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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£77.7K
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Spending
£82.1K
Public benefits
The direct benefits flowing from purpose 1 include participants reporting having developed new friendships across social boundaries and being more confident of their own ability to make a contribution to the community, having learned new skills. The gardens themselves are evidence of the community resource that has been developed. The direct
benefits flowing from purpose 2 include a range of health improvements reported by participants: increased sense of wellbeing, better mood and improved physical mobility. The direct benefits flowing from purpose 3 include participants reporting a reduced sense of isolation and greater mental and physical wellbeing. The direct benefits flowing from purpose 4, include the increased knowledge and skills seen in a number of participants becoming volunteers. The direct benefits flowing from purpose 5 include participants reporting friendships across the community divide and a greater sense of connection with the community and overall wellbeing. The benefits of purpose 1 are demonstrated through participants' feedback and evaluation. In addition, a number of participants have become volunteers, which is evidence of the capacity-building GROW-NI is achieving. The gardens themselves are evidence of the community resource that has been developed. The benefits from purpose 2 are demonstrated through feed-back and evaluation. The benefits of purpose 3 are demonstrated through feed-back and evaluation. The benefits of purpose 4 are demonstrated through feed-back and evaluation plus increased knowledge and skills seen in a number of participants becoming volunteers. The benefits of purpose 5 are demonstrated through feed-back and evaluation. There is no harm arising from these purposes. Our beneficiaries those marginalised or excluded from society due to a range of factors including ill-health, mental ill-health, personal circumstances, age, ethnicity, sexuality etc. No private benefit flows from any of the purposes other than those necessarily incurred in delivering the project: payment of staff and very occasional, incidental and necessary purchases of, for example, seeds or gardening tools.
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
GROW-NI's projects build on community gardening, food production and cooking initiatives at two sites, as a means of engaging participants in activities that have multiple benefits for themselves and create knock-on benefits for participants and the wider community. The community garden is a space for social interaction, skills development, health
promotion and, through all of these, community development. Participants are drawn from an interface area, which has high levels of deprivation, in an effort to build connected communities and equip participants with skills that can help address disadvantage. Participants with mental health issues are provided with support to engage in an activity known to benefit mental health and well-being. Older people are the primary focus in one of our gardens and our evaluation confirms that GROW-NI's objectives to promote social interaction and combat social isolation, are being achieved and that participants hugely appreciate the experience and feel more connected to their local community, more empowered and that they are acquiring useful skills. Some participants have become volunteers and GROW-NI actively seeks to build their skills so we can share skills, build capacity and raise awareness of environmental and sustainability issues beyond the participant group. Through involvement in GROW-NI, participants are also given the opportunity to try new activities, to meet people from outside their own community. The Director and Development Officer engage with other community and voluntary groups to offer opportunities to participants to hear from, or go on day-trips to meet, other community groups with similar and different objectives.
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The prevention or relief of poverty
- The advancement of education
- The advancement of health or the saving of lives
- The advancement of citizenship or community development
- The advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
- The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
Who the charity helps
- Asylum seekers/refugees
- Ethnic minorities
- Interface communities
- Mental health
- Older people
- Unemployed/low income
- Voluntary and community sector
- Volunteers
How the charity works
- Community development
- Environment/sustainable development/conservation
- Human rights/equality
- Medical/health/sickness
- Relief of poverty
- Volunteer development
