The Common Press came as a very welcome addition to the Shoreditch community, opening in 2021 in response to many queer and Black-owned businesses shutting down during the pandemic, and the lack of Queer-friendly spaces that don’t centre around alcohol. As well as championing LGBTQIA+, Black, POC and non-binary voices and small publishers, the queer intersectional bookshop, cafe and events space, run by a team including Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir provides a place for marginalised communities where they can create, connect, and thrive both personally and creatively through events and workshops.

commonpress.co.uk

Max Tobias is one of the co-founders of The Dusty Knuckle, one of London’s best bakeries known for its doorstop sarnies, epic pizza nights and the milk float that kept North and East Londoners fed during lockdown. It’s also a purpose-driven business that’s working to change lives as well as feed people through a training and mentoring programme for at-risk youth. The bakery’s programme gives young people who are coming out of custody, attached to the justice system, involved in youth offending and support services, are care leavers or asylum seekers the chance to experience a thriving professional environment, learn the skills they need to progress into further employment and training, and establish a positive future for themselves. In 2023, 72% of their trainees progressed into paid work, further education or training following their time at The Dusty Knuckle.

thedustyknuckle.com

​​Established in response to the daily injustices trans+ people face and to provide a space where all trans+ people can freely express themselves, London Trans+ Pride has grown into the largest trans+ pride demonstration in the world. The organisers, including founding member Lewis G. Burton, have created a powerful event where both trans+ people and allies can advocate for trans+ rights and protest for justice for other communities around the world, like Palestine, Sudan and Congo. The 2024 march was the biggest one yet, with 55,000 – 60,000 people taking to the streets to support the community. 

@londontranspride

Lorraine Copes founded the not-for-profit organisation Be Inclusive Hospitality in response to the underrepresentation of people of colour in the food, drink and hospitality sectors. BIH’s mission is to create a more inclusive and diverse industry, which it works to do through mentorship schemes, trips and networking events. The organisation also hosts the annual BIH Spotlight Awards, where it recognises and celebrates Black, Asian and ethnic minority talent across categories like Chef of the Year, Drinks Professional of the Year, Writer of the Year, Head Office Impact and Rising Star.

bihospitality.co.uk

Even if you haven’t realised it, you’ve almost certainly come across a Sports Banger t-shirt. Founder Jonny Banger has been responsible for some of the most iconic slogan tees of the last decade. ‘Free Tulisa’ is one of his, so is ‘Team Nigella’, ‘Fuck Boris’ and the one with the NHS logo above the Nike swoosh. Rooted in rave and streetwear aesthetics, Banger’s bootlegs are about subversion and resistance – the NHS tee was created in response to the 2015 junior doctors strike and was then used to raise money for the health service during the pandemic. He also started The Covid Letters project during lockdown asking young people to customise the letter that Boris Johnson sent out to every household as restrictions were imposed, to articulate their feelings about the government, the pandemic and the NHS and transform the letter into a protest poster. 

sportsbanger.com

Aimée Felone, the founder of children’s publishing company Knights Of, where the aim is to commission writers and illustrators from diverse backgrounds, initially created Round Table Books as a pop-up to celebrate the first anniversary of the publishing business. That week-long pop-up was such a success that she was able to take it permanent, and now Round Table Books in Brixton is stocked full of literature with diverse characters (in terms of race, gender and disability) and inclusive stories. It’s also a Community Interest Company, with a team led by women of colour, meaning the business uses its profits to fund events and projects for the community.

roundtablebooks.co.uk

Slow fashion designer Lydia Bolton is tackling textile waste and fighting fast fashion one upcycled garment at a time. She transforms thrifted items and deadstock fabrics into new one-off pieces, like turning tablecloths into maxi skirts, scraps of wool into tank tops, and fruity tea towels into summer shirts. As well as collaborating with big brands to help spread the message of sustainability in fashion, she also hosts upcycling workshops so that people can learn how to repurpose their own old clothes and keep them from ending up in landfill. 

