L&Q Launches the L&Q Foundation

L&Q last night launched a new community investment fund called the L&Q Foundation.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "This is a really valuable fund that will help to make a big difference to people in communities across London. In difficult times it is great to see L&Q playing its part in helping neighbourhoods to flourish and making our city an even better place to live, work and bring up a family."

The launch took place in central London with guest speakers including Nick Raynsford MP, for Greenwich & Woolwich and L&Q Chief Executive David Montague.

The L&Q Foundation includes a commitment of £1.5m per year for community based neighbourhood investment projects. Recent projects include:

• Women in Governance – a programme to support women residents into civic participation and engagement, which has already helped students to become school governors and Councillors.
• ESOL – a programme which works with non-English speaking residents to teach them English and has been extended across London and the South East following a successful pilot project.

Two new projects were the first to be approved for L&Q Foundation funding this week:

• Kensington and Chelsea Kickz – L&Q will be working with Chelsea FC to provide local young people with sports and personal development activities
• BOOST – An exciting project which will place unemployed residents in the Olympic boroughs into service jobs with major international companies.

Also approved this week was L&Q’s Financial Inclusion Strategy which will be funded through the L&Q Foundation. The strategy aims to promote a holistic and co-ordinated approach to financial inclusion and facilitate access to a range of financial services and products to help residents participate fully in modern-day society and the economy. The strategy will be delivered through a range of key local partnerships.

The L&Q Foundation also includes £70m for capital related community investment projects that will improve the social infrastructure of our neighbourhoods and existing or planned developments. Examples include L&Q’s estate regeneration plans on South Acton, Aylesbury and Haggerston where alongside high quality new homes L&Q is also providing community facilities such as local community centres and cyber cafes.

The L&Q Foundation brings together existing funding streams within L&Q under the one umbrella to deliver the most effective service to our residents and local communities. In total the L&Q Foundation sees a commitment of £100 million of L&Q’s internal capacity for community-related projects aligned to L&Q’s social mission.

The event also celebrated the success of the Ujima Foundation, chaired by L&Q Board Member, Ainsley Forbes, which was launched in January 2008 when L&Q acquired the Ujima Housing Association. A five year commitment to spend £250,000 per annum on community projects as part of the Ujima Foundation remains as part of the L&Q Foundation. A short video highlighting the work of the Ujima Foundation is available here.

Speaking at the event Nick Raynsford MP said “The launch today of the L&Q Foundation shows L&Q’s commitment to investing in its local communities. Speaking to some of the residents here today who are involved in projects with L&Q, it is clear that housing associations are well placed to work with a range of providers and partners to deliver real benefits to residents and local communities. I look forward to hearing more about the work of the L&Q Foundation in the future.”

David Montague, L&Q’s Chief Executive said, “L&Q is committed to investing in its communities through projects which increase our residents’ skills and employability; tackle disadvantage; provide support and create opportunities for young people; help to minimise anti social behaviour; and provide volunteering opportunities.

“We have a strong track record in delivering our neighbourhood investment programme and by bringing all of this work from across the organisation together into the L&Q Foundation we can continue to deliver ever bigger and better, more effective opportunities for residents.”