Black Prince Trust Community Kitchen and Cafe
4
The Pitch
Problem statement
Black Prince Trust is situated in the Ethelred Estate, where all homes reside within either the lowest 20% or 30% of residences in England according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation. In Lambeth from 2020-2022 the number of people on Universal Credit has risen by 21,000 to 37,608, and many people rely on food banks to tackle hunger and the cost of living crisis, with 39,425 emergency food parcels distributed in 2020 alone. From both statistical evidence and seeing site users of all ages on a day-to-day basis, we know food poverty is a real struggle. We also know that while food banks are means tested, many other challenges exist including physical frailty and mental health challenges.
Solution
The goal is to provide vital food and cooked meals for those most in need in our community. We run both a community fridge, redistributing food donated twice weekly by Felix Project to residents, and run a Training Kitchen for Adults with Learning Disabilities which produces 100+ ready meals daily, distributed for free 5 days per week. Funding would be spent supporting the costs of a staff member to unload, package and distribute Felix Project produce twice weekly; and to purchase a display fridge for the cafe to support the meal distribution. Having meals on display will help break down the stigma of residents having to ask, and will make the distribution process more efficient.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
Based in the heart of our community and open 341 days per year with more than 30,000 attendances across all our free-to-user activities, we run programmes ranging from free summer holiday activities for 8-17 year olds to our Over 55s programme with daily physical exercise provision and free tea and toast in post-session socials. We have exceptional community engagement: we know our people and the challenges they're facing amidst the cost of living crisis and have excellent partners to donate and cook food that we distribute for free. We are therefore ideally placed to understand food poverty, how it impacts out community, and how to address it and reach those who most need help.
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Display Fridge | £2,000 |
| Staff Costs to Run Community Fridge | £3,000 |
Beneficiaries
8,400 people
Who will benefit
Expected impact
We expect the vast majority of beneficiaries to be from the local Ethelred Estate, which means all will be from the lowest 30% of postcodes based on Index of Multiple Deprivation and many the lowest 20%.In terms of outputs we expect to be providing around 400 food parcels per month including dry food (cereals, tins), fresh fruit and veg, and raw meat and vegan products to cook with; and a further 1,000 cooked meals per month. Supporting a staff member to run the food distribution who is local and part of the community will help make the service accessible.Our services will relieve stress and pressure on families fighting food poverty, and increase their intake of healthy produce and home cooked meals vs cheaper, less healthy foods. We also aim to remove any stigma or sense of shame around receiving free handouts and the display fridge will play a big part in that, showing what meals are freely available and reducing time spent collecting for those feeling self-conscious.
Track record
In 2022 we provided 3,560 food parcels and 3,450 frozen meals donated by Felix Project. Since we opened our Community Training Kitchen in mid-May we have distributed a further 2,984 frozen meals cooked from our own training kitchen. In addition to this, more generally we had 39,151 attendances across our entire community provision including sports and wellbeing activities across 2022, with 69% of local residents living in the lowest 30% according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation. This reflects our excellent track record of engaging the local community on our site and those from the most socio-economically deprived households who can benefit from our food project.