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The Opportunities Fund – Project Portfolio – 28.1.2015

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Some food for thought first.. Our focus is on funding projects that help people in Nottinghamshire to overcome barriers to social justice that conspire to keep them trapped in the margins of society, usually in poverty, isolated, stigmatised and suffering deprivation of one sort or another. We are all just a twist of fate away from some of the circumstances that can be the cause of many of the painful stories we hear: an accident away from a permanent brain injury or

disability that might prevent us from working an extra chromosome away from having a child with a

learning disability a pay packet or two away from redundancy

a drink or two away from dependency and a downward spiral

one more punch away from seeking refuge in the middle of the night with just the clothes on your back and a child at your side

a spell of depression, for which there is no rhyme or reason

… You get the picture.

PROJECT PORTFOLIO


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The list below reflects the projects we have in our current portfolio that are in need of funding. If you are thinking of making a donation, you can nominate the project you would like to support. Please see our ‘Getting Involved’ page for information on how to donate. If you would like to know more about any of these projects, please do Get In Touch, and don’t forget to check back often, as our portfolio is always changing. The categories are numbered as follows: 1. Young People and Parents with Children 2. People with Learning Disabilities, Mental Health issues, Autism 3. Supporting Victims of Abuse & Tackling Domestic Violence 4. Homeless & Vulnerable People 5. Recovered Addicts 6. Older People 7. Ex-offenders 8. Refugees 9. The Opportunities Fund 10. Miscellaneous


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PRN = Project Reference Number

Cat. PRN Project Title Description

1 & 3 32 Domestic Abuse: Support for Children & Families

In Nottingham, women are at high risk of domestic abuse. Statistics show that the number of reported incidents in the city are one of the highest in the UK. The British Crime Survey reports that, on average, victims are subjected to 35 assaults before calling the police, so it can be surmised that the impact on children within the locality is widespread and significant. Indeed, during the past year, this charity has received 33 new referrals for their 1:1 support. Such violence can have a profoundly negative effect on children's lives and well-being, so your funding of a specialist package of emotional support, including 1:1 sessions for ten children and families, could be crucially important.

1 & 3 33 As above This is the same project as above, but costed for individuals.

1 34 Spiral Bereavement Project

Support for children to help them deal with the emotional impact of losing someone close.

1 & 3 36 Personal Space education for Young People

This project will deliver 1 hour abuse prevention sessions to 750 pupils in Yr 9+ in five Nottinghamshire secondary schools, focussing on personal space, boundaries and sexual bullying. The project will focus on schools in areas of high domestic abuse reporting and with limited access to funding for prevention work.

1, 3 & 4 37 Happy Days Developmental play project for isolated, scared and vulnerable homeless children, aged 0-8, living in hostels and refuges in Nottingham.

1 38 Young People, Future Assets

Reducing anti-social behaviour, crime and re-offending in Aspley and Bilborough - two of Nottingham’s most deprived wards - transforming young people into assets in their community.

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4 40 Hope Cafés – Development Project

Very sadly, foodbanks have once again become a reality in our country. ‘Hope Café’ in Beeston is a free one-stop community support cafe, providing a range of support to help people out of crisis. As well as free food, clothing and furniture, people receive advice, guidance and mentoring in order to overcome crises and entrenched problems. ‘Hope’ now have plans to repeat their success in both Broxtowe and Carleton. They have only four paid staff, but over 300 volunteers. This project will provide training for all the volunteers with the aim of opening 11 one-stop cafés in the existing food bank centres, using the Beeston model. (Project duration: 12 months) Could you fund this hugely worthwhile project and help restore self-respect to some of our poorest citizens?

1 43 Sneinton United Football Club

Crime prevention through football. Get up to one hundred 14+ young people in the Sneinton Football Club, over a 5 month period.

6 44 Reducing Loneliness & Isolation for Older People

Too many older and vulnerable people live isolated and lonely lives. This project seeks to break the pattern of isolation by promoting weekly coffee mornings in Radford, particularly to men who are hard to reach and tend to under-use this service. As well as information and peer support, it also offers activities such as quizzes and seeks to stave off the onset of dementia. Your gift, which would fund six months activity, would enrich the lives of some of our poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

1 & 2 46 Growing Up (Impact of the Mental Capacity Act)

With changes to the Act, children with learning disabilities are expected to make decisions at 16 about their transition into adulthood. Some are unable to make these decisions safely, and parents feel they are being excluded, which can cause distress. This project will help all parties to produce a "best practice" policy to protect vulnerable young people.

