VCFSE Ukrainian Refugee Support Grant

The purpose of this VCFSE Grants programme, which has been running since May 2022 (and which which forms the second round of the Barnet Community Fund), is to increase available outreach and engagement to help Barnet Council and the local community support Ukrainian refugees arriving in the Borough.

So far, 8 Awards, totalling £23,559 have been made to organisations.

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Apply today for between £500 and £2,000. Larger grants may be considered*

The purpose of this VCFSE Grants programme is for the further integration and cohesion of Ukrainian refugees arriving and staying in the Borough, in order that they settle in and feel part of the community and have more access to activities that help achieve this.

Barnet Council funds a number of existing services to assist refugees arriving and staying in the Borough; this fund does not seek to duplicate those services.

Rather, this fund seeks to work with Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise organisations to see where they can provide additional more inclusive activities.

A recent survey of Ukrainian guests within the Borough indicated that following activities or services were of most interest to them:

English Language – eg conversation cafes supported by the local community (for both Adults and Children)
Integrated social Activities for Adults – different age groups.
Integrated social Activities for Children and Young People
Support with Adapting to a new Culture
Connecting to local community groups or social networks

However, beyond the activities above, we are interested in receiving applications for activities that you have identified or see as an emerging need within the Ukrainian community. The fund can support projects aimed at Ukrainian Refugees which have already commenced, or new projects which organisations wish to commence having identified a new requirement.

Applicants should be mindful of not duplicating existing services within the Borough.

At the time of application, Organisations must either be:

A member of Young Barnet Foundation (if working with Children, Young People or Families) details of how to apply are here
An Inclusion Barnet Community Organisational Support Member (if working with adults/other, details of how to apply are here
Applicants must be a CIO (Registered Charity) (Including Churches, Faith Groups & Community Amateur Sports Clubs or a CIC (as a Company Limited by Guarantee with a relevant asset lock) or, if a social enterprise, must be a Company Limited by Guarantee with a relevant asset lock. We cannot fund organisations set up as a Company Limited by Shares.
Applications from Voluntary Organisations, Constituted Groups and Un-constituted Groups may be considered where these are existing members of either Young Barnet Foundation or Inclusion Barnet (for example, where such organisation are in the process of applying for Registered Charity status). Applications from such groups will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and will need to demonstrate that they have the relevant systems and processes in place that would enable us to make grant payments to them.
Applicants must not be one of the excluded types of organisations as outlined in the ‘What we won’t fund’ section of the criteria
Applicants must have a bank account in the name of the organisation or group which requires at least two joint signatories (who are not related), for all transactions.

Read the full Eligibility Criteria before you apply

Apply online. Note once you have started the online form there is no Save function. We recommend you download the questions HERE and draft you answers to copy and paste into the online form.

Applications will be assessed on a continuous basis, with the aim of informing applicants of the outcome within 28 days of submission.

An independent Grants Panel with representatives from London Borough of Barnet and the Barnet Together Partnership will be convened to review applications and agree the award of funding.

*If organisations have identified a project which would cost more than £2,000, then please contact us at grants@youngbarnetfoundation.org.uk , outlining the project and the funding required, where we can discuss the project further, prior to an application being submitted.

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Having run for over a year, and in the light of further information and data being gathered, the panel has requested a review of the application criteria and application form for this fund, details of which may be found below.

A number of existing services are funded by Barnet Council to assist refugees arriving in the Borough, and this fund does not seek to duplicate those existing services.

Rather, this fund seeks to work with Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise organisations to see where they can provide additional support.

This can be in the form of providing support to projects aimed at Ukrainian Refugees which have already commenced, or new projects which organisations wish to commence having identified a new requirement.

One of the key aims of this fund is to help organisations provide activities which provide engaging social activities, to help Ukrainian Refugees adjust to new surroundings/integrate into the community and to make them feel welcome.

