Longleigh Foundation and Stonewater – Transforming Lives

Stonewater set up Longleigh back in late 2015 because they had seen big changes in the benefits system taking place, along with reductions in public spending and services. Being aware of the increasing challenges this was creating for customers, Longleigh’s purpose was to provide access to services and support via grants.

Setting up Longleigh - as an independent charitable foundation, would ensure there would be a dedicated focus in providing grants directly to customers as well as funding projects that would provide longer-term support.

In each of our five years of operating, the number of grants and amount of funding issued to customers has increased. For two of these years, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was a main reason for the increase. Now we have the cost-of-living crisis upon us. Since February this year, our Individual Grants work has been busier than ever.

Nobody wants to see customers and families struggling but, here at Longleigh, we take heart in the fact that we have been able to rise to the challenge of issuing more grants.

While we still support customers with grants for things like flooring, white goods and essential household items, in recent months we have seen a shift towards grants that are more focused on helping customers with food and fuel bills, giving them some breathing space from the daily challenges of making ends meet.

Alongside Individual Grants are the grants we provide to Stonewater and community organisations to deliver ongoing projects. Some of these projects are for all customers to access, whilst some are more focused on addressing particular issues, such as alcohol dependency. Lippy People, one of the organisations we funded, worked with the Alcohol Education Trust - also funded by Longleigh, to produce a video (which can be viewed in our Annual Review 2021) about its work in keeping young people safe around alcohol.

Circles of Support

As we saw the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, we funded some community organisations that could support customers with their financial, emotional and physical health and wellbeing. We called this initiative ‘Circles of Support’. We asked these organisations to work closely with Stonewater’s teams and with each other so that customers could access as much support as possible.

Over the last two years, hundreds of customers have accessed the wide range of support that is available. For example, being supported to better manage their finances and ensure they are receiving all the financial help they are entitled to via Circles of Support partner, Clean Slate; getting access to emotional wellbeing and mental health support via Kaleidoscope and Impact North - far quicker than being placed on a health service waiting list; and engaging with activities around exercise and nutrition through Community Health-Works.

Take a look at Shane’s story to hear how Clean Slate teamed up with Community Health-Works to help him get back on his feet

You can find out more about some of the people that Clean Slate have supported, including Stonewater customer Debbie, here:

Supporting you

It’s been so heartening to see the big difference that is being made when customers access several different types of support. We’ve seen customers access an Individual Grant and then also financial wellbeing support. We’ve also seen people access the financial wellbeing support and, from this, then access the emotional, wellbeing and mental health support.

This rounded package of support, exclusive for you as a Stonewater customer, is really helping people and we want to encourage you to look at our website and go onto MyHome so you know what’s there for you.

We hope you feel proud that your housing provider has shown such great courage and support in setting up Longleigh – we only get to provide our grants and bring projects together because of Stonewater’s commitment to do as much as they can to support you.

We would like to ask, if you have received an Individual Grant from us and this has helped in some way, that you tell your fellow Stonewater customers about this. We know that lots of customers don’t know about the support that’s available and an encouraging word from you might just make all the difference.

Looking ahead

As we look to the year ahead, we know the cost-of-living challenges will still be there. As a grant-making charity, Longleigh will keep looking at how we use the funding we have as well as possible so that when you really need support, we can do all we can to help.

In the coming year, we will continue to build on the very supportive and wide-ranging partnerships we have with Stonewater’s teams, as this helps us hear about the areas we should focus our funding on. This is also a year in which we are committed to getting closer to customers directly too. You are the experts in your lives and it’s your thoughts and input that will really take us to the next stages in how we do better for you.

There will be information coming out to you later in the year about how you can join in the conversation we’re keen to have with you. But, for now, here is wishing you all the very best and we look forward to supporting, seeing, meeting and hearing from many more of you in the year ahead.