Winning Harts, part of our SW!TCH Communities programme, is all about making the Harts Lane Estate in Barking a safer and more positive place for young people, families, and residents. It started in 2024 as part of the Mayor of London’s MyEnds programme, which gives funding to local neighbourhoods so they can tackle youth violence in their own way.
The Winning Harts programme is delivered by a consortium led by the West Ham United Foundation along with LifeLine Projects, Youth League UK, Be Heard as One, and Box Up Crime. Within the programme, LifeLine are responsible for running two weekly positive activities in the form of basketball and roller-skating as well as a community grants scheme for local residents who want to start something new to enrich the community. In addition, we engage in outreach within the area to collect resident feedback, ideas, and concerns, which are then shared across the consortium.
Through these community grants, local people are bringing their own ideas to life and creating opportunities for young people and families. These small grants are helping residents set up activities and spaces that make a real difference to their community.
We spoke to three grant recipients—Jeorgina, Monir, and Sabrina—about how they used their funding and the impact it has had.
Jeorgina, Strive for Excellence
Jeorgina came to the UK in her twenties and raised her four boys here. She first found out about Winning Harts at a workshop and coffee morning consultation. She remembers feeling good the first time she went—meeting parents with their children and realising that some of the families already had connections through local schools.
Through her organisation Strive for Excellence, Jeorgina supports young people with wellbeing, fitness, career choices, employment, entrepreneur skills, and work experience. She applied for a grant because she had lots of ideas but not the resources to make them happen. Young people gave her feedback on her application, which helped her shape the programme in a way that really worked for them.
With the funding, she has been able to provide a safe space where young people can come together after school. Some started out quiet, but with time, their confidence grew and hidden skills began to shine through. The grant has helped create opportunities that would not have been possible otherwise, giving young people connections and chances to learn new things in a supportive setting from 4pm to 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
For Jeorgina, the experience has also been personal. The programme has connected her with other grant winners and helped to reduce her own isolation. She says the most important part is that the space is open to everyone, regardless of background, and that the wider community has welcomed the opportunities given to young people through Strive for Excellence.
Sabrina, Rise Up Collective
Sabrina was born in High Wycombe and moved to Barking as a teenager. She is a carer and a mother to her son. After finishing school, she went on to university, and more recently she has been thinking about how she can use her experiences to support others in her community.
Her son first got involved with LifeLine’s roller-skating sessions, and after much encouragement from him, she decided to come along too. Seeing the progress her son had made gave her inspiration and she was invited to a Winning Harts coffee morning at Barking Learning Centre. She admits she was unsure about going at first, but once there she found it amazing. Parents and residents were openly sharing their thoughts about everything from mental health to school issues, and it felt to her like a genuine community was forming.
This gave Sabrina the push to develop something she had been thinking about for years—Rise Up Collective. She describes it as a social mobility organisation for young people, designed to give them chances to grow and succeed. For a long time, she had been talking with her brother about her idea, and with his help she wrote a business plan and opened a bank account to begin setting up the group as a charity.
Schools often focused on those most in need or the very brightest, while others in the middle could be overlooked. Coming from a construction background, Sabrina wanted to run networking events in community centres where young people could hear directly from professionals in that field.
Winning the grant was a turning point. She said she was elated when she heard the news, as it gave her the chance to finally pilot her idea. It has also boosted her confidence and given her the belief that her idea can work. For the community, she sees Rise Up Collective as a way to give young people clear goals and a pathway to achieve them.
Sabrina says this is just the beginning of something special, both for her and for the young people of Barking.
Monir, Hedgecock Community Centre
Monir is a trustee at Hedgecock Community Centre, which is based next to Barking Community Hospital. The centre runs a range of activities including sports, yoga, boxing, running, and high-intensity training, but Monir explained that they had not focused enough on young people until now.
He first heard about the Winning Harts grants through the Barking and Dagenham Giving newsletter. Because the funding was aimed at his catchment area, it felt like the right opportunity to grow youth activities at the centre.
With the grant, they launched box-fit classes designed for young people. These sessions cover drills and basic boxing skills, such as how to stand and hold your hands, foot placement, shadow boxing and working with punchbags. Alongside the physical training, the classes teach discipline, respect, and teamwork, as well as give young people the chance to meet peers from the area and build stronger bonds in the community.
Parents have also become part of the journey. As they drop their children off, they meet other parents and start forming connections of their own. Monir and his team set up a WhatsApp group to keep parents updated on what their children are learning and what they can practise at home. This not only reinforces the skills but also encourages dialogue between parents and young people, strengthening family ties and building cohesion.
Monir told us that the grant has sown the seed for something much bigger. There is already high demand for these classes, and he hopes they can grow further in the future. For him, the grant has provided an opening to do more for young people and the wider community, creating lasting opportunities for health, respect and togetherness.
It has been inspiring to see people from the estate step forward with ideas that matter to them and then bring those ideas to life. These grants are not just about funding projects, they are about giving people the belief that they can shape change in their own community.
Aimeshinim Watson
Community Engagement Lead, LifeLine Projects