Press Releases/Media Coverages
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An Optimistic future for a Diverse City?
Posted 20 March 2008
Article written by Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive of the City Parochial Foundation for Race on the Agenda (ROTA).
Copies of the article can be downloaded here in pdf format below:
An Oportimistic future for a Diverse City?
Also shown on Race on the Agenda's (ROTA) website, click link below:
http://www.rota.org.uk/publications/Agenda32.shtm
Meeting the Maker
Posted 6 February 2008
Ian Allsop talks to Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive of the City Parochial Foundation.
Copies of the interview can be downloaded here in pdf format below.
Social welfare requires a long term approach, says Tim Cook
Challenges – reflections on funding and change in London 1986-2007 by Tim Cook.
Posted 22 November 2007
Tackling and solving the major social welfare issues is a long term task – and even at the end there are few, if any, neat solutions, according to Tim Cook, former Clerk to the Trustees of City Parochial Foundation
He made his comments as the author of a new report published by CPF (see note 1) to mark the 21 years of Trust for London, and the lessons that funding programmes of both CPF and TfL had revealed over that period.
“Funding is not science – it is not a question of discovering the DNA,” Cook said. "But funders are sitting on knowledge and experience built up over a long period. At the moment, little is made of it. They need to share that knowledge, to create a ‘social policy databank’ which can be used to influence the way they fund.”
The report describes how CPF and TfL funding has developed over 21 years and looks at what has worked and how these have affected subsequent initiatives. At the same time, it describes programmes which have not turned out as hoped or expected, and the lessons that need to be learned from these failures.
In his foreword, CPF chair Nigel Pantling states that Tim “is unusually well qualified to examine the development of the Trust for London, and the changes that have been taking place simultaneously at CPF…. we are immensely grateful to him for the insights and wisdom that he has provided.
The lessons that Tim draws from the way that the two charities have tackled the difficult business of grant making will, we hope, prove valuable to future generations of CPF trustees, staff and advisers. If the lessons of our mistakes – and hopefully some successes – prove useful to a wider audience too, then so much the better.”
For Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive of CPF and TfL, two of the most important features the report draws attention to are the constancy of the voluntary sector and the increasingly local/global nature of its work.
“Despite all the organisational and structural changes in government and social services, the one constant is the voluntary sector, where thousands of groups continue to pursue their aims to benefit the most disadvantaged in society.
And while so much of the work is at a local level, the connections are global. Events overseas have direct and immediate impact at the local level, particularly for diaspora communities and organisations working with them”.
For more information please contact Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive of CPF/TfL on 020 7606 6145
email: info@cityparochial.org.uk
Issued by City Parochial Foundation 6 Middle Street London EC1A 7PH.
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London Charities receive £450,000 to tackle faith-based child abuse
Posted Thursday 20 September 2007
London Charities receive £450,000 to tackle faith-based child abuse
Independent charitable funders City Parochial Foundation (CPF) and Trust for London (TfL) have awarded £450,000 to four organisations addressing faith-based child abuse linked to a belief in spirit possession.
The funding, through TfL/CPF’s ‘Safeguarding Children’s Rights’ special initiative, will support work with London’s African communities that develops and strengthens community-based preventive activities in this field. The initiative was established in response to concerns raised with TfL and CPF by African community groups about the need for support at a grassroots level. Funding will support work with young people, parents, social workers, policy-makers and church leaders.
Grants have been awarded to: AFRUCA, UK Congolese Safeguarding Action Group, Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service, and the Victoria Climbié Foundation, who will work closely together through the initiative.
“These organisations have a track record of addressing this complex and difficult human rights issue, often with very limited resources”, says Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive of TfL and CPF. “This new initiative will sustain and develop their work in London and enable them to contribute to the safety, quality of life and well-being of children and to promote children’s rights.”
CPF and TfL will support funded organisations through an advisory group involving experts from relevant fields including the Metropolitan Police and child protection/children’s services. An external evaluation will be commissioned to assess the impact of the funded work.
- Ends-
For more information about the initiative and the grants made, please contact
Rachael Takens-Milne, Field Officer (Special Initiatives) on 020 7606 6145 or
rtakensmilne@cityparochial.org.uk
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Investing in the people of London
Posted 24 July 2007
Quinquennial Review 2002-2006
City Parochial Foundation and Trust for London invested in the people of London ‘because we believed in them’.
This is how CPF chair Nigel Pantling describes funding over the past five years, in his foreword to the ‘quinquennial’ report. He pointed out: “We saw the long-term unemployed man or woman, the survivor of domestic abuse, the disorientated refugee migrant, as people who can and should prosper and enjoy their own lives, and who by doing so would enhance the quality and diversity of the lives of everyone in the city in which we all live.”
The report gives brief synopsis of all funding categories and special initiatives such as the Bellingham Leisure and Lifestyle Centre which opened in 2004, ant the Refugee Communities History Project which culminated in a major exhibition at the Museum of London.
Investing in the People of London - Report of five years funding 2002-06
Copies of the reports can be downloaded here in pdf format below. Printed copies are available from CPF, telephone 0207 606 6145.
A short Grants Review listing individual grants made in 2006 can be downloaded here in pdf format below. Printed copies are available from CPF, telephone 0207 606 6145.
Building Blocks
Posted 19 January 2007
Second-tier organisations face issues of credibility and loss of focus, CPF report reveals
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Different World
Posted December 2006
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Funding Guidelines 2007-11
Posted September 2006
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Further information about the Foundation can be found in a range of publications including annual Grants Reviews