lydiabolton.co.uk

Co-founders Matt & Jess Turtle are behind the Museum of Homelessness, the first museum of its kind in the UK and one that is led by people with direct experience of homelessness. First established in 2015, the MoH operated through online and touring exhibitions before it secured a permanent site at Manor Lodge in Finsbury Park, which opened in 2023. As well as building a national collection that tells the stories of people who have lived on the streets and working to change the perceptions of homelessness, the MoH takes direct action, whether that be distributing food or campaigning for rights, to support the homeless community.

museumofhomelessness.org

You might be able to guess what Bees & Refugees do from the name, but we’ll fill you in any way. Founded by Syrian refugee Ali Alzein, Bees & Refugees provides a space for community building and therapeutic relief to fellow refugees by introducing them to beekeeping. Through their regular workshops, the organisation is able to support around 80 refugees and asylum seekers and 120 children per year. Plus, since Ali started Bees & Refugees in 2020, they’ve established 50 bee colonies across Greater London which has played a key role in boosting the native carpenter bee population (previously on the brink of extinction).

beesandrefugees.org.uk

We’re all familiar with surplus food and making dishes from leftover or waste ingredients but did you know the same thing applies to wine? Many winemakers end up with excess wine for a number of reasons and if that leftover vino isn’t blended into low-quality bulk wines, it goes to waste, meaning money also goes down the drain too. Enter winemaker and founder of Wasted Wine Club Angelo van Dyk. He teams up with independent winemakers around the world who have excess wine on their hands to create one-off bottlings, like a Chenin Blanc and Semillon from Alexandra McFarlane and a Syrah from Angus Paul, that are sold directly to customers. Now that’s how you put quality leftover juice to good use. 

wastedwine.club

Plastic packaging from takeaway is one of the worst offenders for waste, and with our appetite for Deliveroo and Uber Eats, the problem is only going to get worse. Reusable packaging is the way forward and that’s what DabbaDrop, which specialises in curries delivered in metal tiffin boxes, is all about – it’s curry with a conscience. Sign up for either weekly or fortnightly deliveries and you will be sent a regularly changing selection of veg curries, dal, rice and salad all made with fresh, quality ingredients. With your first delivery you’ll also get a reusable tiffin box for an extra £15 charge – each time you get a new delivery you just give back your old (clean!) tiffin box and keep swapping it out. So far DabbaDrop has saved over 400,000 plastic containers from being used and has avoided 3200kg of food waste.

dabbadrop.co.uk

Artists and filmmakers Dan and Hilary are tackling both the climate and cost-of-living crises with their project POWER, which began with the pair spending 23 days last winter sleeping on the roof of their home on Lynmouth Road in Walthamstow to help raise money to bulk buy solar panels for the 35 homes on the road that wanted to be involved. The aim is to transform every viable building and street across the country into its own power station by installing renewable energy tech like solar panels and retrofitting insulation. As well as reducing carbon emissions and lowering energy costs for households, the project puts power back into the hands of local communities and uses grassroots collective action to demand change – specifically making renewable energy accessible immediately – on a national scale.

power.film

Crate to Plate is turning former shipping containers into farms capable of growing kilos and kilos of fresh leafy greens, all year round, using hydroponic and aeroponic farming technology. The urban farm company’s CEO Daniel Tristao explains that Crate to Plate aims to solve the long supply chains common for upwards of 70% of fresh produce in the UK. As Daniel puts it, this “leads to very short shelf lives, worse flavour and aroma profiles, whether it’s a lettuce head or a basil leaf, but also much lower nutritional value because these plants are losing nutrient density with pretty much each day after they’re cut from the root.” They’ve got four container farming sites in the city already and are planning a UK-wide expansion – expect to see Crate to Plate farms coming to another city near you.

