Local charities supporting prison leavers and young offenders boosted by more than £35,000 in funding from Northamptonshire High Sheriff’s Fund

This month, eight local charities and community organisations have been awarded a total of £35,392 to fund their work helping prison leavers, prison rehabilitation projects, ex-offenders and young offenders across the county. This is the largest ever amount awarded from the fund in a single round of grant making.

Jeremy Sharman, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, said: "Northamptonshire is home to many outstanding charities doing powerful work with some of our most vulnerable residents. I’m immensely proud that, alongside Northamptonshire Community Foundation, the High Sheriff’s Initiative Fund can support their efforts through this landmark round of funding."

Northamptonshire Community Foundation is the county’s largest independent grant making charity, having awarded more than £24 million in funding to local charities and volunteer-led organisations since 2001. Rachel McGrath, the foundation’s Chief Executive, said: "We are proud to have managed the High Sheriff’s Initiative Fund for nearly two decades, supporting vital work that helps transform lives and strengthen communities. This record-breaking round of funding will enable local organisations to continue making a real difference for prison leavers and young offenders across Northamptonshire.

“We are very grateful to our generous donors and supporters, and for the ongoing fundraising efforts of the High Sheriff to enable these life-changing grant awards."

The eight groups awarded funding from the Northamptonshire High Sheriff’s Initiative Fund in 2025 include The Chapel Gym Corby, C2C Social Action, Free 2 Talk CIC, Linwood Community Co-Operative, Northampton Town Football Club Community Trust, Sport4Fitness, Manna House Trust and The Doddridge Centre.

• The Chapel Gym Corby will use their grant for their Youth Outreach Project, which will provide supervised gym sessions and 1:1 training to 12–15-year-olds at risk of offending
• C2C Social Action will use their grant to open their Kettering Women’s Centre for a fourth day each week. The centre provides trauma-informed, gender-specific support to women at risk of, or involved in, the criminal justice system
• Free 2 Talk CIC will use their grant to run a peer-led mentoring project supporting 8–18-year-olds at risk of serious violence
• Linwood Community Co-Operative will use their grant to run a series of Music Mentoring Arts and Poetry (MMAP) workshops which will engage young people at risk of crime and violence in creative pursuits
• Northampton Town Football Club Community Trust will use their grant to run group sessions and mentoring as part of a holistic, targeted support service for people with criminal records and those on probation
• Sport4Fitness will use their grant to run a school-based intervention programme in partnership with Lemonpop Workshops, to support young people in Northampton that are at risk of committing anti-social behaviour, offending or re-offending
• Manna House Trust will use their grant to provide a counselling-focused prison in-reach and community rehabilitation project
• The Doddridge Centre will use their grant to fund their youth club, working with young people aged 8-13 to provide them with a safe space to interact with other individuals and reducing the opportunity for them to become involved with anti-social behaviour and knife crime