Earlier this month we announced that nominations were open once again for The Broadwalk Centre’s Community Fund, which offers local charities, organisations and projects the chance of winning £500 to spend on anything they would like to help enhance their service.

After receiving multiple nominations for the February donation, two finalists have been selected and it is up to you, the readers, to decide who will receive this month’s £500 offering.

The nominees for the February Community Fund are:

Nutmeg Community
Nutmeg is an award winning community-led organisation that empowers young people aged 11 to 25, especially disengaged young people, to equip themselves for a prosperous future and reach their full potential. They achieve this by:

- Expanding young people’s awareness of life’s possibilities
- Uniting, educating and inspiring young people to engage in positive activities
- Advancing the importance of skills, education and training
- Championing citizenship, social and personal development
- Raising aspiration and challenging negative youth ideologies

The organisation was set up in 2008 by young people in the London Borough of Barnet after a 15 year old boy was stabbed to death outside his school in Edgware. In response, the founders wanted to deter young people in the borough from negative pathways (such as gun and knife crime and gang culture) and encourage youngsters to engage in positive activities.

Since its inception, Nutmeg Community has engaged with over 4,000 young people. They have delivered an array of highly effective projects engaging with hard to reach young people across the borough, particularly in areas of high need (Grahame Park, West Hendon, Burnt Oak and Edgware). Projects have included providing mentoring, organising community cohesion events, delivering workshops and promoting volunteering opportunities. Much of the work has been undertaken on a voluntary basis – with a team of young people based in these areas.

If they were to receive the £500 grant, they would support a team of young volunteers to organise a community debate event that brings locals together and gives them a platform to voice their views on issues that matter to them such as identity, equality, stop and search and education and family.

The Larches Community
The Larches Community is a registered charity, set up in 1995 by those who were concerned about the lack of provision for young people and adults with learning disabilities. They aim to make a difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities and autism through educational, social and cultural activities.

The Larches Community is located in the heart of Edgware where it runs daily educational and cultural programmes for people with learning disabilities so they can discover, explore and develop their own skills and abilities - encouraging them to enjoy and be part of the community that they live in.

Over the past 18 years The Larches Community has supported thousands of young people with learning disabilities and their families with their comprehensive life and employment skills training and an exciting recreational activities programme.

Its objectives include:

- Education and Training: To increase beneficiaries’ skills base through education and training so that they can enjoy greater independence in their lives.
- Social and Recreational: To increase beneficiaries’ quality of life through social and recreational activities.
- Social Enterprise: To become increasingly financially independent as an organisation by developing social enterprises and micro businesses.
- Supported Living: To give three to five people with learning disabilities the opportunity to live independent lives in the heart of the community by establishing a supported living home.
- Community Inclusion: To combat prejudice within the mainstream community by increasing understanding of learning disabilities and autism. 


Voting is easy, simply email thebroadwalk@pmwcom.co.uk with the name of the project you want to win in the subject box, visit our website www.times-series.co.uk or vote via a poll on The Broadwalk Centre’s Facebook page.  The closing date to register your vote is Sunday 16th February 2014.

The Broadwalk Centre and The Times Series will be giving away £500 through the Community Fund every other month until May 2014 so it’s not too late to send a nomination. You can write to The Broadwalk Centre, c/o PMW Communications, Stane Court, Stane Street, Billingshurst, West Sussex, RH14 9HP or email thebroadwalk@pmwcom.co.uk