The charities and community groups were chosen from over 200 organisations who bid for support from GTR’s annual “Your Station, Your Community” fund for 2024-25.

Winners include schemes aiming to tackle mental ill-health, homelessness and anti-social behaviour, and to improve the environment, sustainability and accessibility. Funding support ranges from £300 to £40,000, with larger awards split over two years.

Projects funded last year generated an estimated £150 million in social value, and GTR is aiming for an even higher figure from this year’s increased investment.

A dozen grant-winning projects will support communities in London. [See Editors’ notes below for outlines of the 12 projects in London.] They include:

• the Repair Café in Brixton, where volunteer craftspeople mend local people’s broken items in a social setting - not only fixing things, but also restoring confidence, sharing useful skills, and generating community spirit.
• the Kentish Town City Farm, where visitors’ clubs will bring individuals and families together from different parts of the community to learn about sustainable agriculture.
• the Supported Employment Programme by Union Chapel’s Margins Project, a charity addressing the symptoms and causes of homelessness in Islington and Camden. Hosted in the iconic arts venue’s café, serving audience members before events and people in need alike, the pioneering programme provides professional hospitality training and development to people with lived experience of homelessness, the criminal justice system and/or substance abuse. The scheme aims to be a springboard to long-term employment and independence, breaking the cycle of homelessness and marginalisation.

Amanuel Woldesus, Head of Margins, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Govia Thameslink Railway and we are extremely grateful for their backing of our flagship supported employment programme. This grant will crucially ensure we can provide high-quality training and development to our trainees as part of our strength-based approach to address homelessness, whilst meeting surging demand and costs. We will continue to deliver vital positive changes to improve our trainees’ quality of life, health and wellbeing; build their employability, confidence and agency, whilst directly contributing to improving the local area around GTR’s railway stations.”

The winning projects will also involve and enhance local communities in East and West Sussex, Brighton & Hove, Surrey, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. [For a full list and outlines of projects, see Editors’ notes below.]

GTR’s Infrastructure Director Keith Jipps said: “With our annual budget increased by 20 per cent, we’ve been able to make almost twice as many awards as last year when we launched the Fund, and I’m delighted to congratulate the 37 successful organisations. We’re excited to be working with them all to generate the social and environmental benefits their projects are designed to deliver.

“The projects we supported last year will generate an estimated £150 million of social value – we’re expecting this year’s programmes to top that figure.

“Thanks are due to everyone who applied. The magnificent response and extremely high quality of the bids shows the incredible energy, creativity and commitment our local communities possess.

“All the bids addressed important social needs, so it was a tough task to decide the winners. Unfortunately, we can only help a fraction of the applicants, so many excellent bidders will be disappointed, and I encourage them to try again next year.

“Thanks again to our existing partners such as the community rail partnerships and tourism bodies, who have done a brilliant job spreading the word across our network since we launched the fund. And thanks also to our community partnerships team, who are managing our contribution to this huge and important programme.”

Final approval of each grant award was made by the Department for Transport.