On Wednesday 16 February, Deputy Mayor Debbie Weekes-Bernard hosted the launch of the Civil Society Roots programme. This £1m fund is a partnership between the Greater London Authority (GLA) and City Bridge Trust and is a key programme within the Building Strong Communities recovery mission. The fund is offering grants of between £1,000-£50,000 for organisations in 10 London boroughs that are led by and for communities impacted by structural inequalities, to strengthen their networks, capacity and voice.
The launch event, hosted on Zoom, was attended by 125 participants representing a range of stakeholders from community-led organisations, boroughs and pan-London infrastructure including grantees who benefited from the two previous rounds of the programme that took place in 2020 and 2021.
The event was an opportunity for Deputy Mayor Debbie Weekes-Bernard to deliver a keynote speech setting out her vision for pan-equalities organisations in London, highlighting the critical role of community-led groups and her plans, through programmes like Roots, to tackle inequalities and support the sector to thrive.
The Deputy Mayor’s speech, introduced by the Chief Executive of London Funders James Banks, set out the three main foundations on which the Roots programme was built:
- communities most impacted by inequalities must be at the heart of our shared endeavour to achieve social justice
- we need to build the conditions necessary for social justice
- recognising the interdependence of all struggles for equality and justice.
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The keynote speech was followed by a panel discussion, chaired by the Deputy Mayor, with three experts in this space:
- Yvonne Field, Founder and CEO, Ubele
- Farzana Khan, Executive Director, Healing Justice
- Dr Rohit Dasgupta, Councillor for Canning Town South, LB of Newham.
Leading on from the themes of the Deputy Mayor’s speech, the panel reflected on and considered what is needed to build strength within the sector and how we can all work together on a shared agenda of tackling inequality.
Find more details on the programme, the prospectus and how to apply.