Today, the Asda Foundation has announced a staggering £1.2 million has been awarded to 65 community projects to transform community spaces and places where local people can come together and thrive.
The 65 grants that have been awarded range between £10,000 and £25,000 and will go towards the improvement of community spaces in local communities across the UK.
Asda’s latest community tracker reveals over 20% of customers were concerned about the lack of community spaces in their local area, as well as mental health and crime prevention both ranked in the top three needs for people in local communities.
The Investing in Spaces and Places grants support the redevelopment of vital community spaces that are designed to bring people together, offer support and create community connections. Some of the successful grant applications include groups providing mental health and wellbeing support for men, including The Port Men In Sheds, Rammy Men CIC and Banff McDuff District Men’s Shed. Then groups offering services for young people such as Avon Youth Club and Gosberton Youth Centre who provide safe spaces for young people to meet, socialise and learn new skills. They are also funding groups supporting vulnerable people during difficult times like The Basement Advisory Centre, St Phillips Centre, The Old Bank who provide essential support services.
It is often these small, grassroots groups which become a lifeline for many, but funding is needed to ensure the vital spaces from which they operate don’t vanish from local communities. The Asda Foundation Investing in Spaces and Places grant launched in 2022, and since then, the charity have pledged over £2.5 million of grants into transforming community spaces across the UK.
The groups who have been successful in their grant applications will be taking on a whole host of different transformations to their community spaces including upgrading a community kitchen and café, to roof repairs, to refurbishing a whole community building and improving accessibility to a nature garden.
These grassroot groups continue to play a part in uniting communities and reducing loneliness by improving community spaces for people to be together. Loneliness and isolation are flagged in the latest Asda Community Tracker as one of the three biggest challenges currently faced by communities* with the survey also revealing that customers were deterred from using community spaces due to anti-social behaviour, vandalism, litter and cleanliness and poor facilities.
Karl Doyle, chair of the Asda Foundation, says: “Today, we’re proud to award over £1.2 million to 65 groups across the UK to improve their community spaces. We know that safe and inclusive spaces can be a lifeline to many in our local communities, they offer a way for people to be together and are the home for many vital services and activities. Our Community Tracker tells us that many community groups are struggling to find the funding to maintain, develop and repair these spaces and that’s where we have come into help. Through our Investing in Spaces and Places grants, and the wider Asda Foundation programme, we want to continue playing our part in uniting communities and reducing loneliness by improving community spaces and bringing people together.”
Newport Youth Café Project will receive a grant for £23,202 to renovate their hub, enabling them to continue offering their vital service to the people of Newport. Joanna,
Community Officer at Newport Youth Café Project said: “We want to do more to support our community, but our hub building is really in need of repairs. The Asda Foundation is really going to help us future-proof and help us to grow as a charity. I’m absolutely chuffed to bits!”
