Case Studies
South Yorkshire Community Foundation (SYCF) has funded a variety of projects throughout the region that make a big impact on local communities. We use our expertise and local knowledge to make targeted grants, connecting people who care to causes that matter.
eaga - Darton Community Allotment and the United Villages Partnership
4th September 2008
A grant of £2,202 from the eaga Community Fund will enable United Villages Partnership in Barnsley to purchase essential equipment for its Kids' Earth Project.
The environmental group UVP has been working on a community garden for four years, with the aims of increased social cohesion, community interaction, and reducing crime in the areas surrounding the allotment.
Young people who are involved with the project have reclaimed a patch of land and formed the Kids Earth Garden, which acts as a meeting place for socialising, education and the growing of local produce.
The garden is of the utmost importance to young people, who have learnt a great deal about biodiversity, cultivation and human effects on the environment while working on the garden.
Up to 23 young people are involved with the garden, but the resources they have at their disposal are desperately few.
The grant will go towards providing them with tools and equipment to carry outthe gardening duties on their patch of the allotment.
Adrian Untisz, chair of the environment group said: "The money received from the eaga fund is just essential. Certain funders just don't cater for the simple things that mean so much to our survival. The money received will underpin the group's activities for at least two years."
The young people working on the project are aged 7 to 16 and all attend either Darton Primary or Darton High School.
The area has been recognised as one of multiple social deprivation, with crime and anti-social behaviour a major issue.
Adrian said: "I didn't come here to set up a garden. I came here to try and get hold of the vicious decline in this area, and it is now beginning to reverse the other way.
"This is somewhere that people can come and interact, and it is the collective motivation of those people that really makes the difference."
The project in Darton has a real commitment to reaching out to all areas of the community. A raised bed is currently being built, that will enable disabled gardeners to use the allotment as well as others.
Janet Marcroft, central administration manager at eaga's Rotherham office said: "I think it is absolutely brilliant. The project caters for all ages and is making a real investment in the future. I'm really pleased that eaga money has come to this group and I'm really glad we came to see the work that is being done."
Everyone involved at the project is there on a volunteer basis, with the good of the community as their central goal.
Liz Fisher, from eaga's Helping Hand Fund said: "This project is great evidence of people taking both the time and trouble to care about their communities, which is a value held in very high esteem by eaga."
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