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South Wales Argus
29-05-2025
- Business
- South Wales Argus
Charities invited to apply for share of £100,000 funding
CrossCountry has opened applications for its annual Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF), which supports initiatives that reduce pollution, protect the environment, support sustainable community growth, and create a positive impact on wider society. The summer application period closes on Friday, June 6. Candice Dos Santos Hodgson, project manager at CrossCountry, said: "We're excited to launch the next Customer and Communities Improvement Fund and can't wait to see what applications come in from communities across the country. "We'd be delighted to hear from projects and groups looking to improve the communities served by the CrossCountry network, especially with an emphasis on social value and sustainability." Since April 1, 2022, the CCIF has supported 30 initiatives across the country, with a total value of more than £550,000. This includes a £17,000 donation to Social Bite's Job First programme in Edinburgh and a £40,000 donation to the Cornwall Community Foundation. Marzena Farana-Sherlock, director of social impact at Social Bite, said: "The generous funding from CrossCountry will allow us to continue supporting individuals affected by homelessness into jobs, which can be truly life-changing." For the first time this year, additional funding will be delivered by CrossCountry through its Biodiversity Improvements Projects (BIP) fund. This will support projects on and around the rail network that enhance biodiversity, improve access to nature, and help the railway adapt to the changing climate. To find out more and to apply to the fund, visit the CrossCountry website.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CrossCountry invites applications for £100,000 community fund
Train operator CrossCountry has opened applications for its Customer and Communities Improvement Fund. The fund, which supports community initiatives across the CrossCountry network, will see £100,000 made available throughout the year for projects that deliver social and environmental benefits across the UK, including in York. The summer application period will close on Friday, June 6. Candice Dos Santos Hodgson, project manager at CrossCountry, said: "We're excited to launch the next Customer and Communities Improvement Fund, and can't wait to see what applications come in from communities across the country." Since April 1, 2022, the Customer and Communities Improvement Fund has supported 30 initiatives with a total value of more than £550,000. This includes a £17,000 donation to social enterprise Social Bite's Job First programme in Edinburgh, and a £40,000 donation to Cornwall Community Foundation. To find out more and apply, visit For the first time this year, additional funding will be delivered by CrossCountry through its Biodiversity Improvements Projects fund, which will support projects on and around the rail network that enhance biodiversity, improve access to nature, and help the railway adapt to the changing climate. Applications can be made at
Business News Wales
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
Welsh Charities Urged to Apply for Funding from Leading Train Operator
Long-distance train operator CrossCountry has announced that its Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF), to support community initiatives across the CrossCountry network, is now open for applications. The refreshed grant scheme will open at intervals throughout the year – with the summer application period closing on Friday 6 June. A total of £100,000 has been made available throughout the year for community projects that deliver tangible social and environmental benefits across the UK, including South Wales. Candice Dos Santos Hodgson, Project Manager at CrossCountry, said: 'We're excited to launch the next Customer and Communities Improvement Fund and can't wait to see what applications come in from communities across the country. 'We'd be delighted to hear from projects and groups looking to improve the communities served by the CrossCountry network, especially with an emphasis on social value and sustainability – if this sounds like you, please visit our website to apply.' Since 1 April 2022, the Customer and Communities Improvement Fund has supported 30 different initiatives across the country, to a total value of over £550,000. This has included £17,000 donation to social enterprise Social Bite's Job First programme in Edinburgh, as well as a £40,000 donation to Cornwall Community Foundation. Tamara Sherston-Baker, Development Director at the Cornwall Community Foundation, said: 'It's been fantastic to work with CrossCountry to help even more projects and initiatives with their critical community work across Cornwall. 'We always value support from businesses and organisations working in Cornwall and we look forward to working closely with CrossCountry again in the future.' Marzena Farana-Sherlock, Director of Social Impact at Social Bite, said: 'The generous funding from CrossCountry will allow us to continue supporting individuals affected by homelessness into jobs, which can be truly life-changing. By working closely with employers and partners, we aim to create a long-term, systemic shift in how people with a background of homelessness access and sustain employment.' Applications to the fund can be made through an easy-to-complete online form. To find out more and to apply to the Fund, visit For the first time this year, additional funding will be delivered by CrossCountry through its Biodiversity Improvements Projects (BIP) fund, which will support projects on and around the rail network that enhance biodiversity, improve access to nature and help the railway adapt to the changing climate. Applications to the BIP fund for this year can be made at
