Birmingham community group, Fix Your Crown, reigns supreme thanks to £150,000 National Lottery boost

Birmingham community project, Fix Your Crown, is celebrating today after being one of 169 groups in Birmingham to receive a share of almost £6 million so far this year*. The vital funding has been distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, supporting communities to overcome social and economic challenges raised by the pandemic.

Led by Jonah’s Project CIC, its new £150,000 National Lottery grant will benefit more than 400 young people, aged 11-25, across the city who are at risk of becoming involved with crime and gang violence.

With this invaluable support, Fix Your Crown will provide young people with a mentor, who has lived experience of being a young person involved with crime but has since reformed and turned their life around. Working with local schools, this support will steer young people away from crime and gang violence and raise aspirations, so they are empowered to progress onto education, training, and employment.

This is just one of 14,600 projects, worth over an incredible £1.2 billion, that has received life-enhancing support for young people from The National Lottery Community Fund in the past five years, as outlined in a recent report by the funder.

One member of Fix Your Crown who chose to remain anonymous, said: “Fix Your Crown has opened my eyes to other people’s views and mindsets. When I joined the group, I thought I would be judged on my past, but it’s a safe space. I’ve realised people will not judge me but will be proud of me for reforming.

“With this new confidence, I’ve decided I’m going to work with Fix Your Crown to host guest lectures and offer support to other members.”

Natalie Wilks, Lead Mentor at Jonah’s Project CIC and Fix Your Crown, added: “With the lockdowns in the past year resulting in youngsters being off school, it was a priority for us to ensure we could offer support and a safe place for positive reflection. We wanted to show that there is a life outside of criminal activity).

“Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to offer stability and continuous guidance in a time when young people in Birmingham needed it the most. The funding has meant that we could keep going and offer mentoring sessions and help young people to see the benefits that come with education, enterprise and employment.”

Charities and community groups across the West Midlands have been awarded more than £27 million of National Lottery funding throughout 2021 so far*. The West Midlands isn’t alone in benefiting from National Lottery funding. Today it was announced that almost £200 million of National Lottery funding has been distributed to more than 4,500 community organisations across England so far this year*.

Nicola Thurbon, Senior Head of Regional Grant Making for the Midlands at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “I am incredibly proud to see the amazing impact that money raised by National Lottery players is having in communities across the West Midlands. Recent challenges have shone a light on the inspiring volunteers and groups, like Fix Your Crown, who have been dedicated to helping their communities to thrive. This funding has given a much-needed boost to community spirit this year after what have been some extremely difficult times.”

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players, who raise £36 million each week for good causes throughout the UK**. Thanks to National Lottery players, last year we awarded over half a billion pounds (£588.2 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK. Over eight in ten (83%) of our grants are for under £10,000 – going to grassroots groups and charities across the UK that are bringing to life amazing ideas that matter to their communities.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk