Crawley Community Action receives more than £5,000 from London Gatwick

Crawley Community Action delivers a range of support services and collaborates with partners across the voluntary, corporate and statutory sectors.

It has supported activities such as martial arts clubs for the blind and hard of sight provided by Crawley Self-Defence CIC and Gravity, which runs a youth club for young people with any kind of disability, as well as many more vital groups.

The funding has arrived just in time for Christmas as part of the latest wave of financial awards from the London Gatwick Foundation Fund, which is managed on behalf of the airport by Sussex Community Foundation.

Karl Parks, community groups manager at Crawley Community Action said: “We are immensely grateful to the London Gatwick Foundation Fund and Sussex Community Foundation for the recognition of our vital community outreach and engagement with diverse and marginalised communities and groups.

“The funding will enable us to tackle health inequalities and social isolation across Crawley as well as increasing skills, knowledge and connections for community leaders to create sustainable and high impact activities for the vulnerable individuals and families they serve.”

Crawley Community Action is an independent charity that offers advice, information, help and support to local charities, voluntary and community groups.

It also makes sure that the interests of the voluntary sector are taken into account by local government and other statutory authorities.

It provides proactive and in-depth group development support to increase the confidence, skills and knowledge of local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations which benefit Crawley residents.

Crawley Community Action also delivers a comprehensive range of advice and guidance around all aspects of starting, running and sustaining community initiatives to ensure that groups can make a difference.

It also provides a free dedicated service to help voluntary and community groups identify, apply for and manage funding from charitable trusts, local authorities and the business sector.

Five other deserving organisations and special causes in the county have received further support just in time for Christmas. This latest wave of financial awards is part of the ongoing London Gatwick Foundation Fund initiative, which includes three rounds of funding every year.

Melanie Wrightson, stakeholder engagement manager at London Gatwick, said: “It’s important to us that groups like Crawley Community Action experience the positive effects of being near one of the nation’s most important transport hubs.

“The London Gatwick Foundation Fund’s role is more important than ever right now as a result of the cost-of-living crisis and we hope this donation makes a difference to tackling health inequalities and social isolation in Crawley.”

The deadline to apply for the next round of funding from the London Gatwick Foundation Fund in Sussex is Friday 5 January 2024 with decisions expected in March 2024.

To apply for funding from the London Gatwick Foundation Fund which is managed by the Sussex Community Foundation on behalf of London Gatwick please go to: https://sussexgiving.org.uk/