• Swindon & Wiltshire Community champions
• Tuesday July 4 2023
• Author Name: Peter Davison

OVO Foundation provides £300,000 to charity partners supporting local people in Bristol

OVO Foundation, charity arm of Bristol-headquartered energy supplier OVO, has announced that it will be working with twelve charities to deliver local projects in London, Glasgow and Bristol that will bring children and young people closer to nature, and equip them with the skills, knowledge and opportunities to take action on the climate crisis.

This follows new data from OVO showing that those aged 16-24 in the UK are much more likely to believe that their individual actions can contribute to meaningful change in combating climate change and improving the natural environment.

Over two-thirds of young people believed that they could have meaningful change (67 per cent) and improve the natural environment (70 per cent), and seven in ten said that they want more opportunities to actively engage in environmental action.

This compares to less than half of the population who believed that they can affect meaningful change towards climate change (48 per cent) and the natural environment (49 per cent).

With the new grants programme, Community Impact, OVO Foundation is partnering with twelve charities local to its OVO Offices in Bristol, London, and Glasgow to support with up to £25,000, one-year grants.

This sees the Foundation expanding its work in climate action and education to support community projects that create real change and progress towards its vision.

Together the projects aim to support nearly 8,000 young people, people, teachers and volunteers. In addition, the partnerships will benefit from year-round OVO volunteering, with OVO on people giving their time and skills to support the projects and the charities’ overall missions.

Most projects feature outdoor learning opportunities for children and young people, with five community gardens and three city farms being amongst our twelve partners.

In Bristol the charity partners are:

• Heart of BS13: Supporting The Green Influencers, a youth-led, social action initiative designed to widen participation in climate and environmental action and focuses on addressing the problem of waste in the BS13 community – from the prevention of fly-tipping, reducing food waste from schools, and raising awareness of the problems caused by fast fashion.
• Lawrence Weston Community Farm: The Farm Hands project offers 6-month weekend placements for local 8-11 year olds affected by poverty or social issues to improve their social skills and self esteem, physical health and wellbeing, and help them to learn about nature, wildlife and animal care.
• Redcatch Community Garden: Outdoor education sessions will educate children about wildlife habitat creation, sustainable growing, irrigation and climate change. Through a supportive environment, children with SEND will have the chance to connect with nature and feel empowered to make a positive difference to the environment.
• Square Food Foundation: The Primary Schools Cookery Project is a programme of food and cookery activities to help bring cooking into the classroom and make good food a way of life for the whole school community. Engaging with less advantaged children and their families, Square Food Foundation aims to instil basic principles of healthy and sustainable eating, the benefits of cooking from scratch and inspire a life-long love of food and cooking that is good for the planet.

Hannah Howard, head of OVO Foundation, said: “Our work is all about bringing children and young people closer to nature and helping them take action on the climate crisis. We’ve partnered with six national charities to fund their climate action and education projects, and now with the launch of Community Impact we’re bringing this mission closer to home and supporting local causes where we live and work.

“It’s been so inspiring to learn more about these twelve charities who are already delivering real value for their communities, and we’re delighted to be working with them over the next year to continue building on this impact.”

Alice Morrison, fundraising and communications manager at Square Food Foundation, said: “We are delighted to be receiving this funding from OVO Foundation which will enable us to deliver our Primary Schools Cookery Project.

“Working with local schools, our cookery project supports children to develop important life skills, build healthy habits and learn about sustainable food that is good for them and the planet.

“Climate action through food education is at the forefront of our mission and we are passionate about inspiring the next generation.”

Pictured: Redcatch Community Garden