Retail centre gives £240k to improve community wellbeing
Shopping centre Liverpool One has allocated more than £240,000 to local community organisations through The Liverpool One Foundation for its 2021 funding programme.
The Liverpool One Foundation, managed by The Community Foundation for Merseyside (CFM), has awarded the funding to projects across 10 organisations in the Liverpool City Region, to be provided over a two-year timeframe.
All of the projects aim to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. The latest injection of funding will benefit an estimated 6,100 people, as well as taking the total of the Liverpool One Foundation’s grants to £2.5m since 2009.
The funding will help organisations including Priority Youth Project in Liverpool, The Positivitree in Birkenhead, Footsteps 2000 in St Helens, Sefton-based Ykids, and Elsie’s Moon on the Wirral.
Donna Howitt, place strategy director at Liverpool One, said: “We are humbled to be able to contribute to such worthy causes that place the mental health of younger people at the heart of what they do. We look forward to continuing to nurture and support the community through The Foundation programme over the next two years, benefiting young people all across the region.”
Coinciding with this funding, Liverpool One has launched a new framework to provide support within its workforce, inspired by a blueprint developed by mental health charity MIND.
As part of this inclusive programme, ‘All for One Champions’ are being selected from the team to complete mental health first aid training, enabling them to act as wellbeing representatives across the company.
The Champions will be responsible for signposting pathways to support for colleagues, arranging wellbeing-focused activities, and sharing insights to build resilience and tackle mental health stigma.
Iain Finlayson, estate director at Liverpool One, said: “We are pleased to launch our internal framework and look forward to supporting our employees in a way that’s most beneficial to them. We hope to break as many barriers surrounding mental health as possible.”
Both The Liverpool One Foundation funding programme and ‘All for One Champions’ internal framework will come into effect immediately, providing active and engaged support both internally and to the local Liverpool City Region area.
