The young dads creating a buzz about climate action on the roof of former flour mill turned iconic Baltic art gallery on the River Tyne

Birds, Bees, Bikes & Trees project awarded over £584,000 of National Lottery funding to help young dads build skills and confidence and support their local community's connection with nature in an urban environment
The National Lottery Community Fund commits £20 million to inspire more people to take climate action in communities across the UK
Part of a 10-year £100 million Climate Action Fund programme as majority of UK adults say they are worried about the impact of climate change

From 27th March, The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK, is making £20 million available for ambitious partnership projects linking climate action to the everyday lives and interests of local communities and inspiring more people to take action.

The funding is part of a 10-year £100million Climate Action Fund programme. According to the latest government figures published on 7th March* 80% of UK adults are concerned about the impact of climate change. Since 2019, £78.6m has supported 550 projects to enable people across the UK to take climate action in their local communities, thanks to National Lottery Players.

One project to benefit from funding is Birds, Bees, Bikes & Trees, an ambitious three-year partnership between Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, North East Young Dads & Lads (NEYDL) and Newcastle University to help young dads to build their skills and confidence and support the local community's connection with nature in an urban environment.

Birds, Bees, Bikes and Tress project - Credit Gavin Forster

NEYDL Is an award-winning parenting support charity that works with marginalised and disadvantaged young dads in the North East of England. Following a successful urban beekeeping pilot, 20 young men not in education or employment worked with a million bees in Gateshead including hives on the south facing rooftop at Baltic facing a post-industrial landscape rich in wild and planted forage, and many have progressed into volunteering and paid work, with one young dad launching his own brand of honey.

NEYDL Founder CEO Kevin Stoodley said, “The pressing issues of climate change and the state of our natural world both locally and worldwide have always been close to our heart as a parenting support charity that wants the very best for young fathers, their partners and children for generations to come. Thanks to National Lottery funding over the next three years, we are excited to continue our Climate Action journey through the Birds, Bees, Bikes and Trees project in partnership with our close friends at Baltic, Newcastle University and the young dads and families who continue to lead and inspire us.

“Alongside our beekeeping endeavours which include the management of four beehives on the roof of the Baltic and production of honey for their shop and restaurant, NEYDL has also embraced cycling, both as a way of reducing our carbon footprint and a way of reconnecting with nature. Starting with the purchase of a handful of bikes and pull along trailers during the COVID pandemic, our ‘Wheelie Good Dads’ weekly ride-outs and free-to-access bike loan scheme have proved a lifeline for many young men whose mental and physical health have suffered as a direct result of the pandemic.”

Director of Baltic, Sarah Munro MBE said, “At Baltic, we take a long-term commitment to climate action, and that runs through our operation and artistic vision. Whilst we’re primarily known as a gallery showing international art, we are also home to roof beehives and the most inland kittiwake colony in the world. The funding awarded by The National Lottery Community Fund for Birds, Bees, Bikes & Trees means we can bring engagement with climate action alive for communities on a significant scale.

“Over three years 180 young men, 30,000 under 16s local Primary and Secondary pupils and 10,000 local people will take part in regular activities. From guided kittiwake and bee talks, walking tours, and artistic workshops, to Climate Clubs, bike tours and rewilding opportunities, we look forward to seeing creativity flourish and for people to be inspired to take away simple, tangible steps to support nature and climate.”

The majority of UK adults say they are worried about the impact of climate change on their local community, and 64% believe that taking individual action makes a positive difference**. Supporting communities to be environmentally sustainable is one of The National Lottery Community Fund’s four key missions in its 2030 strategy, ‘It starts with community’. Nick Gardner, Head of Climate Action at The National Lottery Community Fund, explains: “We know that climate change matters to communities, so it matters to us. This new funding aims to bring people together to deliver large-scale, ambitious projects that will inspire even more people to get involved in climate action. We'd love to get applications from partnerships with bold, exciting ideas inspired by people’s everyday activities – whether that’s going to an art gallery or supporting their local footie team – helping to create networks across the UK and reaching communities and groups who might be new to climate action.

“As well as our Climate Action Fund, we support environmental projects of all shapes and sizes through all our funding programmes. Over the last five years we have awarded more than £400 million through almost 7,500 grants to projects which involve environmental action, including action on waste and consumption, energy, transport, food and the natural environment.”