2 47 Smart Money Today, more and more adults with learning disabilities are being asked to manage their own finances. As a result, they are often targeted by so-called ‘friends’ and others who recognise and take advantage of their vulnerability. Working with local community groups and Nottinghamshire-based financial institutions, this project will create an online resource centre to ensure that those who need help can get it.


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1 & 2 48 Think Online There is an increased need for young people with learning disabilities to understand the risk of abuse online. This project covers teaching a large number of disadvantaged young people and adults, giving them the tools to protect themselves when using social media.

1 & 4 50 Home Street Home This is an inspirational, innovative and engaging classroom activity delivered by young people who have recently experienced homelessness. Some 4,000 Nottinghamshire students have already learned of the difficulties and dangers involved with leaving home, and these sessions play a vital part in homelessness prevention. Youngsters will accept the message when it's delivered by someone of their own age to whom they can relate. This project will have 4,000 students in years 10 and 11 make three video clips based on homelessness case studies, over 15 weeks.

2 52 Mental Health Education for People with Chronic Illnesses

Creating and running of a support group for 30 black & middle-eastern adults suffering from long term illness. (Project duration: 1 year) Living with Sickle Cell Anaemia, or other chronic illnesses, can often also affect mental health. Very often, those affected try to hide their mental state and don't seek help. This project will work with those suffering multiple conditions and give them the tools to help themselves, and the knowledge and confidence to seek help.

2 56 Cultivate Based on St. Ann’s Allotments, a 75 acre heritage site, this proposal is for two years funding to provide a wide variety of training and education for people with learning disabilities and other challenges through an innovative programme of modular workshops, quarterly community learning events and volunteer opportunities. It will include a ‘Market Garden Incubator’ programme which will mentor 6 gardeners over 2 years to grow produce for veg boxes and other defined routes to market. This unique project will transfer skills and knowledge using professional market gardeners as mentors.

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3 57 Supporting Survivors Where does an abused mother, with only the clothes she's wearing and a young child, go to at 2.00am when life at ‘home’ becomes unbearable? This charity is a refuge for six women and 11 children. The project aims to deliver weekly creative workshops, accessible to all residents, from which they will gain the self-esteem and confidence required to move forward positively. Sessions include creative, practical or health and well-being workshops, run in the refuge or at local community venues.

4 58 Assertive Outreach Programme

Prostitution is not a career choice. Child abuse, violence, neglect, homelessness, drugs, alcohol and mental health issues are all experiences that result in some young girls and women living chaotic lifestyles. Research shows that 70% of women seek to exit prostitution at some point. This project will contact those new and/or hard-to-reach people, where they work, whose way of life and issues may be addressed and turned around. Would you fund two trained outreach workers to help these women achieve their wish to live a better life?

1 & 2 59 Improving Mobility & Communication for Severely Disabled Children

This project will help 35 children with the most severe disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, to improve their mobility and communication skills. Without this intervention, their behavioural, social and cognitive skills are being neglected, leading to an inability to express basic needs or feelings. By helping, you will not only improve the future of these children, but also their parents and siblings, resulting in more fulfilled everyday lives for them all.

1 & 2 60 Mums In Mind Mums In Mind (MIMS) is an 8 week Post-Natal Depression support group for mothers and fathers living in the district of Newark and Sherwood.

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8 61 RISE (Refugees Interactive Skills for Employment)

Nottingham Trent University have produced a three level web-based learning platform for new refugees to help them access employment. The charity behind this proposal welcomes and applauds both the development and the scope of the programme, but believes that many refugees will find it too complicated, time-consuming and expensive to explore unaided, so this project takes it a step further to make the learning more accessible and effective. The project we are seeking to fund will pilot the first level of the programme over a period of four months, in structured sessions, with the additional support of an experienced trainer. At the end of the pilot, after evaluation, if this approach has proven to be helpful, the charity will seek further funding to run it as a rolling project.