cratetoplate.farm

As the founder of the zero-waste, closed-loop Silo in Hackney Wick, Douglas McMaster is the chef that’s probably done more than anyone else in the restaurant industry to tackle waste and bring widespread attention to the issues. His dedication has seen him carefully examine every fine detail waste production and Silo is the place where he’s been able to put his ideas into practice, and he’s been awarded a Green Michelin star for his efforts. He doesn’t even have bins in the restaurant and any food that isn’t consumed is fed into an aerobic digester which can create 60kg of compost in 24 hours. At Silo he makes everything from scratch from milling the flower to churning butter, reducing food miles and unnecessary processes. All deliveries to the restaurant come in reusable crates or other containers, completely eliminating packaging waste, and the furniture and fittings are all upcycled – when he realised that one of the final bits of waste they were still producing was the wine bottles from customer meals he started to grind them down and create plates for the restaurant. He’s even run a dinner series on invasive species, showing how things like Japanese knotweed can be put to use in the kitchen in an effort to manage their spread whilst reducing waste at the same time.

silolondon.com

Dr Ronx Ikharia is a trans and non-binary A&E doctor, TV presenter, mentor and activist. Dr Ronx studied medicine at Kings College – paying their own way through modelling, working in retail and dancing in music videos – and while there, realised that their story was unique and that, through sharing it, they could motivate and inspire young people from similar backgrounds. After graduating in 2011, Dr Ronx worked as an expedition field medic in India before returning to London to start their A&E career. Now, Dr Ronx dedicates their spare time to supporting and amplifying the voices of young people through inspirational talks, charity work, writing children’s books and hosting workshops.

@dr_ronx

After noticing all the untapped potential of rooftop space in London, Patrick and Johnno set up a farm on one in Paddington, with the idea of growing and supplying fresh produce to people working locally, and Square Mile Farms was born. The urban farming company now puts hydroponic vertical farms (that’s growing without soil) into offices, residential buildings and restaurants, to provide locals with fresh local produce, to connect people with the food that they eat through harvesting sessions, and to encourage conversations about sustainability, nutrition and mental wellbeing. 

squaremilefarms.com

Anna Sebastian knows the hospo industry inside out, having worked in Mayfair nightclubs; managed The Beaufort Bar at The Savoy and Artesian at The Langham; worked for a hard seltzer company; and set up as an F&B consultant to help other brands and venues grow. She’s also the founder of Celebrate Her, which started as a one-off guest shift at Artesian and has since grown into a platform that’s all about promoting gender equality in hospitality by offering mentorship, education and financial support to women in the industry, and showcasing their talents by partnering with brands and bars on events around the world.

@annasebastian3

Founded in 2012, KERB has become one of the biggest names in street food, growing from a lunchtime market in King’s Cross to an organisation that encompasses multiple markets, a food hall, an event caterer and a business incubator. In 2023, the markets and business development arms became part of the not-for-profit social enterprise KERB+, allowing the organisation to further support people who had been facing barriers to entry in the hospitality industry. Through coaching, incubating and accelerating programmes, KERB+ has been able to empower more refugee-led and female-led businesses. It has also been able to assist people from diverse backgrounds, including ex-offenders and those who have experienced homelessness through job coaching for individuals, all of which is helping to make the industry more inclusive. As Head of Coaching at KERB+, Lisa Donohue leads the day-to-day operations for all the coaching programmes, as well as the mentorship and on-the-ground support for individuals in need. In the past year, she has led a team that has provided almost 2000 hours of coaching and led programmes that have seen over £200,000 invested into 26 new start-up food businesses.

kerbfood.com

Founded by Alice Moxley during her time on postgraduate social innovation programme Year Here, Pivot is a social enterprise that fuses her love of creating and her technical knowledge with her passion for supporting the homeless. Working directly in homeless hostels, the organisation offers those experiencing homelessness a way to change their lives through designing, making and selling jewellery, and provides coaching and financial support to enable people to find meaningful employment and help them transition out of temporary accommodation.

madebypivot.com

Luminary Bakery isn’t just our local bakery, but one of our favourites in all of London – and not just because they make some of the best cinnamon swirls we’ve ever had. The bakery, founded by Alice Williams, is a social enterprise designed to offer opportunities for women at economic and social disadvantages (including suffering gender-based violence) to build futures for themselves. Encouraging ambition, restoration and second chances, they use baking as a tool to take women on a journey to employability and entrepreneurship. Yes, by feasting on cake, traybakes and cookies, you’re supporting a good cause and they’re now open seven days a week in both Hackney and Camden.

