Tackling food poverty together in Southampton

From late 2022 to early 2023, Love Southampton, a collaborative initiative made up of churches and charities in Southampton which plays a central role in supporting the local Faith Covenant, led one of a handful of cross-sector projects funded by the government’s Faith New Deal Pilot Fund. This fund of over £1 million was shared between 16 different faith groups in an effort to build on the collaboration with faith groups which took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, catalysing further partnership work to serve local communities as they rebuild from the pandemic.

Thanks to this grant funding, Love Southampton were able to support further developments in food aid and redistribution in the city, explore the impact of these services, and evaluate the role that faith groups play.

Paul Woodman, leader at City Life Church and Charity Representative at Love Southampton said, “We took the lead as City Life Church but it was very much brokered with the Muslim community, other communities and local charities. We enabled little community groups to improve their kitchen facilities and storage facilities … and that meant that generally that the food capacity to help communities had increased. And we celebrated that together with a report.”

You can find out more about the impact of cross-sector partnership responses to food poverty in Southampton by reading their report or joining our #Faithinpartnership week event where Paul will feature on the panel.

The APPG on Faith and Society will also be hosting an event next month with Love Southampton as part of a wider discussion about the Faith New Deal and future central government initiatives to support partnership working.