Lord Mayor’s Appeal to support three charities in new multi-year scheme
Melanie May | 22 November 2017 | News
The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is launching a scheme that will see it work with three charities over three years rather than in its usual one year partnership, in a bid to help more Londoners.
The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is aiming to change one million lives by supporting Place2Be, OnSide Youth Zones and Samaritans in the multi-year scheme, which is part of a new strategy A Better City For All. To create the strategy, launched on 21 November, over 200 organisations, charities and thought leaders from across the City of London were consulted, and identified key issues to tackle.
This is the first time the Lord Mayor’s Appeal has worked in partnership with three charities over this length of time. All funds raised will go towards helping tackle disadvantage and inequality across the capital over the next three years. According to the The Appeal, it will work on four key areas to build a city that is more inclusive, healthy, skilled and fair, with the overall aim of making the capital a better place to work and live.
The funding will enable Place2Be to help 180 schools in London to meet the needs of their most vulnerable children by equipping school leaders with the skills and knowledge to develop their school’s mental health strategy and to support their pupils’ emotional wellbeing, reaching 81,000 children. The partnership will also help Place2Be to support the recruitment and training of volunteer mental health professionals who will work with 20,000 children and young people in schools over a five-year period.
The partnership with the Lord Mayor’s Appeal will help OnSide Youth Zones introduce new ‘Youth Zones’ in London. OnSide Youth Zones will offer mentoring, personal development and employability skills training to young people, partnering with local voluntary organisations to provide a range of inspirational and developmental activities. The first Youth Zones will be in Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, and Croydon.
Funds raised for Samaritans will be put towards developing an online programme for the City workforce to help employees both take care of themselves and to support others when they feel isolated and alone. They will also be used to create new volunteering opportunities in the City of London.
Lord Mayor Charles Bowman said:
“This multi-year programme is unique. I am very excited to be the first Lord Mayor involved and I look forward to seeing the positive impact our new partnerships will make.
“We have thoroughly researched the issues which need to be tackled by speaking with hundreds of organisations in the Square Mile. It’s about working together and exchanging ideas to really make London a better city for all.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.