luminarybakery.com

The Queer Britain charity was co-founded by former Gay Times editor Joseph Galliano-Doig in 2018 with the mission of establishing the UK’s first museum dedicated entirely to LGBTQ+ history. Four years later, the Queer Britain museum opened in King’s Cross as just that, and they had 12,000 people through the door within the first two months. The museum showcases and celebrates the diversity of Queer experience through exhibitions which have included Oscar Wilde’s prison door, a dress worn by drag queen Divine and a bust of Virginia Woolf, while telling an important history that has been neglected until now.

queerbritain.org.uk

Connecting people to nature for social, economic and personal transformation is the philosophy behind May Project Gardens. In 2007 co-founder Ian Solomon-Kawall established a community garden at his mother May’s council house in Morden following her passing, and now the organisation helps those from urban, marginalised communities improve their wellbeing through engaging with nature. Programmes such as the Hip-Hop Garden (which uses Hip-Hop as a framework to teach participants about growing food and entrepreneurship) teach participants about global systems, sustainable living and caring for the environment. 

mayproject.org

Trampoline is a cafe with a powerful mission; not only does it serve expertly-made coffee and delish hot meals, like curries and thalis from Yogi’s Sri Lankan Kitchen, Trampoline also provides employment to refugees, giving them valuable experience and a springboard from which to start a fulfilling career. As well as creating a space where everybody feels welcome, through partnerships with organisations like Groundwork London, Thomas Franks and The Hotel School, the cafe helps the refugee community into meaningful employment. 

trampolinecafe.com

The team at Notting Hill restaurant akub have been hosting regular #CookForPalestine supper clubs to raise money for charities like Anera, The Amos Trust and Medical Aid Palestine, which are working on the ground in Gaza. As well as being extremely vocal about the Israeli attacks on Palestine and throwing fundraising events, akub’s founder, Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan uses the restaurant to show people how rich and beautiful the culture of Palestine is. 

akub-restaurant.com

Chef and author Noor Murad and Palestinian-British chef Sami Tamimi set up Souk el Salam, a peace market, this year to raise money for The Amos Trust, a charity working to provide emergency relief to Gaza. Some of the UK’s top chefs and food writers – including Phil Khoury, Melissa Thompson, Imad Al Arnab, Ravinder Bhogal, Ixta Belfrage, Philip Juma and Nicole Pisani – provided food for sale, with drinks and products also on sale. Across two markets, the team managed to raise over £38,000. 

@soukelsalam

Based in the Trellick Tower in North Kensington, Goldfinger is all about turning waste into gold. The social enterprise transforms surplus and reclaimed materials into quality sustainable furniture and runs a teaching academy and workshops to train marginalised people and local low-income residents in craft and woodworking. The organisation has rescued over 8200kg of reclaimed material from landfill since 2020 and has secured almost 3000 of paid internship hours for local young people not in education, employment or training since 2021. The People’s Kitchen also provides free meals for the local community, fighting both social isolation and food poverty – they run a monthly service making meals for around 60 from surplus food.

goldfinger.design

Brigade Bar + Kitchen, housed inside a Grade II-listed former fire station in London Bridge, serves up food cooked over live fire and helps bring those who are vulnerable and isolated, have experienced homelessness or spent time in prison into the hospitality industry by offering training and career support. The restaurant is a partner of the Beyond Food Foundation, which runs the programmes for vulnerable adults, bringing good, fresh food into their lives and teaching cooking skills to help build confidence and establish a sense of purpose. The money you spend eating at Brigade goes straight back into working with more apprentices.

thebrigade.co.uk

Since 2015, Sistah Space has been providing support that meets the specific needs of African and Caribbean survivors of abuse. The charity was founded in response to the murder of Valerie Forde and her 22-month-old daughter by Forde’s ex-partner (and her daughter’s father), with ‘Valerie’s Law’ (which advocates for mandatory cultural competency training for the UK police force and its related bodies) at the centre of its mission. Sistah Space exists to ensure that the police’s lack of knowledge (or that of other service providers) of the Black community’s colloquialisms, customs and/or languages doesn’t ever come in the way of protecting its women again.

sistahspace.org

Smart Works is a UK-based charity that provides unemployed women with the clothing, coaching and confidence they need to secure a job that could change the trajectory of their lives. It’s run by CEO Kate Stephens who keeps an eye on things here in London, while also managing their international work. Since Smart Works was founded in 2013, they’ve helped 30,000 women in their search for a job, with statistics showing that 95% of the women they work with feel more confident about succeeding in their next interview and 69% get a job.

smartworks.org.uk

Founded in 1998, StreetSmart is a charity that raises money for people experiencing homelessness and the vulnerable by adding a voluntary £1 to diners’ bills at participatory restaurants each November and December. In the 26 years they’ve been functioning, they’ve been able to raise a huge £13 million and the funds then go towards investing in projects that tackle homelessness at its root causes, aiding with issues surrounding family breakdown, drug and alcohol abuse, poor mental health and the need for greater education and training.

streetsmart.org.uk

A resident of North Kensington for over 30 years as well as an experienced leader in advocating for equality, diversity, community engagement and justice – she was head of Equality and Diversity for the Crown Prosecution Service in London for 14 years and has worked on campaigns for Stephen Lawrence and Frank Critchlow – Yvette Williams witnessed the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017. Along with Judy Bolton, she co-founded Justice 4 Grenfell, an organisation that has campaigned for justice for the Grenfell victims and to hold those responsible for the failure to provide the residents with safe homes to account, making sure that Grenfell remains in the public consciousness so it can never happen again.

justice4grenfell.org

London’s lucky to have not one, but three outposts of the world’s first on-demand mental health service in the city, Self Space. Open seven days a week, from 7.30am until 9.30pm, you can head to either of these drop-in spots for in-person mental wellbeing support without a waiting list, an assessment process or any commitment. Self Space was founded by Jodie Cariss and Chance Marshall, who have over 15 years of therapy experience between them, who wanted to change people’s perspective of mental health support. The duo believes that therapy shouldn’t feel shameful or intimidating, but it also doesn’t need to be something you only turn to at a crisis point – it can be as much a part of your wellness routine as booking in a massage.

theselfspace.com

After being inspired by her father’s philanthropic work with Mother Teresa and time spent working for international hotel brands, Harsha L’Acqua combined her dedication to philanthropy with her passion for luxury hospitality by founding Saira Hospitality. Saira establishes meaningful partnerships between hotels and the communities they reside in by running bespoke pop-up schools to empower locals to get employment in hospitality. Since its inception, Saira has had 418 students graduate through partnerships with the likes of Nobu Hotels, Hilton, Rosewood, Pan Pacific and Citizen M. Saira has run schools globally and after running a programme in London in 2022, the organisation has delivered multiple projects in London, including a hospitality school for rough sleepers who were being temporarily housed at the St Giles Hotel.

sairahospitality.com

Set up by former So Solid Crew member Swiss in response to the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, Black Pound Day is an initiative that’s all about tackling the systemic racism faced by Black-owned businesses (they are more likely to struggle with investment and have less access to capital than white-owned businesses). On the first Saturday of every month, people are encouraged to shop from Black-owned businesses and share their experiences on social media, which not only injects more money into the Black economy but also helps make these businesses and entrepreneurs more visible, ultimately creating long-term growth for the Black community. 

blackpoundday.uk

Tackling food waste is a huge part of a sustainable future, and it’s an issue that can be tackled in many ways as our list of LOTI Heroes shows. Food manufacturers and restaurants are on the frontline of food waste and, unless you are someone like Doug McMaster at Silo, there’s a high chance that a lot of good food is being thrown out when it isn’t sold. Enter Too Good to Go, an app that connects restaurants and wholesalers with customers who can purchase unsold, perfectly good restaurant dishes and food products at a fraction of the price. Not only does it earn the businesses a bit of extra money, customers get a bargain meal or parcel of ingredients, and the end result has a positive impact on the planet. Now that’s a win-win-win situation. In 2023 alone, the business saved 121,686,720 meals from going in the bin through its food bag and parcel offerings for customers and its food management systems for businesses.

