In autumn 2023, we carried out a participatory grant making process to decide which Tower Hamlets projects should receive Action Learning Grants.
We’re delighted to announce that 10 projects will be joining the Just FACT programme and will be part of the growing network of organisations and groups working towards a community-led, environmentally sustainable and socially just food system for the borough.
5 new Community Labs announced
Labs are community-driven projects that help reduce carbon emissions from our food system. They demonstrate that a new system is possible, presenting an alternative to what exists at the moment.
Food and Land Justice Resource Centre
The Community Food Growers’ Network (CFGN) have proposed a Food and Land Justice Resource Centre at Kingsley Hall to bring growers, communities and food workers together in Tower Hamlets. We aim to create an accessible organising space where resources, skills, support and learning can be shared and disseminated. The centre will offer training opportunities, public talks, meeting space, soil testing and resource sharing to address a range of issues that have been identified by our community over the years. Some key themes within the programme include: workers’ rights and the role of grassroots trade unions and networks, how to create more accessible and caring community growing spaces for marginalised groups; addressing green gentrification and its effects on working class communities, redistribution of resources between food growing projects; pollution of urban soil and lack of access to affordable soil testing; land access and the loss of urban and peri-urban food growing space; how to transform local and global food systems in Tower Hamlets and beyond!
The project will be delivered in collaboration with Wen., SALT (Solidarity Across Land Trades), the Community Soil Clinic, Land Workers Alliance South East, Kingsley Hall and others across Tower Hamlets, get in touch to find out how to get involved!
Email us: [email protected], Follow us on X: @cfgn_growers or Instagram @cfgn_london
Folx Farm
Our Lab funding will be used to establish a dedicated growing space on folx farm, growing produce for our Tower Hamlets Community partners to sell at their weekly markets. Alongside this, we will explore how a commercial, small scale, regenerative farm can concentrate a percentage of its growing activity on producing foods that are often imported and staples in the diets of many marginalised communities in the UK, in a way that is sustainable and affordable. Our overall aim is to create a model that moves away from the commodification of food. We will do this by working with corporate partners who give us donations to pay a growers wage, rather than subsidising the wholesale market cost of the produce.
Follow us on Instagram: @folx_farm.
Society Links – Eat Not Waste Not
‘Eat Not Waste Not’ tackles the massive food waste issue that Society Links are seeing through their community projects on the St George’s Estate. This initiative will use up waste from the community and re-use it for gardening projects, through composting, green waste for mulching, food compost, and a wormery. The compost will be used in the community orchard, where members of the community plant in their own plots and volunteers maintain other fruits and vegetables. The fruits and veg grown will then rotated back to the community, where people can come and collect whatever they need. We hope the project will become a borough or city wide initiative that can be implemented across communities.
Follow us on @society.links on instagram or @societylinks on X
Providence Row
Run by a professional gardener, Providence Row’s rooftop garden produces roughly 200kg of fruit, vegetables and herbs (annually) from around 100 types of edible and flowering plants, boosting bio-diversity and natural habitats in the city. The Providence GRow Urban Gardening Programme seeks to achieve a just transition in Tower Hamlets by training 24 clients (Garden Trainees) to develop the skills, confidence and positive mental health from growing fresh produce and gaining a horticulture accreditation. The fruit, vegetables and herbs grown in the garden are used in around 3,000 meals in our kitchen to help feed hundreds of people affected by homelessness, including the Garden Trainees, while reducing food miles, waste and packaging, saving and sharing 25 types of seeds, and, making our own compost including using a wormery, hot bins and Bakashi bins.
Follow on @Providence_Row on X or Instagram or find us on Facebook.
