London Borough of Hounslow

London Borough of Hounslow drives its Thriving Communities Fund through a mission to reduce inequality, build community resilience, and empower civil society by fostering social action and cohesive neighborhoods. Core values of inclusivity, partnership, empowerment, and tackling disadvantage underpin a philosophy prioritizing community strengths, service connections, and self-sufficiency to create thriving places and people. Funding decisions emphasize evidence-based outcomes, deep community engagement, and integrated interventions addressing root causes of health disparities, social isolation, and economic exclusion via collaborative, capacity-building support for voluntary sector anchors.

The fund targets health and wellbeing improvements tackling mental health, physical health, frailty, and social isolation among children and young people, disabled residents, LGBT+ residents, older people, racially diverse residents, women, and families in high-need equality opportunity clusters on council estates. Supported activities include youth mental health support, therapeutic activities and counselling for emotional wellbeing, peer support groups combating isolation for elderly residents, employment training and skills pathways boosting household resilience, financial management workshops enhancing income security, community events fostering connectedness, health improvement initiatives like targeted physical activity programs, and integrated outreach linking beneficiaries to council and voluntary services for preventative care, early intervention, and access to employment opportunities. Interventions favor community-led models, person-centred approaches, and holistic strategies connecting disadvantaged young people to employability support, isolated older adults to befriending services, and disabled individuals to inclusive activities.

Exclusions encompass for-profit entities, retrospective expenses, unrestricted core costs, and projects not benefiting Hounslow residents exclusively. Distinctives include hyper-local responsiveness to borough intelligence, emphasis on organizations as community anchors and service connectors, priority for proven delivery in priority clusters serving children and young people, disabled people, older residents facing isolation, and racially diverse women in poverty. They uniquely integrate grants into borough-wide goals for inequality reduction, prioritizing grassroots ties, measurable health, social inclusion, and economic outcomes through innovation and sustained capacity building.