The Didcot Powerhouse Fund has announced that they are making 21 grants totalling £108,000 to local charities and community groups, with 10 of the grants going to charities new to Powerhouse.
This brings the tally of grant giving since Powerhouse launched just over two years ago to 56 grants totalling £283,000. The funding for these Powerhouse grants comes from local donors through companies, individuals, and community fundraising efforts.
Powerhouse funding supports the local community. For each grant, at least 90% of beneficiaries are in the Powerhouse area of Didcot and the surrounding villages, from Culham in the North to Blewbury in the South, encompassing the science campuses of Harwell, Culham and Milton Park.
The 10 new charity recipients are bringing much-needed resources into the Didcot area. These include Reducing the Risk, which will be developing an ecosystem of support for domestic abuse with a focus on the elderly and the more rural parts of the Powerhouse area. My Life My Choice is a charity that empowers adults with learning difficulties to have choices and control over their lives.
Given the importance of science in the Powerhouse area, two new charities will use their grants to introduce more science to younger children: Bright Sparks Science will run science workshops in year 6 primary schools, while Digit<all> will offer coding for climate workshops for 9- to 13-year-olds in schools and the Didcot Library, including the provision of 60 programmable micro:bit devices.
Community needs are not solved with just a single grant, and Powerhouse is committed to sustained support in areas of the greatest need. Among the 2024 grant recipients are charities that will be building upon the impact achieved through previous grants, such as Didcot Baby Monday (supporting babies and their families), The Cornermen (helping to prevent male suicide), and charities supporting mental health in young people, such as Didcot TRAIN and the Didcot project of The Abingdon Bridge.
A full list of all 2024 Powerhouse grant recipients can be found here, where you can also read about the impact achieved locally through Powerhouse grant-giving.
Elizabeth Paris, Chair of The Didcot Powerhouse Fund, said: “I would like to congratulate all our grant recipients in 2024. With 38 applications this year the Grants Panel had a difficult choice, but these 21 charities demonstrated both an understanding and a commitment to our local community.
“What was especially pleasing was to see previous grant recipients now working together in partnership, and our aspiration for Powerhouse in 2024 is to create more opportunities for Powerhouse grant recipients to collaborate. After all, we all share the same vision – to make Didcot and the surrounding villages a fabulous place to live and work.”
David Johnston, MP for Wantage and Didcot, said: “Once again, I am delighted to see that the Powerhouse grant funding will go where it can achieve maximum community impact. I would like to thank the Grants Panel for their hard work in evaluating all the applications this year and to say a huge thank you to all the donors and fundraisers who contributed towards the Fund.”
