Our Approach

The Mayor’s Fund is a London-wide Fund, but we feel that it is important to start somewhere. Given the evidence about child poverty we concluded that we should not fund projects indiscriminately but identify a specific geographic location where we can develop and prove our model. We will then roll out our Programme in other selected areas of London on a phased basis, learning from each project and strict evaluation of outcomes, and refined by the individual needs of those areas. The Initial Programme and first Full Area Programme will focus on the Shoreditch area.

We will work in partnership in the design and delivery of our Programme which will provide a combination of preventative, early intervention and remedial projects. Some of our current partners include the GLA, the LDA, the Metropolitan Police, the local authorities within out Initial Area (Tower Hamlets, Islington and Hackney) as well as the Private Equity Foundation, Business in the Community and the Football Foundation.

Our aim is to create connected, high-quality projects around core themes in our target areas and then to measure their impact to develop evidence of what works.

Our Programme

We have identified four ‘strands’ to our Programme as follows:

London Growing
Our London Growing strand focuses on the Early Years (-9 mths to 4 yrs) and is a key development and preventative strand. Projects will include the promotion of positive parenting methods, outreach programmes and support programmes at the earliest stages.

London Learning
London Learning builds educational experience across Primary and Secondary Schools and in the community by taking children from inspiration to aspiration to attainment and towards employment.

London Safe
Children cannot learn or thrive unless they are safe – from bullying, from crime and from abuse. London Safe is a series of initiatives that we are developing with the Metropolitan Police aimed at keeping children safe.

London Working
This strand aims to provide young people with training and support leading to real jobs i.e. training into employment not training for training’s sake. Example projects include pre-training support and preparation, specific training into real jobs and then support in the first year of employment. Our programmes will link up and engage employers with training and support providers.

Funding Process

The Mayor’s Fund does not currently have an open general application process. Funding is based on our four principles of Partnership, Connectivity, Evidence-based and Implementation. Through a consultation process we identify the specific needs of each of our London Programme areas and only invest in delivery partners that meet these local priorities and make a real difference in the fight against child poverty.