Scotsman
14-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
From sandwich shop to social movement: how Josh Littlejohn turned a small Edinburgh café into a national force against homelessness
Watch more of our videos on and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565 Visit Shots! now Josh Littlejohn MBE is a social entrepreneur whose efforts to combat homelessness have reshaped support systems not only across Scotland but around the world. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... As the founder of Social Bite—a movement that began with a small sandwich shop in Edinburgh and grew into a nationally recognised charity—Josh has become one of the country's most influential voices on social enterprise. As one of the UK's most respected leadership speakers, Josh has addressed global leaders and worked alongside high-profile advocates such as George Clooney and Prince William. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In this exclusive interview with Champions Speakers Agency, he reflects on how a single act of kindness led to the creation of a village for homeless individuals, why Edinburgh remains at the heart of his mission, and what more needs to be done to fix the UK's broken system. Josh Littlejohn MBE - Champions Speakers Agency Q: How did a small Edinburgh café become the starting point for Social Bite's mission to tackle homelessness? Josh Littlejohn: 'Well, it kind of happened by accident really. Social Bite's become quite well known now for our work with homeless people, but when we first set up, it didn't really have much to do with homelessness at all, to be honest. 'What happened was we opened up a little café – it's kind of a sandwich coffee shop in the city centre of Edinburgh – and we were in there making coffees and serving customers. There was a young man who was 19 years old, he was homeless, and he was selling The Big Issue magazine on the street corner just outside the front door of the café. 'After a couple of weeks of us being open, this young man – his name was Pete – he came in one day and he sort of plucked up the courage and he asked us if he could have a job. We kind of thought, why not? It seemed like quite a nice thing to do. So, we gave him a job in our kitchen. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We just saw that he was working really hard, and we saw that employment was quite transformative for him. We thought we might try it again and we asked him, 'Pete, do you know anybody else that's homeless that might want a job?' He said, 'Well, my brother Joel is also homeless – he also sells The Big Issue.' So, we said, okay, we're going to give Joel a job. 'Then Joel was working hard, and we said, 'Do you know anybody else, guys?' They said, 'Well, there's a guy down the street called John, maybe you could give him a try.' And we said, alright, we'll give him a job. I think at this point they kind of realised we were basically soft touches as employers, and they could maybe recommend some of their other friends. They recommended this guy called Colm. 'So, that's kind of how it all got started – we got involved in this homeless issue by offering jobs in this café to people. As we got a bit more engaged in it, we introduced this pay-it-forward system. We started to encourage customers to buy something extra for someone that was homeless to get something for free later. 'So, customers started to buy extra sandwiches and extra coffees, and before we realised it, we were feeding maybe 40 or 50 people every day in this little café. That's kind of how it all got started.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Q: What difference has the Social Bite Village made for rough sleepers here in Edinburgh and beyond? Josh Littlejohn: 'Well, it's kind of grown exponentially. We started with that one little café and decided to try and open a bit of a chain of cafés. We thought we'd try and maybe give Starbucks a bit of a run for their money here in Scotland. 'We ended up opening five cafés across three cities, and we made a policy that around a quarter of our workforce would be people that had been homeless. By this point, we were giving out quite a significant quantity of free food across this chain of cafés. But out with the kind of immediate locality of the shops, pretty much no one would have ever heard of us or known much about what we did. 'We got a bit of a profile boost, which really helped to propel the scope of our work. In 2015, as crazy as it sounds, I decided to write a letter to George Clooney and invited him to come to Edinburgh and visit our little café. Amazingly, in November 2015, he did come and popped into the café. He brought Edinburgh to a bit of a screeching halt – there were hundreds of women camping outside the cafés from six in the morning just to catch a glimpse of him. 'I went into the newsagents the next day and suddenly Social Bite was on the front page of every single national newspaper in the whole of the United Kingdom. It was on the News at Six. Suddenly, our tiny little charity had quite a big profile. We thought we could maybe use that profile to develop some much more ambitious projects and programmes to tackle the issue. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'That led us to embark on a whole range of things. One of the projects we developed was a project called the Social Bite Village, where we took on some vacant land that was owned by Edinburgh Council and we built a small village. 