Below you will find some of our videos demonstrating the impact our grant funding has on local communities and local people's lives.
Primal Roots is run by friends and colleagues who have experienced addiction, homelessness and a life of crime and found recovery through outdoor fitness. Carl set up the organisation to help people affected by substance misuse, after finding fitness helped him.
Tony also shares his story after turning his life around and becoming a mentor with Primal Roots after 17 years in prison.
Repton Community Trust aim is to provide excellent resources and opportunities, empowering people to connect, build community and lead a more fulfilled life. Their Community Shop, People's Pantry is a community lead food bank which has supported 3000 people in 18 months.
Sandra turned to Repton Community Trust when she struggled to buy food after some unexpected dental work.
The Paddock Wood Community Advice Centre was established in 2012 in response to local need (primarily advice around issues of spiralling debt due to local preponderance of high unemployment levels/low income jobs). Major changes in welfare benefit, loss of legal aid and closure of other advice agencies has resulted in an exponential increase in demand for their service. They support clients on any issue and have specialist advisers in debt, benefits, relationship breakdown, housing, employment and consumer matters.
The Centre supported Steven after he was left struggling financially after an injury left him unable to work.
Mid Kent Mind is a mental health charity that offers a range of services to support anyone with a mental health problem.
We have been supporting the organisation since 2015 for various projects including counselling services, mental health management courses, building work and social clubs.
Barry shares his story about the support he received from Mid Kent Mind after the passing of his wife.
SATEDA provide direct access to support, advocacy and advice for victims and survivors of domestic abuse through a range of services.
We have supported SATEDA since 2018 for family counselling, creche facilities, digital review and a project helping victims of domestic abuse applying for protective civil orders.
We spoke to Mary (not her real name) about how she fled an abusive relationship and how SATEDA supported her and her daughter.
Growing for Good CIC
Growing for Good CIC was set up in early 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, to engage and train ex-offenders from HMP East Sutton in the growing, care and propagation of plants for commercial sale into office spaces, with the ultimate aim of trying to reduce re-offending rates through the provision of training, experience and career paths.
They have received two grants from Kent Community Foundation through our COVID-19 Emergency Funding and Kent County Council Strategic Recovery Fund.
Clay Colour Works CIC
Clay Colour Works CIC is a working pottery, providing work experience for adults with learning difficulties.
KCF funded them for their healthy eating classes to provide life skills and facilities for their members to prepare healthy meals and to eat their lunch in a safe environment away from the main pottery workshop.
Diversity House
Diversity House's core priorities and vision are the promotion of community integration, reintegration, inclusion and social cohesion by addressing social inequalities caused by the social determinants of gender, race/ethnicity, age, disability, socioeconomic status, religion, beliefs and values among others.
Kent Community Foundation funded their Swale Supporting Girls through The Tampon Tax Fund.
Communigrow
Communigrow provide opportunities for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to gain new skills, knowledge and abilities that improve their prospects for employment and independent living.
They recently received funding through Kent Reliance Provident Society Fund, David Friday Memorial Fund and Martello Fund.
Sk8side CIC
Sk8side CIC delivers youth work from the Sk8side Youth Centre, next to the Ryan Clements Skate Park, in Ashford. The aim of the work is the personal and social development of young people aged 8-21 5 days a week.
Kent Community Foundation funded their Youth Employment Support project to provide training/employment support for young people who are NEET as well as an older age group using the skate park.
Find a Voice
Find A Voice is a Kent based registered charity which helps and supports people of all ages with speech, language and communication difficulties throughout Kent, Medway and beyond.
Kent Community Foundation recently funded them to buy an Augmentative and Alternative Communication device, sometimes known as "talking technology" through The Frank Brake Charitable Trust Fund.
Home-Start Medway
Home-Start Medway provides unique and varied services for families with children under 5 across Medway.
The “Great Brompton Bake Off” is a Home-Start Medway initiative, designed to support serving and former forces families in Medway. The weekly “Bake Off” group is free to attend and encourages forces families to bake, integrate and make new friends.
Art in Romney Marsh (AiRM)
Art in Romney Marsh (AiRM) aim to advance the education and access to cultural events for the communities of rural Romney Marsh and the surrounding areas.
The barriers for a large proportion of Romney Marsh communities include poverty, poor transport links and accessibility. AiRM aims to provide high quality and relevant opportunities by providing learning programmes in the villages so that transport and cost are not prohibitive.
