Grenfell charity threatened by lack of funding
KIDS ON THE GREEN REACHES OUT TO AFFECTED FAMILIES
IN the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell fire, few individuals could have been as quick to provide support to victims as Zoe Levack, a youth worker from North Kensington.
A few days after the fire in June 2017, Zoe went on to start Kids On the Green (KOTG), a charity that provides support, therapy and respite to families and young people affected by Grenfell.
Almost three years later, with more than 6,000 residents reached and having been co-host of the 2018 Portobello Summer Festival, KOTG has become a beacon of hope for young people in North Kensington.
With a team of several youth workers, KOTG provides weekly nature and circus arts workshops for children, mentoring for young people and, with their own funded studio, a space for young people in the community to develop their music abilities.
Since 2018, KOTG has received its core funding from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council (RBKC) to run community recovery projects. However, this year KOTG said the council has warned of large and imminent funding cuts which will see the group struggle for survival.
Zoe said: “We’re very anxious about the cuts understandably.
“I started Kids on the Green because I was horrified at the sight on Latimer Road after the fire and I just felt something had to be set up to provide a retreat and support for the families.”
Many of the youth workers with KOTG are local residents who started out as volunteers and became paid staff. However, in the face of the funding cuts they could possibly see their jobs at risk.
At its base in Latimer Road, KOTG continues business as usual as it began hosting young people for their music sessions known as Studio 13 – another facility young people have flocked to but will struggle to survive if replacement funding is not found.
Andrew, 40, one of the youth workers with KOTG, said: “We work one to one with young people. The young people keep coming back and we’re growing. We engage the young people and challenge them to grow.
“We have kids who self-harm, have addictions and are at risk of violence and the feedback from the parents is that since their kids have come here they’ve seen so much improvement.
“A lot of these young people don’t have anywhere to go. This is a space where they can be safe, hone their skills and receive mentoring – we can’t lose that.”
Last November, KOTG took part in a charity boxing event to raise money for Grenfell recovery charities, including itself.
Jai, 16, an up-and-coming producer who attends the KOTG music mentoring sessions, said: “If I didn’t come here I would have never started producing. I didn’t have big plans before this so it helped me see what I was capable of doing. Music is universal. KOTG has to keep going. It will help young people in big ways.”
RBKC, which this month announced the first winners of its £600,000 Grenfell Projects Fund, said on the funding cuts: “Grenfell recovery is our top priority. The council has committed £50 million for Grenfell recovery over the next five years, including funding for local providers to offer ongoing emotional support to those affected in the local community.
“It was agreed in last year’s budget that we would work with providers of commissioned services to broaden their funding streams to make sure their services are sustainable in the longer term. We continue to work closely with providers to ensure our residents have the services they need.”
More than 100 applications were submitted for the £600,000 Grenfell Projects Fund, which will be divided between six community selected categories – community wellbeing, educational opportunities, social and cultural events, community safety, activities for young people and food growing/ greening initiatives that support the local environment.
KOTG was among the first winners of the fund, which will be used to deliver an intensive arts awards training programme that will hopefully lead to an accredited in-house course written by the young participants in North Kensington.
Zoe said even with such project funding, however, they could only cover a single programme and there would still be great deficits in funding needed to cover the organisation’s “vital core costs”.
Zoe said: “The council has told us we’ll receive a 40% cut to our core funding this year. The project funding won’t be enough, in fact we might have to approach more funders to cover the full cost.
“I think people underestimate how much it costs to run an organisation like Kids on the Green.”
On this figure, RBKC has said its budget is not yet finalised and will be agreed in March.
Zoe said on the future of KOTG: “Cuts to our core funding would affect the events we run, utility bills, paying staff. It would be the vulnerable families in North Kensington, who still need our support, that would suffer the most.
“My hope for KOTG is we’re still able to serve the people of North Kensington and continue to enrich, inspire and support the community for generations.”