At Islington Giving we are committed to supporting families as part of our ongoing work to tackle poverty and inequality in the borough.

In one way or another, all our work aims to open up opportunities for people to enjoy life and socialise, to build skills and possibilities and to make connections with each other as well as the services available locally.

In October 2020 we recruited eight residents to become part of our first residents’ panel. Guided and mentored by our team, this group have met regularly to make decisions on how to spend  £115,000  for Islington families – with particular focus on activities targeted at, or inclusive of, people living with disabilities.

“The idea was to recruit panel members that would reflect Islington’s diverse community, people with lived experience of the issues being addressed, and people who wouldn’t normally put themselves forward to apply for things like this”, explains Nikki, programme manager at Islington Giving.

Islington Giving’s first Residents Panel

Building on the success of our Young Grant Makers , we identified the need to involve and mobilise local people in grant making to:

• make informed decisions
• learn and listen to local people
• challenge our own perceptions, ways of doing things and take more risks
• share power and build trust
• provide opportunities for local residents to make new connections both with each other and with local community organisations
• be transparent and accountable.

The groups of residents will have their final meeting to decide how the money is spent in the next couple of weeks. We’ll announce the funding decisions then, in the meantime you can watch the video below in which Stacy, one of the residents, explains what it has meant for her to be part of this experience: