Young Black people in Woolwich are navigating racial abuse, social isolation, and cultural disconnection at school and in public spaces.
During school holidays, these pressures intensify. Parents are working. Services are stretched. Many young people are left indoors, disengaged, or drawn back into unsafe environments.
Pretty Hearts CIC exists because doing nothing has consequences.
Our work is shaped directly by young people. Every programme we deliver is informed through polls, conversations, and lived experience. Young people decide what support they need, and we respond with structure, safeguarding, and care.
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What Happens If This Work Is Not Funded
If delivery stops: The risks do not pause because funding has not been secured. What Sustainability Looks Like We are not seeking rapid expansion. We are seeking stability and continuity. Funding now would allow us to: This is about reinforcing a functioning model, not experimenting with a new one. Why This Is The Moment What…
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The Barrier Is Structural, Not Impact-Based
Despite demonstrated delivery, Pretty Hearts CIC has been repeatedly disqualified from grant funding due to income turnover thresholds that disadvantage small, grassroots organisations serving young people from Black and ethnic Minority group and young people from marginalised backgrounds. We are required to demonstrate financial scale before being trusted with the funding required to build it.…
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What Happens When Grassroots Organisations Are Asked to Prove Themselves Twice
Across the UK, funding frameworks increasingly require evidence of turnover, reserves, and prior income before organisations become eligible for grants. While designed to reduce financial risk, these requirements disproportionately affect small, Black-led community organisations working at grassroots level. For the past two years, Pretty Hearts CIC has experienced this barrier directly. We have delivered programmes…