Children’s charities handed £4m post pandemic recovery funding

Charities in London have received £4m in funding over the last year, the first phase in a £22m commitment by grant maker maker John Lyon’s Charity to secure the long-term future of the children and youth sector.

The funding was announced in March 2021, to be spent over the next six years to help protect children and youth services as they recover from the Covid-19 health crisis.

The £22m in funding is in addition to the grant giver’s usual funding for good causes of £10m to £12m a year.

The focus of the additional funding is to back projects that help young people in the home, school, and community (HSC) “the three main points of reference in any child’s life,” said the charity, which this week has announced details of how the first £4m of the funding has been spent.

“We could not sit by and watch the pandemic threaten and destroy the many vital organisations we have supported over the years,” said John Lyon’s Charity chief executive Lynne Guyton.

“Just one year on from our HSC launch, we are already seeing the positive effects on many grassroots charities and organisations who have benefitted from this funding strategy.

“Our groups are starting to rebuild all that was lost during the pandemic but there is no denying that these organisations will need support for the foreseeable.”

Among charities to receive funding is Catholic Children’s Society (CCS), which is using its grant to support pupils with mental health issues.

“This work has had a profound impact, helping vulnerable children develop greater resilience and putting them in a much stronger position to engage with school life and achieve their full potential,” said CCS trust and grants officer Greg Brister.

Another is Aurora Orchestra, which has used its funding to help “children to imagine, create and play through music”, it said.

John Lyon’s charity has handed out more than £171m in funding since 1991 to youth clubs, arts projects and other young people’s activities across nine London boroughs including Camden, Westminster and Harrow.