toogoodtogo.co.uk

Food Behind Bars is the UK’s first charity dedicated to transforming the food in prisons for the better. The organisation was founded by Lucy Vincent who was inspired to make a change to the system when she covered the topic as a freelance journalist in 2016. Since then, she’s been travelling the country to visit various prisons, spend time with the prisoners and staff, and do shifts in the kitchens. Now, with Food Behind Bars, Lucy works with men’s and women’s prisons across England and Wales to deliver a range of services to better the lives of prisoners, including menu development and redesign, industry-standard culinary training and food growing/kitchen gardens among many others.

foodbehindbars.co.uk

Plastic waste is a huge issue across almost all areas of society but the hospitality industry is a particularly bad offender – despite recycling efforts, 74% of plastic waste from the sector is sent to landfill or incinerated. Hugo Worsley, who’s worked in restaurants himself, wanted to try and tackle the amount of plastic waste produced in hospitality whilst also addressing the sustainability, or lack thereof, of cheap knives. With Allday Goods, Hugo is creating high-quality, long-lasting and affordable chef’s knives and table cutlery that also help divert plastic waste from landfill (almost 1500kg so far) by recycling it to make the handles.

alldaygoods.co.uk

Migrateful is a charity and social enterprise that supports asylum seekers, refugees and migrants struggling to access employment in the UK due to legal and linguistic barriers through food. Migrants teach cookery classes where they share their cuisine and culture with the public, and since Migrateful was founded in July 2017 by Jess Thompson, they have run thousands of classes and supported over 90 migrants. As well as offering a fun way for people to learn about different cuisines from around the world, the classes encourage interaction between different communities, foster a sense of belonging and challenge misconceptions about immigrants.

migrateful.org

Soup Kitchen London has been supporting the capital’s homeless community for almost thirty years, and this year the team has partnered with Michelin-starred chef Adam Simmonds to open their own social impact restaurant. Home Kitchen London in Primrose Hill helps socially vulnerable people transform their lives by providing employment and works to change the perception of homelessness. Adam creates the menu and manages the kitchen, with the rest of the restaurant’s staff coming from the homeless community, who as well as being paid the London Living Wage, get subsidised travel and can undertake funded catering qualifications to help them progress in the industry. 

homekitchenlondon.org

Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world, so the overconsumption of clothes that are worn only a few times before being discarded is a big problem. The #LoveNotLandfill campaign, run by ReLondon, addresses the issue by specifically appealing to young Londoners, providing info about clothes swaps, buying second hand and how to sell and fix your old clothes. It also has clothing banks, sprayed by female street artist Bambi, placed around London to encourage younger fashionistas to think about the life of their clothes once they’re done with them. By putting used clothes in the clothing banks, consumers can ensure that wearable clothes are sold on to people who need them and pieces are turned into something useful, which helps to keep fabrics (especially man-made ones that take years to break down) stay out of landfill.

lovenotlandfill.org

A social enterprise from the team at the Barons Court Project, HomeLess Made sells products made by artists experiencing homelessness, helping them to make money from their work as well as boosting their self-confidence and acting as a step towards a creative career. HomeLess Made sells cards, t-shirts, tote bags, badges and more and the profits from the sales of these are split 50/50 between the artists and the Barons Court Project, which is Hammersmith and Fulham’s only day centre that supports people on a low-income, who are experiencing homelessness and/or vulnerable to mental health issues.

homelessmade.co.uk

Ravneet Gill is a pastry chef (most notably for St. JOHN, Llewelyn’s, Black Axe Mangal and Wild by Tart), author, presenter and founder of Countertalk. It started off as an Instagram account where Gill would highlight businesses within the hospitality industry that were doing great things and cultivating a positive work environment, and has grown into a community-building platform. Through its events, job posting pages, advice and resources, Countertalk has become a much-needed support mechanism for the food industry. 

countertalk.co.uk

Forty Hall is not only a great vineyard based in Enfield, north London, making some superb English wines, but also a social enterprise. As London’s only commercial-scale vineyard they put all their profits back into the project and local community to drive its ecotherapy programme. Centred around the idea that being outdoors and active is good for our mental health, Forty Hall provides volunteering opportunities in the vineyard to the local community, particularly those with mental health issues. All volunteers can benefit from the support and guidance of an eco-therapist who attends volunteering sessions and participants can work alone, in pairs, in small groups or in larger teams. Their aim is to improve mental and physical health through working outdoors in a green environment, being socially connected, and engaged with horticultural activity and the production of the wines.

