Mayor pledges support for stronger and healthier community projects

The 20 initiatives to which the Mayor is pledging his support are (for more information, visit http://www.spacehive.com/initiatives/mayoroflondon):

• The Big Park Sleepover 2016 (Lambeth): a free mini-festival for local families in Myatt's Fields Park on Sunday 28 and Monday 29 August. The campaign has so far attracted 95 backers and raised £2,009 of a £18,947 total.
• The Carpentry Club (Tower Hamlets): fitting out a workshop to a professional standard and funding a programme of events to encourage increased engagement by the local community. The campaign has so far attracted 12 backers and raised £280 of a £16,620 total.
• Colour in Romford (Romford): a campaign to bring street art to the area, brightening up the high street and fostering community spirit. The campaign has so far attracted 32 backers and raised £2,410 of a £26,377 total.
• The Eel Pie Island Museum (Twickenham): a new museum celebrating the musical history of this unique island and the role it played in the British blues explosion of the 1960s. The campaign has so far attracted 88 backers and raised £3,233 of a £16,168 total.
• Freshwell Mobile! (Hackney): a pop-up stall selling affordable fresh fruit and vegetables in the heart of Hackney’s communities and estates, in an effort to improve health and wellbeing. The campaign has so far attracted 28 backers and raised £1,607 of a £44,285 total.
• Kitchenette Karts (Tower Hamlets): a sustainable fish and chip truck in the heart of the East End, which will create pathways into entrepreneurship for young East Londoners. The campaign has so far attracted 169 backers and raised £8,710 of a £32,747 total.
• Melting Pot @ London Sculpture Workshop (Greenwich): a community ceramics hub and foundry to upskill communities and widen participation in creative learning for people of all backgrounds. The campaign has so far attracted 50 backers and raised £9,717 of a £52,952 total.
• Old Kent Road Studios (Southwark): transformation of 60 vacant garages on the Ledbury Estate into workshops and studios, along with spaces suitable for cooking lessons and cultural activities, where people can learn new skills and socialise. The campaign has so far attracted 48 backers and raised £1,312 of a £56,605 total.
• Paxton Primary allotment (Lambeth): engaging parents and volunteers from the community to support school children with growing their own vegetables and selling them at affordable prices. The campaign has so far attracted 78 backers and raised £1,323 of a £7,857 total.
• Peckham Lido (Southwark): the once-loved Peckham Lido has been buried underground for almost 30 years: this group want to bring it back, better than ever, for the whole community to enjoy. The campaign has so far attracted 802 backers and raised £31,225 of a £65,247 total.
• Pengelicious (Bromley): a real food festival for Penge, for local residents and traders to share their recipes and dishes, cooked using ingredients from local suppliers. The campaign has so far attracted 104 backers and raised £2,713 of a £3,110 total.
• The Phoenix Garden Blooms (Camden): landscaping and refurbishing Phoenix Garden in time for its reopening after the construction of a new community building. The campaign has so far attracted 26 backers and raised £1,445 of a £19,980 total.
• Punch and Juicy Market Place (Brent): a healthy juice academy and root-to-market programmes with a pop-up market stall, helping the social enterprise to become self-sufficient and teach young people valuable skills. The campaign has so far attracted four backers and raised £180 of a £23,554 total.
• Raise the Roof at Lordship Hub (Haringey): weather-proofing Lordship Hub’s terrace to increase its capacity and continue to serve the local community. The campaign has so far attracted 70 backers and raised £3,288 of a £13,725 total.
• Seeing the Wood for the Trees (Ealing): sharing an underused piece of land with its surrounding community in the form of a Forest School and engaging attendees in this natural environment to explore all it has to offer. The campaign has so far attracted 42 backers and raised £5,731 of a £21,941 total.
• Uplift Salcombe Gardens Shops (Barnet): a makeover for six shopfronts which will improve their trade and the local street-scene. The campaign has so far attracted 19 backers and raised £399 of a £66,511 total.
• V22 Workspace Crèche (Hackney): a new crèche set in a studio space in Dalston, with access to a community garden; an innovative solution for artists, freelancers and creative entrepreneurs who are also parents. The campaign has so far attracted 24 backers and raised £10,586 of a £32,155 total.
• Weavers Kids Cafe and Community Pizzeria (Tower Hamlets): a not-for-profit café that will teach young people to cook and sell affordable, healthy meals, which will also help to support Weavers Adventure Playground. The campaign has so far attracted 164 backers and raised £5,486 of a £26,907 total.
• Well Street Market (Hackney): an innovative new model of a community market, offering locals access to healthy, affordable, good quality food along with a Teenage Market, Student Makers Market and live music stage. The campaign has so far attracted 120 backers and raised £8,700 of a £82,058 total.
• The White House Community Garden (Dagenham): a new community garden on the Becontree Estate. This new social space is part of a locally-listed former farmhouse which is being renovated for community use and artist residencies. The campaign has so far attracted nine backers and raised £185 of a £30,207 total.

Spacehive.com was launched in 2012 and is the world’s first crowdfunding platform for civic projects. The London based start-up has successfully funded 194 projects across the UK worth £5 million. More than 800 projects are currently in development and Spacehive is working in partnership with cities across the UK including Manchester, York, Hull, as well as 15 London boroughs and the Mayor of London. The social business also works with companies like the GLL, Barclays and BT as well as funding bodies like The Landscape Group and Esmée Fairbairn to create co-founding initiatives for projects. Spacehive has received awards from Nesta, IBM, Cabinet Office, Deloitte, UnLtd, and the Big Venture Challenge. 

The programme is part of the London Enterprise Panel’s (LEP) £20m London Regeneration Fund, which was launched following a successful bid to central government in January 2015 as part of the LEP’s Growth Deal. The fund gives local authorities, traders’ associations, workspace providers, and community groups the chance to come forward with exciting proposals that will help new and traditional places of work thrive in a rapidly changing city.

The LEP is the local enterprise partnership for London. Chaired by the Mayor, the LEP is the body through which the Mayoralty works with London's boroughs, business and Transport for London to take a strategic view of the regeneration, employment and skills agenda for the capital. The LEP is responsible for overseeing the allocation of over £400m of funding to drive jobs and growth in the capital and provides strategic oversight of London’s €1.5 billion European Structural & Investment Funds programme.

The London Food programme is part of City Hall's Economic and Business Policy Unit. This reflects the importance of food to London’s economy and employment. They work with partners in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors across the whole of London's food system, developing and delivering projects which help achieve the aims of the Mayor’s Food Strategy. The London Food Programme is also a member of the Sustainable Food Cities network.

In February 2016, the programme was recognised at the World Government Summit as one of the top 11 innovations in global government thinking. The programme is a four-stage pilot to test how City Hall can use new technology in a positive way to promote transparent and participatory democracy for Londoners.