Tag: Big Issue Invest

Community housing project offering affordable homes forever up for a prestigious architecture award

Stuart Mitchell

Citizens House in Lewisham was designed in collaboration with residents and partly funded through Big Issue Invest, Big Issue’s social investment arm. Now the homes have been nominated for RIBA’s Neave Brown Award for affordable housing Community land trust homes in London that will remain “permanently affordable” and were partly funded by Big Issue have been nominated for a prestigious architecture prize. Citizens House in Lewisham, south-east London, opened its doors in 2023 offering 11 homes linked to local incomes at the cost of £2.5 million and 10 years of…

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Big Issue Invest £3m loan secures future for outstanding SEND College

Stuart Mitchell

Big Issue Invest, the social investment arm of the Big Issue, has made its first deployment from its latest fund, Social Impact Debt Fund IV, providing a £3.2 million loan to a specialist education college for young adults with learning difficulties to buy and refurbish a new premises.  Great Oaks College offers a range of further education opportunities to more than 100 young people in West London, catering for pupils aged 19 to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) ranging from moderate to severe.  In 2023, just two…

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65,000 people facing systemic inequities supported by over £1.8m of Growth Impact Fund investments

Stuart Mitchell

The Growth Impact Fund, a social impact investment fund deployed to help diverse social entrepreneurs across the UK, has today published its latest impact report.  The Growth Impact Fund was launched by Big Issue Invest and UnLtd in 2022 in response to the Adebowale Commission, which highlighted the lack of inclusivity and equity in the investment market. It found that social investment had not met the needs of underserved populations including those from racialised minorities.  Two years on, the Growth Impact Fund’s 2024 Impact Report illustrates how more than 65,000…

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Fund invests over £800k to improve accessibility, youth empowerment and mental health support for LGBTQ+ people

Stuart Mitchell

The Growth Impact Fund (GIF), a social impact investment fund developed by Big Issue Invest and UnLtd to help underrepresented social entrepreneurs across the UK, has announced new investments in mission-driven organisations Kalda, Ultra Education, and Patchwork Hub. These three exciting new investments bring the Fund’s total investment in social purpose organisations to over £2 million. To tackle the crisis in mental health provision for the LGBTQ+ community, GIF has invested £300,000 in Kalda, a mental health app that provides sexuality and gender affirming therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals. Patchwork Hub…

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Growth Impact Fund backs Genius Within’s mission to empower the UK’s Neurodivergent workforce

Stuart Mitchell

Recently the Growth Impact Fund (GIF), a social impact investment fund developed by Big Issue Invest (BIIFM) and UnLtd, targeted at £25 million to help underrepresented social entrepreneurs across the UK, announces its first debt deal of £500,000 in Genius Within.  The funding will help Genius Within, a specialist employment and training provider, support neurodivergent people into employment and help them to work best when employed. In the UK, it is estimated that over 15% of the population are neurodiverse, with 40% of neurodiverse employees reporting to be impacted most…

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