By Jacqui Scott, HIWCF CEO
On Giving Tuesday I had the privilege of hosting our latest Community Lens roundtable – a space we’ve created for frontline organisations to speak candidly about what they are seeing, what is keeping them awake at night, and how the wider system is affecting the people they support.
Every time we bring these groups together, one message rings clear: the challenges our communities face are becoming more complex, more interconnected, and more intensified by a national conversation that can at times be hostile, divisive or simply misinformed.
The stories shared by Zoe, Helen, Alex, and Joanna were powerful. They painted a picture of communities under pressure, from anti- trans and anti-immigration rhetoric, to rising hate crime, to loneliness and declining mental health, to the quiet but very real poverty hidden in apparently affluent areas. They also revealed something else: how much difference one small organisation can make, and how precarious that work often is.
Below, I’ve captured the reflections that have stayed with me most.
Watch the full Community Lens roundtable below and read the transcript.
1. A generation reaching for adulthood under a cloud of hostility and fear
Zoe Grant from Breakout Youth began by describing the environment facing LGBTQ+ young people across our region. Even without societal pressures, adolescence can be turbulent. But as Zoe explained, when you layer on the aftermath of COVID, a rise in loneliness, and relentless online hostility, especially toward trans and non-binary young people, the impact is profound.
Young people in her service are reporting more hate crime, more fear of going outside, and more anxiety about simply using public spaces. As Zoe put it, “When somebody feels like they can’t go out and use a toilet or a public space, that’s a basic human right, isn’t it? And that has so many ripples across self-esteem, confidence, employment, succeeding in education and so on”.
2. Dementia support: a growing crisis in plain sight
When I turned to Helen Hamblin of Dementia Support Hampshire & Isle of Wight, she painted an equally urgent picture from the opposite end of life.
With only three full-time equivalent members of staff, Helen and the team are doing everything they can to support families and help them prepare for the complex future they face with dementia.
Helen talked powerfully about how small interventions can transform a family’s daily life: “I had a call with somebody having a really difficult time with her grandmother – she was getting anxious in the evening. We talked about when they closed the curtains at night, because if the grandmother was looking at her own reflection in the window, she might actually think there’s somebody outside looking in. And it was just this sudden realisation for the lady, like ‘Oh my God, that’s it – she keeps saying there’s somebody outside!’. So it’s something very, very small, but sometimes it’s just the tiny things that make such a big difference”.
These tiny insights are often only achieved through one-to-one support – and they relieve pressure not just on the individual with dementia, but on children, grandchildren, and working family members supporting them. And yet, despite this vital work, the organisation’s future sustainability is uncertain – they have a key grant that ends next year. Without funding in place to fill the gap, their entire service – a lifeline to many – is at risk.
3. Refugees, asylum seekers, and the weight of public hostility
Next, Alex Kenchington from Bridge to Unity spoke about the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in our region, people trying to rebuild their lives while enduring racism, misinformation, and frequent public hostility.
Alex shared stories of parents afraid to send their children to school after attacks on buses, adults too anxious to go to work due to discrimination, and protesters creating an intimidating environment for the clients and the organisation’s volunteers themselves.
Yet, amid all this, Bridge to Unity is creating spaces for connection and understanding: “We do community events where we bring people together to emphasise that actually we are all people and human beings just trying to make our way in life and keep our families safe”. Alex shared with us their experience of slow but transformative moments when two groups of young people – British and Afghan boys, initially tense and wary – discover they actually like the same games, the same football teams and the same jokes.
4. Poverty in affluent places
Finally, Joanna Smith from Friends of the Family, Winchester highlighted a challenge many residents of Hampshire will recognise – the illusion that affluent places do not experience hardship. Joanna shared that in just two years, 70 families were referred to their mums and young children’s group. She remembers how on parent summed it up starkly: “It’s not easy to be poor in Winchester.”
When hardship is surrounded by wealth, the isolation can feel even more acute and often support services are more limited. Joanna and her small team focus on connecting with potential supporters through the universal theme of family – something that can resonate with everyone, whether their own experience was good or difficult. And it can be the small things that help someone in crisis, whether it is a mother learning not to respond to her child with anger, or a young boy receiving respite from a chaotic homelife, the impact may seem small on paper, but to those families, it is life changing.
Where do we go from here?
As I listened, so themes became impossible to ignore:
– Negative public discourse is shaping real lives: often with devastating consequences.
– Early intervention can save families, communities and ultimately, public money.
– Small community groups are doing extraordinary work with incredibly limited resources.
Most of the organisations we support at HIWCF are very small, vital and overstretched. Yet they are delivering impact far beyond their size – often preventing crises that would otherwise land heavily on already overwhelmed statutory services.
And perhaps the most important point: they cannot do this alone.
The stories shared in our Community Lens roundtable affirmed why Community Foundations matter: we listen carefully to hear the truth, and we are connected enough to help mobilise funding and influence change.
To our donors, supporters and partners: the need is real, growing and urgent.
Funding for early intervention and community-based support is not just a compassionate choice, it’s a strategic one. The golden thread running through all of our work is the alleviation of poverty and inequality and this can help strengthen families, build community cohesion, reduce inequality and prevent suffering and conflict long before it reaches crisis point.
I am so grateful to Zoe, Helen, Alex and Joanna for speaking so openly. Their honesty and their commitment give me hope, and they make it clear that our communities deserve nothing less than sustained, meaningful investment.
