Our Helping Hand Fund is designed to prevent and alleviate an immediate crisis, enabling Riverside officers to work with the customer to help them improve their circumstances. During 2023/24 Helping Hand provided over 4000 awards to customers totaling over £500,000, to help with one off purchases for example replacing a cooker; providing fuel top up vouchers or interview clothing.

The service provides intensive support to customers facing challenges, who are at risk of losing their homes.

Support is personalised to the individual needs of the household, and involves developing a holistic understanding of the person’s needs, then developing an action plan with them. Officers also have local knowledge of external specialist support, and can make referrals and accompany people to these support agencies, for example, specialist mental health services, and Welfare Benefits advice. The service helps people who may be at risk of becoming homeless, by addressing social and financial challenges that could lead to rent arrears and anti-social behaviour.

The service builds trust with people who otherwise would be hard to engage, providing an invaluable link to Riverside teams, including housing management, rent collection, and gas safety.

The Community Fund was launched in 2022 and in that time has seen over 100 projects receive funding.

Through the Community Fund a wide range of activities have taken place within communities including community events, warm hubs, environmental projects, and initiatives for young people and reaching 88,000 beneficiaries in 23/24. For further information about the project’s we’ve funded and how to apply visit our Community Fund pages.

The Foundation is also currently supporting a number of other projects. Projects include support for community hubs within Riverside neighbourhoods in Hull, Carlisle and Runcorn, a tutoring programme for primary school children and their families in London as well as projects for young people in Stoke and Workington.

Considerable investment has also been made into tackling food insecurity and fuel poverty, supporting food banks, pantry’s and warm hubs and working in partnership with established local food projects.

The Foundation has also supported Riverside’s partnership with Can Cook CIC with just under £1m over three years allocated to supporting a roll out of its successful Well-Fed project to two further areas in Greater Manchester and Cheshire East.