adversely affected by this crisis. These groups are also facing additional costs due to the impact of the crisis.
Impact Summary
In the first round of funding £89,017 of the £113,000 was distributed to 19 projects. 13 x £3,000 were distributed and six larger grants.
- 1 project was funded to distribute cooking appliances
- 1 project was funded to deliver cookery classes
- 3 projects provided meals
- 4 projects incorporated cash-first offers
- 10 projects purchased culturally appropriate food with the funding
- 9 projects provided fresh food with the funding
- 8 projects purchased ambient food with the funding
The funding supported 12,242 individuals from those that completed the reporting over the course of the grant cycle.
You can read more about the programme’s impact and activities in this Impact Report.