fortyhallvineyard.com

Author, food writer and photographer Riaz Phillips is responsible for opening up a wider conversation about representation and diversity in food media in this country. His first two self-published projects (via Tezeta Press), Belly Full and Community Comfort, celebrate Caribbean food culture and black and ethnic minority cooking in the UK, and his third and fourth books, West Winds: History and hidden tales from Jamaica and East Winds: Recipes, history and tales from the hidden Caribbean have been two of the most talked about cookbook releases of the past couple of years.

@riazphillips

Beder FC is a football club that aims to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention. It was started as part of an initiative by the mental health charity, Beder, which was founded in 2019 by Razzak Mirjan. When his younger brother, Beder, tragically and unexpectedly took his own life, Razzak set the organisation up with the vision of taking a unique approach to tackling issues surrounding mental health in his brother’s name. Beder FC is open to all and provides a ground to bring people together and raise money for the charity’s work in creating support and a better understanding of mental health, as well as fighting against stigma.

beder.org.uk

Michelle Dornelly set up the Community Food Hub in Hackney in April 2020 when she saw how people in her borough were struggling to access food during the pandemic, something that has only got worse with the cost-of-living crisis – around 45% of the children in Hackney are living in poverty. Michelle and her team, all volunteers, collect surplus food donations and provide packages to those in need, running collection points at two hubs in the area. They support over 600 people a week and since the project was set up, they’ve saved almost 20,000kg of food going to waste, but with around 11 million people in the UK experiencing food insecurity, there is still more work to do. 

childrenwithvoices.org

FoodCycle is a charity that turns surplus food into nutritious meals for low-income families, those affected by homelessness, and those who can’t afford to buy food, tackling food poverty, food waste and social isolation all at the same time. With the Community Meals programme, volunteers collect surplus food, cook it and then sit down with the guests to eat, and it’s totally free, so anyone can come and join a meal. In 2023 alone, the charity saved 239 tonnes of food from going to waste and 92% of guests said they felt happier after attending a FoodCycle meal.

foodcycle.org.uk

Frustrated at the lack of visibility and support that independent brands run by black women and women of colour where getting in the UK (only 0.02% of venture capital funding goes to black women in business) but knowing that there were a lot of people who were purposeful about how they spent their money, former barrister Janet Oganah decided to connect the two by setting up Janet’s List. The platform features a curated selection of black and WOC-owned brands, spanning the lifestyle sector, from haircare to jewellery to gifts, making it easy for people to both discover them and shop from them.

janetslist.co.uk

After turning to guerrilla gardening as a therapeutic outlet following the Grenfell Tower fire, Tayshan Hayden-Smith founded Grow to Know, a non-profit organisation that works to inspire and empower young people through horticulture. Grow to Know is all about making gardening more inclusive and green spaces accessible, showcasing the positive mental health benefits of being around nature, and using nature as a form of community action. Grow to Know also highlighted the lack of green spaces available to the most deprived residents in one of the most unequal boroughs in the UK by showing The Green Gap, a 4.2 sq m concrete cube with a crack filled with wildflowers and the smallest ever show garden, at the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show. In the autumn of 2024, the organisation opened Maxilla Gardens under the Westway to help clean up the air in the area (96,000 vehicles drive across the Westway each day) and provide a sanctuary for residents in an area that was deeply affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

growtoknow.world

The Clink is one of the most unusual restaurants in London. As well as serving up tasty meals to diners, the aim of the restaurant, located inside HMP Brixton, is to help reduce re-offending. The Clink is staffed by inmates undergoing catering and service training, so they’re able to learn skills that’ll help them gain employment on their release and ultimately turn their lives around. In 2023, the charity trained 830 prisoners, delivered 550 NVQ qualifications and placed 52% of students into employment. 

theclinkcharity.org