Home-Start Hampshire celebrates after receiving almost £500,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund
Home-Start Hampshire is celebrating after being awarded a funding grant of almost £500,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund to support our work with families experiencing challenges across Hampshire. Being a parent, whatever your situation, can be tough. Many parents feel exhausted and overwhelmed by the stresses of family life, but for some parents it’s a particular struggle and this is where Home-Start Hampshire is able to help; our network of trained volunteers provide friendly, non-judgemental support to build parents confidence and family resilience.
Six independent Home-Start schemes in Hampshire merged on 1st April 2018 to form Home-Start Hampshire. Merging the six schemes (Rushmoor & Hart, Meon Valley, Gosport & Fareham, Havant, New Forest and Weywater) has contributed towards a more cohesive and efficient service and allowed for an increase to the age range of beneficiaries from 5 to 11 years of age.
The funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will support Home-Start Hampshire’s Pyramid Project. This project will deliver multiple streams across Hampshire communities to support positive parenting, reduce social isolation, support families dealing with emotional and mental health issues and empower families to create an environment that improves the prospects and wellbeing of their children. The funding will also allow Home-Start Hampshire to increase the number of families we are able to support, from 376 in 2018-19 to 450 during the coming year.
At the same time, we will continue to work with and strengthen our relationships with other support providers and professionals to allow us to create a holistic package of support to families across the county.
Mo Tutty, CEO of Home-Start Hampshire, says: “This is wonderful news for Home-Start Hampshire and provides much needed stability for our staff, our volunteers and especially for the families that we support. The National Lottery provides extremely valuable financial support for many worthy causes. We are delighted that this funding will provide direct, front line support to families in need across Hampshire.”
Lynn Ludford, Chair of Trustees at Home-Start Hampshire, says: “I am delighted that Home-Start Hampshire has been awarded this 3-year grant by the National Lottery. This will go a very long way towards helping us to achieve our prime aim of supporting more children and their families across Hampshire from North to South.”
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Home-Start Hampshire who was involved with the funding grant application process, the National Lottery for supporting our application and of course, all the National Lottery players!