Case
Studies
The Trustees make all sorts of grants to all sorts of causes: they have been impressed by and have been keen to support these three organisations.
Kairos WWT
Kairos WWT works to increase the safety, stability, and self-belief of women in Coventry affected by or at risk of exploitation, through emotional and practical support, advocacy and awareness raising.
Kairos WWT was set up in April 1999. In the formative days, Kairos WWT was run by a small team of volunteers.
Street Outreach was the first service offered and through this initiative the trust of the women was gained and relationships formed. Over the years, and in line with the women’s wishes, the project developed, gaining Charity status in 2002.
Kairos WWT now employs a team of 11 staff to undertake the work and is supported by a team of round 20 volunteers. Each year Kairos supports 200 women, either involved in street based prostitution or at risk of sexual exploitation.
The Charity made its first grant when the original volunteers needed a computer to manage their work. One of the reasons we have continued to support their work is that Kairos WWT has always been hardheaded and business-like.
When a large three-year grant was not going to be renewed they reviewed their work and changed the way they worked to be sustainable rather than expend energy and time to try to maintain the status quo.
When they have raised sufficient to meet their budget they have told us. This honesty, efficiency and competence makes it easy to support the valuable work that they are doing in Coventry.
www.kairoswwt.org.uk
Warwickshire Young Carers
Warwickshire Young Carers is an independent registered charity, established in 2003, created to help identify and provide support for children and young people from 6 to 25 years old who care for a relative such as siblings, parents, or grandparents who have an illness, disability, mental health condition or substance dependence.
There are currently more than 2,700 young carers from across the county registered with our organisation, while many still remain hidden.
The Trustees whilst in admiration of what young carers do, see their experience as yet another instance of children and young people needing help to develop into their full potential. Their initial grant was to help carers under ten years old.
www.warwickshireyoungcarers.org.uk
Armonico Consort
The Trustees support things that transform lives: here music is the agent not the goal.
The relationship between the Alan Edward Higgs Charity and Armonico Consort goes back to a concert in Coventry Cathedral in 2018, which was the culmination of the ‘Supersize Polyphony’ project involving local school children in a huge 40-part choral texture, using a specially written ‘Part 41’.
This type of work has been the hallmark of Armonico’s activity supported by the Charity.
The strategic investment which the Charity has made in Armonico Consort’s ‘AC Academy’ choir creation work with children and young people (including composition workshops for those with special needs) has allowed Armonico to further develop its delivery methods and reach many thousands more young people in the Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull area.
Armonico has already worked with 77 schools in Coventry alone, and all eight SEN schools.
The heart of Armonico’s approach is to give young people opportunities to appreciate and be involved in professional-standard concerts of the group’s core classical repertoire alongside professional singers and players, along with chances to show off their skills as performers in their own right in a variety of other musical styles.
In the context of a world where music education is being deprioritised and the covid-19 lockdown threatens a ‘lost generation’ of young musicians, Armonico Consort, supported by the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, is spreading a love of music which will last a lifetime, along with a range of benefits of singing including improved co-operation, use of language, behaviour, self-esteem and mental wellbeing.
www.armonico.org.uk