London’s Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement yesterday visited Wheely Tots in Tottenham to see how the charity is helping families of different backgrounds come together.
Debbie Weekes-Bernard visited the charity and its ‘Family Buddy Up’ project to see how a £47,000 grant from the Mayor’s London Family Fund is helping to unite families.
The charity, which operates in the South Tottenham and Northumberland Park areas of Haringey, helps families, in particular parents and toddlers, cycle more regularly. Its Family Buddy Up project pairs up families from different backgrounds to give them the opportunity to bond over a range of activities, including sport and cooking. By the end of its first year, the project expects to benefit 200 local families.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, created the London Family Fund last year to help parents across the city build social networks and support each other once they have children. The fund provides £600,000 over three years to schemes which help Londoners with children to develop close and lasting relationships irrespective of ethnicity, disability, income or social class.
Deputy Mayor of London for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement, Debbie Weekes-Bernard said: “Wheely Tots is a fantastic charity which helps parents and children to make friends, get active and connect with other Londoners.
“The Mayor and I are committed to bringing Londoners together and this charity shows how the shared experience of raising children is a great way for Londoners to bond.”
David Pitcher, CEO of Wheely Tots said: “It was lovely to have so many families come to our cycling session which is part of our Mayor of London funded ‘Family Buddy Up’ project.
“Having local parents from various backgrounds with young children all helping each other makes for a really positive experience.
“From the ‘Family Buddy Up’ project we’ve seen that when families come together parents get to meet new people, expand their social groups and feel more connected to their local area.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
This London Family Fund is part of the Mayor’s strategy to address social integration in London - the first time a Mayor of London has set out such a strategic approach.
The London Family Fund aims to:
• Support grassroots projects that bring families together to build meaningful relationships
• Generate more diverse social networks, reduce parental isolation and loneliness, and improve the wellbeing of children
• Share and promote best practice in the family services and early years sectors
In 2018-19 the GLA awarded funding to nine organisations including Wheely Tots.