Autism Hampshire is celebrating a major funding boost after being awarded £280,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund.
The grant will be used to fund Autism Hampshire’s vital community groups for autistic adults - free peer-led, social groups across Hampshire and online.
Awarded through the Reaching Communities programme, the funding will support the Serendipity Community Groups across the next five years along with other fundraising, grants and donations.
It will secure the future of 19 groups and help Autism Hampshire invest in the project’s long-term sustainability, for example, strengthening the peer and volunteer-led model to build community ownership of the groups.
Other plans include increasing the number of trained volunteers from 20 to 50, many of whom will be autistic people themselves; This group is like gold dust - it has saved me.”
The funding will also enable Autism Hampshire to develop leadership opportunities for autistic adults by developing additional volunteer opportunities, and foster wider community connections through workshops, talks, and events with partner organisations.
Autism Hampshire, the leading local autism charity in Hampshire, previously received a grant of £245,801 which helped people to recover from the pandemic as well as expand the number of groups from just seven in 2022.
There are now 16 groups running across Hampshire and online as well as skills based groups for art, drama, life skills and walking.