Maydwell Community Garden “A space where we can grow together”
This project will explore the potential of hyper-local food growing on the Burdett Estate by developing an existing community garden and delivering a programme of food-production-related activities which build the skills and confidence of local people. By increasing the number of raised beds by seven, improving pathway access, constructing community spaces and planting three fruit trees, we will be able to make space for a greater number of participants from our underrepresented, predominately Bangladeshi community, and for them to be able to access the space more easily. Session content will be decided by the participants themselves, including feedback from the wider community, whom we always seek to involve. The type of produce we grow will be chosen by participants i.e., culturally appropriate, clearly recognisable ingredients. Ad-hoc activities, such as school holiday activities will encourage a wider range of residents to become involved and take away learning from the project.
5 new Community Hubs announced
Hubs support families, intergenerational groups, young people and other social circles in Tower Hamlets to come together for conversation, and learning and to take action together on food and climate issues. Hubs build on the cultural and practical knowledge and skills that already exists within Tower Hamlets. They value the wider benefits of activities such as health and wellbeing, saving money, and creating joy and connection.
Boil & Bubble Bowden
Boil & Bubble Bowden will create a community hub for communal growing, cooking, eating and skills sharing for the community around Bowden Primary School, a school for children presenting with social, emotional and mental health needs.
We will build a community garden, run family harvesting sessions, run sensory cooking workshops and host six community cafe sessions.
We aim for this to reduce isolation for children and families accessing alternative educational provision, producing delicious, culturally appropriate dishes to share with our community.
Somos Semillas – School of agroecology and gastronomy
Aligned with ancestral practices and seeking to restore lost roots to South American identity, this project will create new spaces for the Abya Yalan community to engage with agroecology and ancestral gastronomy. We will be sowing, cooking, preparing natural remedies and exploring food preservation. Our workshops will apply principles of experiential popular learning and will be delivered by Somos Semillas Popular Education Institution which is a youth collective promoting more culturally attuned, sustainable, and equitable food production and consumption patterns within the South American diaspora, while strengthening cultural identity. This approach aims to empower individuals and communities through collaborative, reflective and transformative processes to foster a comprehensive understanding of the food system and the need to restore ancestral knowledge to face the challenges it poses, while addressing climate-related issues directly affecting the South America community in Tower of Hamlets.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomosSemillasAbyaYala
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somossemillas_/
Linktr: https://linktr.ee/somos_semillas
Mile End Community Garden – Community design and build of accessible compost toilet
Mile End Community Garden have identified that there are not enough open access growing spaces in Tower Hamlets, preventing many residents from having the opportunity to grow food. Many community growing spaces are also not accessible, which impacts who can be represented in the co-creation of alternative food systems. In partnership with Compost Mentis, this project will fund the co-design and construction of an accessible compost toilet in Mile End. We hope this will support a wide range of groups and individuals to access the garden, staying for longer periods of time, and maximising opportunities for community food growing in our raised beds and forest garden.
Teviot People’s Kitchen
Over the last three years, the R-Urban project has grown a strong network, making space for local cooks, gardeners and composters to gather, share and learn together. Thinking long-term, we propose a community-led cooperative. The People’s Kitchen will formally bring together a group of local legends, investing in the skills, training and networks required for a just food system. This project tests the viability of a co-operative business model involving a co-designed public programme to make space for conversation and learning with R-Urban’s wide audience and a programme of training for co-op members.
Follow us on @rurban_poplar on X, @rurban_poplar_london on Instagram, or on Facebook.
Maya Productions – Súper Chefs
Theatre and the arts can open up conversations and ignite action. Maya Productions is bringing Súper Chefs, its new interactive and bilingual family (English-Spanish) musical for exploring food, intergenerational relationships, gender roles and Latin American culture to Half Moon Theatre in November 2024. Our aim is to use the play as a catalyst for community action and change. We will use its themes to open up a wider conversation around food, food systems and sustainability for our audiences, in particular inviting Tower Hamlets Latin American, Bangladeshi/South Asian and Somali communities to come together to exchange cultural cuisine conversations.
Follow on @mayatheatre on Instagram and X.