To find out more about the Climate Action Fund, or to sign up for a free webinar to find out more, visit www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/climate-action-fund-our-shared-future

Date published: 27 March, 2024
Region: UK-wide

Notes to Editors

About the Climate Action Fund

The Climate Action Fund is our commitment to help communities tackle climate change. We're supporting communities to be environmentally sustainable. With Climate Action Fund – Our Shared Future we want to involve more people in climate action. And we want to inspire bold and exciting change.

We’ll fund formal partnership projects that reach more people by either:

· linking climate action to the everyday lives and interests of local communities. And inspiring them to take action.

· Influencing communities at a regional or national level. Like linking up groups across locations. Or a campaign that inspires change across one country, or the whole UK.

You do not have to be a climate or environment focused organisation to apply

We want to reach people who are new to climate action by funding other types of organisations too. And by using people’s everyday activities as a starting point for climate action. We're particularly interested in projects that involve people, places and communities experiencing poverty, discrimination and disadvantage.

Formal partnerships, working across sectors. Led by community and voluntary organisations or public sector organisations. The minimum you can ask for is £500,000. We expect to fund most projects for between £1 million and £1.5 million over 3 to 5 years. We may fund a small number of larger or longer projects. We aim to fund up to 25 projects. You’ll be able to apply until at least the end of 2024. We plan to close to applications in early 2025. We will announce the final deadline nearer the time.

For more information, sign up for one of our webinars:

· Wednesday 27 March 2024 (English, including British Sign Language)

· Thursday 16 May 2024 (English and Welsh)

· Tuesday 21 May 2024 (English)

www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/climate-action-fund-our-shared-future

Other projects across the UK that have already made a difference thanks to Climate Action Funding include:

Cumbria Action for Sustainability is an ambitious five-year programme co-designed by 11 partners and the local community to make a zero-carbon Cumbria by 2037. Working with community groups, local authorities, the NHS, police, national parks, businesses and the farming community, this county-wide project looks at transport, waste, buildings and land use to reduce emissions in everyday life across Cumbria.

Two successful Youth Climate Summits have reached more than 500 school children across the county, and more than 1,000 people have completed carbon literacy training. The project is now recognised as a Platinum Carbon Literate organisation by the Climate Literacy Trust, one of only eight UK organisations accredited at this level.

Cody Dock Environmental Centre is a hub of education, community-led climate action and urban biodiversity research in Newham, East London. Working on a five-year project to strengthen local people’s connection with nature, it recently featured on the BBC’s ‘Saving Our Wild Isles’ and holds community events with activities such as craft workshops, history walks, and graffiti artists to help the community feel educated and prepared to take climate action. In the first nine months, a wide range of cross-sector partnerships has been established including Subco Trust who work with isolated and housebound elders within the large South Asian community in Newham, 1,439 young people have engaged in almost 4,000 hours of activities including a summer camp and work experience opportunities, and a team of residents has been trained as engagement volunteers to help deliver the education programme in 2024.

A partnership between three organisations in Edinburgh, Communities Reduce, Reuse, Recycle aims to build capacity in ethnic minority communities to contribute to the local target of net zero transition by 2030 and Scottish Government target by 2045. Focusing on climate justice, the £700,000 funding will support the Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC), Networking Key Services, and Strengthening Communities for Race Equality Scotland (Score Scotland) to challenge unsustainable waste and consumption habits across the city, including carbon literacy programmes specifically for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities that consider a variety of cultures and experiences, waste management workshops for Asian restaurants and redirecting surplus food for families via community fridges and meals, and food workshops and recipes using leftovers and local seasonal vegetables.

In Northern Ireland, Acorn Farm aims to bring the community of Derry/Londonderry together through food by upskilling local people in food growing and facilitating cross-sector collaboration to build more resilient local food systems. The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland is working in partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council, The Conservation Volunteers, and the Acorn Food Network to build on existing work in the city and has leveraged a £6.2 million investment in capital funding secured to build Acorn Farm, a food growing and climate action hub with a geodesic dome centrepiece. The project aims to inspire communities across Northern Ireland to engage in climate action and will have a key role in driving a new inclusive food movement in Northern Ireland and beyond. The partnership has established Derry as a Sustainable Food Place linking into a wider network of over 60 cities across the UK, 250 Acorn Farmers have delivered seven events reaching 10,000 people, and 600 families applied to the I Can Grow programme which supports growing food at home.