1 66 Early Support for Vulnerable Children

Early support for 30 children, aged 4-11, living in some of the poorest communities in Nottinghamshire, helping to prevent negative experiences translating into negative outcomes. Very early intervention, taking the service to the child at the onset of an issue, is the most effective and successful way of working. The charity’s qualified Emotional Well-being Facilitators will work sensitively with each child on a 1:1 basis in the safe and familiar surroundings of the child’s primary school. The child’s schools will commission the charity’s service, contributing approximately 50% of the cost to support a child, but the charity needs to raise the remainder, and this is what we are requesting.

1 & 2 67 Christmas Party for Special Children

This will provide the magic of Christmas for many children and young people with special educational needs, disabilities or challenging behaviour. Grottos and other seasonal attractions are often unable to manage with some of the conditions our children and young people have. Staff are not trained to cope with supporting these special kids to enjoy themselves, which can often end in a frustrating, stressful and disappointing experience for all. A large number of their families also have very low incomes, which adds additional pressure as they can’t engage fully in the festive spirit of giving and sharing. This charity makes an extra special effort each year to ensure that they all have access to fully-inclusive facilities and activities where they are not judged and can feel comfortable, safe and relaxed. (Extra helpers [Elves!] are welcome!)


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1 & 2 68 Multi-Sensory Garden

This project will design and build a multi-sensory interactive outdoor space for children/young people and their families to enjoy, learn and share in a safe environment. The space will be used in a variety of ways, i.e. sight (colours, reflections), sound (wind chimes, bamboo, natural instruments), smell (herbs, lavender etc), taste (veg patch) and touch (tactile surfaces to walk on, feel). This would make the single biggest difference to the charity and the families which access its services. They have been offered a piece of land which can be utilised for outdoor activities. It is currently overgrown and in need of some attention to make it fun, exciting and enjoyable.

1 & 2 69 Young Carers Group This group is for 15 young people over 40 weeks, aged 10+, who have siblings with special educational need or disabilities. They meet once a week during term-time and it is their opportunity to meet other siblings, share experiences, make friends and have some time dedicated to them. Growing up with a brother or sister that has a long term health condition can often make them feel like all the attention is directed elsewhere. They often don’t realise that they are carrying out a caring role for their sibling, which can impact on their social, educational or overall well-being. Having a place to go which they can call their own is an important part of living within a family where a member has an additional need or disability. The charity would be grateful for any support you can give to help support young carers, ensuring they can reach their goals and aspirations, and reduce the impact of caring for a family member by developing coping mechanisms and techniques.

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9 74 The Opportunities Fund - Partnerships Manager X 1 month

This role is crucial for The Opportunities Fund, fulfilling all the marketing, fundraising and corporate partnerships management functions in order to attract donors from the business community and high net worth individuals. We keep our overheads very low, as we do not have office premises and our trustees offer their time to cover admin, finance and charity relationships on a voluntary basis. We employ one salaried person, our Partnerships Manager, who works full-time (35 hrs/week) and covers Nottinghamshire from home. This role will enable our business model to be sustainable long term, providing on-going support to our charity partners, most of which are non-mainstream and may lack the resources to do their own corporate fundraising and/or bid-writing for grants. By supporting these charities, this in turn benefits severely disadvantaged people in Nottinghamshire. This item covers one month of employment costs for this post.

1 76 Family Fun Sessions For All

This project covers 12 x 2 hr Family Fun and play sessions over a year, and a further 12 x 2 hr play sessions for children with additional needs, encouraging expressive and creative play and greater cohesion between child and parent/carer, leading to a better understanding of the importance of play in a family setting. This project also provides for a quarterly Open Day which will help the charity’s sustainability by attracting new partners.

8 77 Destitution Ambassadors

By engaging local residents in volunteering, this project will raise awareness and empower very vulnerable asylum seekers, who have escaped persecution and violence, to have a voice and tell their stories, making a real impact in terms of dispelling myths and misconceptions, improving communities’ acceptance of asylum seekers and refugees, leading to greater understanding and compassion towards this marginalised group.

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8 78 Mentoring & Befriending

This charity uses a successful mentoring & befriending strategy, working with local volunteer residents, to aid and support refugees and asylum seekers in their settlement and integration into the community. This funding request covers expansion of the scheme, the recruitment and training of additional volunteers and the establishing of the mentoring arrangements with new intakes to their residential facilities over a one year period. This will greatly increase the chances of refugees and asylum seekers’ successful integration.

8 79 Training & Activities This project will enable the charity to provide a training programme for their residents (refugees and asylum seekers) and to provide additional activities to promote better engagement in the community, and improving health by providing leisure time opportunities. Their asylum-seeking residents live on £10 a month and a weekly food parcel, so they can’t afford to pay for leisure activities, and they are also excluded from further education, such as studying English, because of their immigration status. By offering training on immigration, health access, rights & responsibilities in the UK, they are better equipped to help themselves. By also providing leisure activities, it helps them to maintain a positive focus, to keep their mental & physical wellbeing strong whilst they are working on challenging their asylum refusal.

2 80 Cookery Course Providing a short course of cookery classes for a group of 22 isolated disabled people who would benefit from a range of simple healthy eating options.

2 81 Creative Workshops One of this charity’s aims is to provide a meeting and activity workshop that involves the whole group of 22 disabled people at the end of each month. Meetings focus on creative workshops, ie - arts & crafts, poetry, games and story telling.

1 87 Cricket & Countryside Day for inner city schools

The countryside might as well be a foreign country for some inner city children, who may never have an opportunity to escape their urban life. This project takes children and staff from five inner-city primary schools to Belvoir Castle where they will spend the day taking part in, and learning about, countryside activities from the castle estate staff, as well as enjoying expert cricket tuition from ex-England and Notts professional cricketer, Darren Bicknell.


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1 & 4 88 30th Anniversary Film Event

Project to make a promotional film to attract more ‘Peer Educators’ from among young people who have experienced homelessness, with a big launch/celebration with media. To mark their 30th year, this homelessness charity is producing a film featuring some of the young people they helped who then volunteered to go on to help others like themselves. The event itself will highlight the work they do and present their plans for the future.

1 & 2 89 Learn, Work & Earn Centre

Creation of a Learn, Work and Earn Centre, which will support young people aged from 17 to 25 with limited life opportunities to succeed in living independently. The centre will provide a facility where they can acquire skills which may help them to move successfully into paid employment. The vision is to have providers on-site delivering truly innovative and forward thinking courses, equipping students with practical, functional and meaningful skills to enable them to become independent and high achievers.

2 90 Open MINDs Project to develop and provide mental health awareness training packages, presentations and social contact opportunities, delivered (with support) by service users and volunteers, raising awareness of mental health issues in the workplace, schools, colleges and other organisations. By being open and removing the stigma around mental health, they want to tackle misconceptions and discrimination by facilitating open meaningful conversations and opportunities to share about their own experiences. Over 12 months, the aim is to provide 24 training days for 24 companies, schools, etc. Assuming 30 attendees at each session, your support for this project will reach 720 people directly, who it is hoped will then take their changed perceptions home to spread the message through dialogue with family and friends about mental health issues, which could result in influencing thousands. The potential for saving lives is very real, as if one person chooses to seek help rather than choosing suicide, the whole project is worthwhile.

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2 91 Woodland Carpentry Following a very successful pilot, this project will provide a new group of people with learning disabilities an opportunity to create wood-crafted objects within the charity’s landscaped facility. We have the expertise of a rural craftsman as a tutor, who worked with 12 people with learning disabilities over the last ten week project, helping them to create beautiful fencing and functional furniture, allowing the learners to realise that they have a greater ability and skill set than they believed possible. They have increased their self-belief, self-esteem and confidence. Social outcomes have been tremendous and we want to be able to offer this to more people with learning disabilities across the next ten week project. Your funding will enable this course to happen, and significantly enhance the lives of these vulnerable and isolated people.

2 92 Supporting Men with Depression: Peer Support

With the sad passing of Robin Williams last year, male depression has risen significantly in the public consciousness. This charity specialises in providing support for men suffering with depression. Its most important service is their Peer Support resource for discussing, sign-posting and listening to sufferers and their families, based on their lived experience of depression and anxiety. Demand is increasing and they need to expand their team to handle the growing volume of enquiries. This project will train 12 more volunteers (already selected) in well-being, mental first aid and - just as importantly – safe-guarding themselves.

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