FINALIST 2023
John Lyon’s Charity supports a wide variety of projects that exist to prevent families from reaching crisis point, help develop parenting skills and provide support to those in the greatest of need. Family life is not easy and even the most secure environments can be fragile and crack if exposed to certain pressures, such as relationship breakdown, bereavement, domestic abuse or economic difficulties.
The Shepherds Bush Families Project (SBFP) is a community-based service that assists and supports parents in their role as caregivers. It offers a range of experiences for families with children. The project has been at the heart of the local community of Shepherds Bush since 1988, begin=ning in a local Baptist church hall with a vision of an advice and advocacy service for parents and providing a daily drop-in sessions for parents and children to help families who are homeless or who have other unmet housing needs and/or suffer social and economic hardship.
Shepherds Bush Families Project has received funding from John Lyon’s Charity since 2003, securing £299,000 in grants over the years to support projects such as its After School Club and its holiday provision. These services continue to be popular and are proving vital, relied on by more than one hundred families each year. The provision of After School sessions provides an opportunity for young people to play games, try out different forms of art and complete homework in a safe and friendly space. The supportive relationship with John Lyon’s Charity has been vital in enabling the project to continue to meet the needs of families.
Tina Mayers, CEO of Shepherds Bush Families Project said: “Funding from John Lyon’s Charity has been vital for many of the children and young people we work with. As we have been able to offer a free service to families, no child or young person has been excluded due to financial constraints. Many of the children and young people have had opportunities to take part in activities that would normally have been denied to them. As a result, these young people have made and built friendships that have gone beyond the life of SBFP and given them the opportunity to increase their circle of friends.”
Over the last 33 years, SBFP’s services have expanded and developed organically in response to emerging and developing needs. This has been undertaken in consultation with families and with other relevant agencies and community groups in the area.
John Lyon’s Charity seeks to help parents give their children the best start in life by supporting a variety of projects that help develop parenting skills and support those in need.
The Charity believes in transforming the lives of children and young people by creating opportunities to learn, grow and develop through education. Since 1991, John Lyon’s Charity has distributed over £179 million in grants to a range of organisations that seek to promote the life-chances of children and young people through education.
We align with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
