With our Sustainable Community Buildings programme open with revised criteria to support groups across Northern Ireland, we’re highlighting groups already taking steps to reduce carbon emissions. 

Footprints Women’s Centre exists to help families in West Belfast, through training and education programmes, healthy living projects, volunteering opportunities and a Social Supermarket.  

Environmental sustainability is also at the heart of all they do. 

Looking after the area for generations is as important as helping families now. That’s according to Eileen Wilson, who has been supporting women and children at Footprints for nearly 30 years, as well as leading on their environment work. 

“Women come to us for immediate support, but we work with them to find out what they really need to change their lives longer term, and that of their families. 

“The same applies to environmental sustainability, small steps now can affect the future,” said Eileen. 

It started with a grant 

A game changer for Footprints was receiving an Energy Efficient Venues grant from The National Lottery Community Fund in 2013, which helped them make improvements to their building.  

This programme was similar to Sustainable Community Buildings and offered expert support and capital funding. 

Eileen said: “We got sensor switches, upgraded insulation and installed solar electric and hot water. We saved around £12,000 each year since, that we could use elsewhere to help families. 

“It’s hard to explain what sustainability means to people, but everyone understands more money in their pocket and reducing waste. 

“I began as a Catering Coordinator and have learnt more along the way. You don’t need to be an expert. It is about making big concepts real and meaningful to ordinary people, like saving, recycling and growing.” 

Each step can make a difference 

Thanks to further funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, Footprints established a Social Supermarket to redistribute food to families in need and opened a Cookery School, where surplus food is prepared for the Supermarket and the homeless, while providing accredited training. 

Eileen continued: “Each year we divert 20 tonnes of food from going to landfill, that’s over 54,000 meals and a saving 47 tonnes of carbon emissions, the same as fuelling 11 cars.  

“But the impact is more than that. We are changing the lives of families for generations, by teaching them how to access, grow and make nutritious but inexpensive meals while reducing waste and bringing families together to improve wellbeing. 

“We run courses on mending instead of throwing out and do crafts with items from nature or would have normally been dumped.  

“We didn’t know where this would lead when we started. There is support from experts and The National Lottery funding team along the way. I am so proud that we have won national awards around sustainability and our site,” said Eileen.  

Funding information  

For more information on Sustainable Community Buildings from The National Lottery Community Fund visit Funding in Northern Ireland | The National Lottery Community Fund. 

The Sustainable Community Buildings is a first step in our environmental ambitions outlined in our strategy to 2030, called It starts with community. We continue to use learning and will be engaging with the sector on future plans.   

The UK wide Climate Action Fund is also seeking applications from groups working in partnership, to support communities to be environmentally sustainable.  

Multi-year grants from £500,000 are available to those that can link climate action to everyday lives and influence communities. Visit: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/climate-action-fund-our-shared-future#section-2