We’re delighted to announce we have received a grant of £209,632 from The National Lottery Community Fund Reaching Communities grant programme.
Our Face it Together project will help us transform the way we can reach out to more people with visible differences, enabling them to reach out to and support each other, and building positive online spaces for them to be seen and their voices to be heard.
Face it Together will be delivered over two years. Our project activities will be focused in three delivery areas: increasing our information, support and advice for people with a visible difference online, developing our online community and developing our campaigners programme.
Each time people within our community have the courage to speak out, they can be confident they are reaching someone who has felt isolated.
By the end of the project more people with a visible difference will be supported through our increased capacity to deliver more responsive, accessible services, that have a demonstrable impact on their wellbeing. More people with a visible difference will see and be in contact with other people with a visible difference, in particular through media and social media platforms. The voices of more people with a visible difference will be louder, and heard more frequently by media, social media influencers and key decision makers nationally, regionally and locally, and in communities where they have not been heard before.
Becky Hewitt, Changing Faces Chief Executive, says: “One of the things people tell us most often is: “I never seen anyone who looks like me and who understands how I feel.” When we bring people together we see how powerful those meetings are and how much value people place on our role in creating a sense of community.
“We know that each time people within our community have the courage to speak out, they can be confident they are reaching someone who has felt isolated, sending the message that they are not alone, and encouraging them to seek the support they need.”
Thank you to The National Lottery, and to the millions of National Lottery players for helping people in the UK with a visible difference.