Boost Fund Stories: Baraka Community and Family Connection Hub
Baraka Community and Family Connection Hub
The Boost Fund is delivered by Corra Foundation and is a partnership between STV Children’s Appeal, Comic Relief, and Corra Foundation, and is supported by players of Postcode Lottery. Boost is currently open to applications and provides small grants for community-led organisations across Scotland supporting local people affected by poverty or disadvantage.
The Baraka Family Connection Hub was established in April 2025, with support from Corra’s Boost Fund. It runs as a monthly community gathering, bringing together children, teenagers and adults in a warm, inclusive space where people can meet, share and feel less alone. Each session includes structured activities led by facilitators, arts and games for children and refreshments. It’s the kind of open, welcoming atmosphere where conversations happen naturally and people look out for each other.
Over the course of the year, we delivered 12 monthly sessions attended by 158 unique individuals, with a combined 79 volunteer hours generously given by people from within the community itself. We also provided transport support to families who could not otherwise attend, making sure that those facing the greatest barriers were not left out.
Our small but committed team coordinates the hub, supported by volunteers who are often participants themselves, which speaks to the ownership the community has taken of this space. The Family Hub has become a consistent, trusted point of connection for families across Glasgow.
“It’s a pleasure to be here as we are bonding and meeting new people in the community, getting to know each other and embrace the spirit of sharing.”
We had a clear vision for the Family Connection Hub but no dedicated budget to make it happen consistently. The Boost Fund made that possible, contributing to facilitator fees, venue hire, refreshments, arts and games materials and transport support.
We applied to Boost because it offered something different for a small charity like ours: a straightforward, accessible route to funding that trusted us to know what our community needed. The application process was clear, proportionate, and designed in a way that felt respectful of the time and capacity that small charities like ours actually have. We did not feel we needed to be a large or well-resourced organisation to put a strong application together, the process trusted us to speak plainly about our community and our plans. This was one of our first successful funding applications since we set up our charity.
“Very nice for me and my children… everything amazing.”
The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive, with virtually every participant saying they would attend again. One participant told us the sessions helped women ‘gather and share their feelings’, something that sounds simple but is profound for people navigating isolation in a new country or a difficult season of life.
One of our proudest highlights was seeing participants become advocates. Families who first arrived nervously started bringing neighbours, friends, and relatives. Word spread entirely through trust, because people genuinely wanted to share something good.
Looking ahead, we are committed to continuing the Family Connection Hub and are actively seeking funding to sustain and grow it. We have recently moved into a new base in Clydebank, which will allow us to expand our reach and offer more for the families we serve, including the ESOL language classes, IT courses and skills sessions, which our participants have consistently asked for in their feedback.
“The event is very helpful, bringing people together, helping and sharing information. Looking forward to more of such activities in the future.”
Overall, Boost felt like a funder that genuinely wanted to support grassroots community work, and that came through clearly from the application stage through to the end of the grant. We would not hesitate to recommend it to other small organisations.
Many thanks to Baraka Community and Family Connection Hub for writing this piece for us. You can find out more and follow them here.
Find out more and apply to The Boost Fund here.
