North London Community Fund - Summary of projects

The project delivered a monthly repair café where residents could bring small electrical items, laptops, phones, bicycles, scooters, skateboards and garments for repair, while also learning basic sewing and mending skills. Facilitators ran workshops demonstrating creative ways to repair and repurpose items that might otherwise have been discarded. Through the project, 53 electrical items, 16 laptops and phones, 66 garments and textiles, 12 bicycles, 5 scooters and 7 pieces of furniture were repaired. The waste reduction workshops attracted more than 100 visitors.

For more information, visit their website.

The project taught residents practical sewing skills through upcycling and repair workshops, helping them extend the life of textiles and reduce waste. A total of 92 workshops were delivered across the two boroughs, engaging 83 participants

For more information, visit the REACT website.

The project redistributed surplus food through partnerships with local organisations, including Feliz. It encouraged young people to take on leadership roles in creative workshops on food waste prevention, while intergenerational activities helped foster community cohesion across the boroughs. A total of 108 workshops were delivered, engaging 165 participants, alongside 275 new digital engagements. The project supported 300 households through the redistribution of surplus food, diverted 2,400 kg of food waste from disposal, and produced 2,000 jars of surplus fruit jam.

For more information, please visit their website.

The organisation delivered open-access cooking lessons to help residents prevent food waste by developing practical cooking skills. A total of 20 workshops were delivered, with attendees receiving recipe cards and produce to take home. The project also held six community events and delivered six cooking demonstrations at foodbanks, which reached approximately 300 attendees. Surplus produce was used to make 200 jars of preserved food, with any remaining produce distributed through community lunches.

For more information, visit their website.

Targeting mothers of young children in Stamford Hill, the project supported economically disadvantaged residents by redistributing more than 60 baby toys and many clothing items. It delivered 10 swap events alongside 10 educational workshops on sustainable parenting practices. The project engaged 10 volunteers to help deliver these activities, supporting a total of 85 families.

Calthorpe Community Garden promoted food waste prevention by increasing its capacity to process food waste into compost for the local community. The project engaged residents, local businesses, schools and community groups through four educational workshops and tours, reaching 61 participants. As a result, four new households began composting, 959.21 kg of food waste was diverted from disposal, and 458 kg of compost was produced for community use.

For more information on their projects, please visit their website.

Octopus Community Centre and Mildmay Community Centre received funding to deliver a two-year community-powered composting scheme. The project commenced in January 2025, with initial activity focused on establishing two community composting sites in Islington, enabling residents to recycle food waste locally and retain this valuable resource within their communities. 

The project also developed and delivered three four-week Urban Soil Farmer courses, alongside a four-week educational programme and supporting online learning content. Through a combination of online and in-person training, 10 Urban Soil Farmers were upskilled to help champion community composting and soil health within their neighbourhoods.

The programme directly engaged 71 residents, with an estimated 120 additional indirect beneficiaries reached through community activities and knowledge sharing. It also achieved significant digital engagement, reaching an audience of over 13,750 followers across Twitter and Instagram, helping to raise awareness of community composting and sustainable food waste practices.

The Restart Project and ReLondon received funding to trial a repair voucher scheme designed to reduce barriers residents face to repairing electrical items. Working in partnership with 20 local repair businesses, the scheme aims to make repair more accessible and affordable for residents. Residents can receive up to £50 towards the cost of a repair at participating businesses in north London boroughs. By addressing cost as a key barrier, the project supports waste prevention by extending the lifespan of electrical items and reducing electronic waste, while generating learning to inform potential future scale‑up.

The Mill is a community space in Waltham Forest that worked with Forest Fixers to help local people develop practical skills to maintain and fix their household appliances, reducing electrical waste and encouraging more sustainable habits. 

During 2024/25, the project delivered 23 repair cafés and 22 repair clubs, repairing 130 appliances and providing opportunities for community members to learn skills they could use at home. The funding also supported the development of two volunteers, who were trained as safety leads to strengthen the project’s capacity to deliver these activities.

For more information about their upcoming events, see their website or find them on Facebook.

St Andrew’s is a parish church in the heart of Islington that serves the local community through worship and community-focused events. The church ran an established weekly clothing swap in partnership with various local and national charities, supporting people living in hostels, children in need and individuals experiencing homelessness. 

Funding was used to purchase equipment and promotional materials to support the events. Through the project, St Andrew’s redistributed an average of 6 kg of clothing to local charities each month, accepted around 40 kg of donated clothing each week and facilitated the swapping of approximately 5 kg of clothing weekly. The events welcomed an average of 25 adults and six children each week, while also providing training and experience for five core volunteer staff members.

For more information visit their website.  

Our Home Our Planet delivered an Eco Show and sustainability fairs in different parts of the borough, working closely with community groups and local activists to build stronger relationships between communities, local organisations and the borough, while encouraging positive behaviour change through sustainability workshops. Throughout the year, the project delivered two sustainability fairs, which attracted 130 residents to the stalls, and held six Eco Leader training sessions attended by 108 residents.

Visit the Eco Show and Tell website for more information. 

The first Myddleton Road Market (Markets N22) took place in June 2013. The idea for the market came from local resident Lucy Whitehead, who wanted to help regenerate Myddleton Road and breathe new life into the local high street. 

Markets N22 received funding for the Bowes & Bounds Repair Café project, which worked with Haringey residents to reduce electrical waste by teaching practical repair skills and providing opportunities for residents to bring household items to repair events.

The Bowes & Bounds Repair Café held 11 events, attracting 185 visitors and helping to repair 100 items. Through these repairs, the project helped avoid 1,088 kg of CO₂ emissions.

For more information on Myddleton Road Market and their events, see their website.