In Wales, the five Wildlife Trusts are working together to mobilise young people aged 9 to 24 to tackle the climate and ecological crises head-on. With a grant of over £2.4 million, the partnership is empowering and inspiring young people to take action for nature and the climate in their local communities in an effort to reduce their collective environmental impact. From urban Cardiff, coastal Ceredigion to rural Anglesey, young people are standing up for nature and securing a greener future. On Anglesey, north Wales, the project is supporting and expanding a youth-led environmental forum and linking with local schools, businesses, public sector organisations, charities and grass-roots community groups to help improve green infrastructure and promote sustainability with young people running campaigns and projects across the island.

About Birds, Bees, Bikes and Trees

A partnership between Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, North East Young Dads & Lads (NEYDL) and Newcastle University, this project will support young dads to build their skills and confidence and support the local community's connection with nature in an urban environment.

This project aims to transform the way society currently thinks about young fathers and their relationship with nature and climate and the extent to which these ideas influence policy and practice. The project will offer young dads support that enables them to positively engage in their communities and children's lives as well as feed their voices into local and national environmental policy. Learning will be shared regionally through Insights North East partnership and beyond using national networks. This will support other young dads and lads to become spokespeople for nature and climate, and challenge social preconceptions of young dads.

The project will support the partnership to raise the profile of young dads within their communities as positive nature and climate role models, increasing their confidence through learning new green skills and sharing their experience directly with the community so that others who may not initially consider themselves interested may become inspired to take part.

The project takes a relational joined up approach to behaviour change, meaning that the young dads and local community will engage with the project in several different ways. After each engagement there is an opportunity to do more and carry on the relationship either through taking part in a wide variety of events and activities or through a schools and families outreach programme.

There are three project strands:

Young dads upskilling

Birds, Bees, Bikes and Trees will engage young dads through providing quality training opportunities in aviculture, apiculture, woodwork, bike maintenance, cycling tour leadership, practical horticulture, arboriculture and plant growth and development. They will use these skills to share their knowledge about nature and climate at Baltic and beyond, co-leading public facing, outdoor-learning opportunities, and greening the gallery’s Urban space. Over three years, 180 young men will take part.

Schools

Five local schools will work closely with the Green Peer Mentors, the Baltic team and NEYDL providing 150 children the opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship with the project through taking part in regular nature and climate related activities.

A further 30,000 young people (under 16) from local Primary and Secondary schools will participate in annual tours and interactive workshops featuring bees, kittiwakes, local nature and information to inspire and engage them in tangible simple steps they can take with their families to support nature and climate.

‘Front Room’

A series of monthly events in Baltic's ‘Front Room’ community space will be developed to engage a further 7200 people in nature and climate activities, such as a monthly climate club will be led by artists and engage 720 community members who will take part in climate focused activities using a variety of artistic mediums. Kittiwake and Bee tours will engage 1000 people, bike tours will reach 850 people and a wheelchair and pushchair friendly ‘down on your doorstep’ tour will enable a further 300 people to explore Gateshead Quayside from pathways.

In total, 10,000 local people will engage in the project over three years. In addition to this a further 12,000 visitors will connect with the project whilst visiting Baltic. In 22/23, Baltic had 388,547 visitors and 135,990 (35%) of which were from Gateshead and Newcastle.

Newcastle University will lead real time learning and evaluation for the project. Storytelling will be used as both a way to disseminate learning and as a hook to build more interest in nature and climate. A short film will be made about the project and played in the centres learning space and will feature as part of tours and talks and work with schools and other community groups who are already working with Baltic's Learning programme.

About The National Lottery Community Fund 

We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.  We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK. 

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with Government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives.  

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to: 

1. Come together 

2. Be environmentally sustainable 

3. Help children and young people thrive 

4. Enable people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4bn of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life. 

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.  

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*DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker published on 7 March 2024

**The Community Research Index is an annual survey of over 8,000 people across the UK that finds out how people feel about their local community, and what their ambitions and priorities are for their community both longer-term and in the year ahead. Research conducted on behalf of The National Lottery Community Fund by Savanta between 6th October and 13th November 2023. Adults weighted to be representative of UK adults by gender, age, region, social grade and ethnicity.