'We put into production eleven two-bedroom prefabricated houses and a big community hub for 20 homeless people at any one time to come in, live, and find their feet. That's a project we're really proud of, and that's so far helped around 45 people into housing through that project.' Q: From your experience, what practical steps must the UK take to meaningfully address homelessness? Josh Littlejohn: 'Well, the big thing that we've sort of advocated for is a policy that's known as Housing First. Basically, what that means is that the way the UK currently responds to homelessness – kind of the status quo – is if someone finds themselves becoming homeless and they're sleeping on the streets (and obviously all of us walk past people every day in most cities in that situation), we ask these people to prove that they're what's known as 'tenancy ready' before they end up being able to get their own place, their own flat, or their own house. 'We're asking them to say, 'Well, you need to show us that you're on top of any mental health issues, on top of any addiction issues, maybe you need to show us that you're able to get a job.' If you're able to clear all these hurdles, then you can have a house. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'So, we kind of make people try and show themselves to be up here, but common sense would tell you, if you're sleeping on the street, in a doorway, freezing cold, or living in fear, then your mental health is obviously going to deteriorate pretty rapidly. You're probably going to turn to drugs or alcohol to try and escape that. Certainly, you're going to be 100 miles away from trying to get a job. 'It's a very broken system at the moment – we're asking people to show themselves to be up here, but in reality, they're living in a situation that sends them down here. 'What Housing First proposes is that the first thing that we need to do to help someone that's homeless is to find them a home. That shouldn't be the last thing – that should be the first thing. Only from that stable place of a home can they possibly start to solve mental health challenges and addiction challenges and reintegrate into society. 'One of the things that we developed in Scotland was a big Housing First programme, where we've helped around – it's almost 600 rough sleepers, people that were on the street for a long time – into their own permanent flat. We've helped to fund a wraparound support to give them the support they need to sustain that. That's very much a pilot that we think should be rolled out in a significant way throughout the UK. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I think that's the keyway we can really address the rough sleeping problem and help get people off the streets, because the current system is definitely very broken.' This exclusive interview with Josh Littlejohn was conducted by Chris Tompkins.
Scotsman
12-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Scotland charities urged to apply for funding from leading train operator
Watch more of our videos on and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565 Visit Shots! now Long-distance train operator CrossCountry has announced that its Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF) to support community initiatives across the CrossCountry network is now open for applications. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Train operator announces its annual Customer and Communities Improvement Fund worth £100,000 CrossCountry welcomes projects that reduce pollution, protect the environment, support sustainable community growth, and create a positive impact for our employees and wider society The funding window is open from Tuesday 6 May until Friday 6 June 2025. The refreshed grant scheme will open at intervals throughout the year – with the summer application period window open from Tuesday 6 May and Friday 6 June. A total of £100,000 has been made available throughout the year for community projects that deliver tangible social and environmental benefits. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Colleagues from Cross Country and Social Bite Candice Dos Santos Hodgson, Project Manager at CrossCountry, said:'We're excited to launch the next Customer and Communities Improvement Fund and can't wait to see what applications come in from communities across the country. 'We'd be delighted to hear from projects and groups looking to improve the communities served by the CrossCountry network, especially with an emphasis on social value and sustainability – if this sounds like you, please visit our website to apply.' Since 1 April 2022, the Customer and Communities Improvement Fund has supported 30 different initiatives across the country, to a total value of over £550,000. This includes a £17,000 donation to social enterprise Social Bite's Jobs First programme in Edinburgh. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Marzena Farana-Sherlock, Director of Social Impact at Social Bite, said: 'The generous funding from CrossCountry will allow us to continue supporting individuals affected by homelessness into jobs, which can be truly life-changing. By working closely with employers and partners, we aim to create a long-term, systemic shift in how people with a background of homelessness access and sustain employment.' Applications to the fund can be made through an easy-to-complete online form. To find out more and to apply to the Fund, visit For the first time this year, additional funding will be delivered by CrossCountry through its Biodiversity Improvements Projects (BIP) fund, which will support projects on and around the rail network that enhance biodiversity, improve access to nature and help the railway adapt to the changing climate. Applications to the BIP fund for this year can be made at
