Community champions

The Community Champions grants programme provides funds for people who want to run a project that will benefit their local community.  The Scarman Trust provides the awards and selected the Octavia Foundation as a partner to help identify local people in central and west London that had a great idea that could change their local community.

Working with local community groups and tenants associations, we identified 11 people that wanted to apply for grants.  We supported 10 people with their applications for grants, raising a total of £15,350 for their projects.  Projects that were funded included a gardening project for people with learning disabilities, ceramics workshops for children and adults, digital photography workshops for young people, creative writing classes for adults, social activities for older people, healthy eating classes for Sudanese women refugees, and drama classes for children.

Employment and Training

In 2006, Octavia carried out research into the employment needs of its tenants.  This identified that a large number of tenants would be interested in taking part in employment and training initiatives run by Octavia.

Over the past year the Octavia Foundation has implemented a pilot project that helps unemployed tenants get access to employment and training opportunities.  We wanted to help tenants develop their skills and access opportunities to get jobs.  We have helped 15 Octavia tenants’ access training and employment opportunities.

We have worked with training providers such as LEAP in Harlesden.  LEAP runs a three week preparation for work training course: STRIVE.  We have referred unemployed tenants to this course as it is particularly beneficial for those that have been out of the work environment for a long time.  After completing the course, we have helped tenants’ access work placements, further training and jobs.