Awards to Date

Community Focus Inclusive Arts - £10,312

Location: Friern Barnet

Our project helped 72 individual refugees benefit from three projects:

Advocacy Sessions – including writing official letters and assistance with completing detailed application forms for Housing, Benefits, HMRC, Immigration and Medical issues.
English Classes – improving confidence in learning the roman alphabet, vowels and consonants, constructing sentences, maintaining simple conversation and personal information.
IT classes – reinforcing material covered in the English class by learning to type and send emails, greeting cards, researching online subjects as the history of Great Britain, poets and writers and historical monuments. Socialising through support on common themes such as online shopping.

We are Grow - £1,110
Location: Totteridge
Delivering a weekly 2 hour drop in sustainable food growing and outdoor learning families programme for 6 weeks on the GROW Farm. The project will be specifically aimed at supporting recent settlers to the area and Ukrainians families already living in Barnet, to create a supportive space where confidence can be built by learning new skills and forming positive relationships in the local area.

Finchley Food Bank - £2,000

Location: Finchley

Funding to enable an existing foodbank to adapt the way it operates, so that clients can chose what they need, including the purchase of trolleys and baskets, signage and chalkboards and culturally appropriate food for Ukrainian residents.

Arts Depot Trust - £1,000

Location: North Finchley
44 children and parents /carers attending a free screening of a Ukrainian film, 8 children attended a Ukrainian children's party. All 52 attendees shared a breakfast and lunch. The events were joyous, everyone had a great time, a lovely intoduction to their local arts centre, new friendships formed from vulnerbale children and their parents/ carers and a great day out for the Ukrainian Saturday School.

Arts Depot Trust £1,217 (Follow up award)
Location: North Finchley
Inclusion Barnet has approached artsdepot proposing a celebratory Eurovision party for Ukrainian families. Alina Hopta has reached out to a Ukrainian support network and 24 families have expressed an interest in attending.

A (FREE) Eurovision Watch Party in artsdepot's Creation Space for up to 60 people to include large screen broadcast with sound amplification, some focus on lighting and ambience to create a party atmosphere, complimentary pizzas and soft drinks. The event will run from 7:30pm to midnight.

Bread n Butter £2,000
Location: Frien Barnet
The Ukrainian refugee community say they need a centre where they can go to, to help them with the many queries they have. They also reported that having a sponsor with the council would also help with emotional support.

Many of the Ukranian refugees are skilled workers but are struggling to gain work in the UK because they don’t have any references or work experience. We provided a single mother with some work experience which enabled her to gain employment because she had a reference from us. They seek low cost or free activities that they can do with their families & friends. They wish for opportunities where they can meet other Ukranian refugees in similar situations to themselves so that they can support each other through advice sharing, make meaningful connections and make new likeminded friends. We aim to achieve this by having weekly ‘Cook & Share’ classes in a local community hub for parents and their children. There will be 4 sessions and in each session up to 8 families will prepare and cook a variety of recipes and then they will sit down and eat together. We propose that the sessions have 2 themes – Ukrainian and UK recipes. The Ukrainian refugees report that they are homesick and miss their traditions.

To provide a space that enables them to prepare familiar and favourite recipes from home such as Veriniki and Ukrainian dumplings; Draniki will, we believe, bring them joy. Preparing and cooking British dishes will help participants to understand how to prepare British dishes whilst giving them a sense of belonging and cultural understanding. The sessions will be led by 2 cookery leaders; one being Ukrainian and one British. The classes will be free to attend and the attendees will be provided with food bags to take home with surplus food that we source from The Felix Project. In the sessions the participants will be encouraged to talk about and share their experiences since arriving in the UK and provide each other with helpful information they have learnt since arriving. We will also have a feedback form that will ask the participants 2 for what further support they need. We will also sign up participants who report they would like work experience with us.

Arts Depot Trust £3,920 (Follow up award)
Location: North Finchley
We will offer a Ukrainian children's party on Saturday 26th August 2023 with a children's entertainer, refreshments and 50 tickets for High School Musical performance. In the evening there will be a music programme in our Studio theatre with catering provided by a Ukrainian caterer - estimated 60-70 attendees.

Phoenix Cinema £2,000

Funding to undertake a Christmas event which included the showing of a Christmas film dubbed into Ukraine with English subtitles.

This fund is being administered by Young Barnet Foundation on behalf of the Barnet Together Alliance. The Ukranian Support Grant is supported from funding by Barnet Council with funding