Action West London and West London Mission are set to receive a share of £1m from NatWest
LONDON, 8 June 2017 – Action West London, a member of West London Business, and the West London Mission are two of seven London-based not-for-profit organisations that will benefit from a share of £1m, as NatWest reveals the winners of the latest round of its Skills & Opportunities Fund. The diverse and inspiring organisations were among the nearly 600 organisations from across England & Wales applied to gain funding for community projects. The NatWest Skills & Opportunities Fund was set up in 2015 to create opportunities for people in disadvantaged communities to gain qualifications, find work or start a business. Since then, over £3.9m has been distributed to good causes in England & Wales through the Fund.
Action West London is a registered charity and social enterprise which helps individuals improve their lives through employment, education and enterprise. Their project Skills for Enterprise and Business will train disadvantaged people to develop their entrepreneurial interest and potential.
West London Mission provides social care services that improve the lives of some of the most disadvantaged people in London. The funding they receive will support their Money Champions programme, which dovetails with their existing services so that they can encourage the vulnerable people who access their support to live independently and improve their financial capability.
Phil Northey, Chair of NatWest’s London Regional Board, said: “Supporting London’s not-for-profit community organisations is a crucial part of our commitment to making a real, long term difference for the capital’s disadvantaged communities. It’s a real privilege for all of us at NatWest to be able to support such a diverse, innovative and inspirational group of projects through the Skills & Opportunities Fund.
“Since we launched the Skills & Opportunities Fund two years ago, the projects we’ve funded in London have so far made a positive difference to more than 8,000 disadvantaged and at risk people. This includes supporting 132 new business start-ups, helping 537 people get into employment and another 997 achieve professional qualifications. In addition to the funding we will also look to partner with each winner through mentoring, volunteering and advice.”
Dr John Blackmore, Chief Executive of Action West London, said: “The NatWest Skills & Opportunity Award will help us expand our work to help bring together young people and adults from our diverse communities to improve their life chances through learning about self- employment, business and enterprise opportunities. As well as training and support we will be able to offer practical experience running stalls at our thriving Acton Market social enterprise.”
You can find out more about these organisations, as well as the rest of the 32 winning organisations in England & Wales, and how their inspiring projects will be making a difference in communities by visiting: http://skillsandopportunitiesfund.natwest.com/winners/