Alkham Valley Community Project
Alkham Valley Community Project is an inclusive community project which promotes the benefits to health and well being that can be achieved through participation in horse sport and recreation.
The project provides horse riding, carriage driving and educational opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged adults and children who would not normally have the opportunity to take part.
Olympia Boxing CIC
Olympic Boxing CIC deliver fitness programmes in schools and community groups.
This particular project was funded by The Gatwick Foundation Fund to develop a programme where adults in the community who have low family incomes and are experiencing barriers to participation due to their disadvantages, can attend sessions and access support from professionals.
Romney Marsh Day Centre
Romney Marsh Day Centre offer health and well-being services to elderly and isolated people who reside on the Romney Marsh both in their centre and through their community services.
Dandelion Time
Dandelion Time supports children experiencing serious emotional and behavioural difficulties, resulting from trauma, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, neglect or domestic violence. Dandelion Time delivers an individually tailored programme of practically-based therapeutic sessions, combining farm and natural craft activities with one-to-one emotional support.
West Kent Befriending Service
West Kent Befriending Service encourages their members to feel part of the community and re-engage in social activities where possible to reduce the feeling of loneliness and isolation.
Funding through Kent Community Foundation enabled a minimum of 30 new volunteers to make a difference to a minimum of 30 new member’s lives. The service also includes social inclusion days like the Talking Bus which takes elderly people out for trips around the local area.
No Walls Gardens CIC
No Walls Gardens CIC work predominately with vulnerable adults such as ex-offenders, persons with learning difficulties, physical disabilities and mental health issues. They give their clients a greater connection to the community, work experience and skills training by carrying out community gardening and food growing projects across the local area of Northfleet.
Spadework
The team at Spadework talk about how Kent Community Foundation's grants have helped them provide meaningful training to adults with learning disabilities and some of the charity's trainees talk about what they get out of the experience.
Music4Wellbeing
Music4Wellbeing CIC consists of professional arts practitioners, health professionals and academic researchers who deliver a range of cultural activities for people living with disabilities in East Kent.
Kent Community Foundation funded Music4Wellbeing's initiative, Carers Create to support families in East Kent living with dementia.
Seaside Singers is one of their regular fun singing and rhythmic movement sessions.
Medway Plus
Medway Plus have received various grants through Kent Community Foundation for social activities for elderly people in Medway who are most isolated.
This video was shot at their Christmas Talent Show for elderly and isolated people. The team and service users explain how the funding has helped run social inclusion events, like this one, for elderly people in the area.
Swale CVS
Swale CVS received a grant through our Elderly and Isolated Themed Fund for projects supporting their elderly and isolated members in Swale. The grant allows them to offer telephone befriending, lunch club, games club and bi-monthly trips utilising their volunteer transport scheme.
In this video the team, volunteers and members of the 'Games Club' at Swale CVS explain the importance of the funding in tackling social isolation and the impact it is having on elderly people in the area.
Videos from groups funded by Kent Community Foundation
Hi Kent
Hi Kent is established to promote and further charitable purposes for the benefit of deaf and hearing impaired persons. Hi Kent offer free support, training and advice services to people suffering from severe hearing loss and/or tinnitus throughout Kent, including Lipreading Classes, Tinnitus Support Groups, hearing aid maintenance clinics, and advice on assistive equipment available to persons with hearing loss.
Funder Films CIC
A Few Words About Me was a poetry workshop for people living with dementia which took place in Canterbury (UK) between September 2017 and March 2018. The workshop was run by Funder Films CIC, hosted by poetry therapist Victoria Field and funded by the National Lottery Awards for All and Kent Community Foundation.
MMK Mind
Maidstone & Mid-Kent Mind is a local Mental Health charity working to make a difference to individuals in Maidstone and across Kent.
Tunbridge Wells Puppetry Festival
Tunbridge Wells Puppetry Festival, in partnership with Age UK Tunbridge Wells and Smoking Apples Theatre Company created a new community arts project for those living with dementia. This film documents the five sessions Smoking Apples ran with clients at Age UK Tunbridge Wells and captures their stories and memories through shadow puppetry.
Memory Lane Café
The Memory Lane Café Cranbrook (MLCC) is a community group made up of local residents, business representatives and volunteers with the objective of setting up a monthly Memory Lane Café session, therefore giving local residents living with dementia an opportunity to meet on a regular basis and therefore improving quality of life.