Wild About Community

Aim: We want to roll out the project across 3 housing estates across different London boroughs following a very successful pilot in 2025

Who are we, and what is our project about?

We are Think & Do for Environmental & Social Action and we implement projects co-designed and for residents in areas of social and environmental injustice and deprivation within the London borough of Camden and neighbouring boroughs. 

Our project would like this additional funding to enable help us to take the successful pilot  we ran in Camden to other boroughs of London. 

Wild About Community is about addressing the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and the inequality of opportunity for young people in deprived parts of London. This project is also about long-term systemic change, for example through council relaxed mowing regimes, giving young people possible career opportunities in horticulture and greening up (or rewilding) and tidying up estates, so that they become better places to live for those that  live there, improving the mental wellbeing of those residents,

Why are we crowdfunding?

We aim to plant wildflower turf to create 'wildflower meadows' on 3 x housing estates as illustrated above (Constable House estate, Chalk Farm, Camden) to rewild the area addressing the biodiversity crisis and reversing the trend of catastrophic wildflower loss. Since the 1930’s 99% of all UK native wildflower meadows have disappeared. 

We will also provide metal herb boxes on those estates for free so that residents have the opportunity to grow their own herbs for personal use in their kitchens and grow, nurture and look after these plants.

Murals, rail painting and new 'garden furniture'. Additionally, we will improve the  estates by other interventions namely rail painting, by  using our network of corporate  volunteers. We will find a wall space to paint a mural (see example below) and we will   replace or provide new garden furniture through using platforms like Freecycle or upcycling materials from local sources.

We will train and pay young people as 'Foresters' who live on these estates to look after the meadow/s and herb boxes for 2 years after their installation. This will help get the young people get off their screens and  into the open doing activities which could inspire new passions for them, possibly opening new doors and at the same time maintaining and improving their local environment for all the residents to enjoy.

What then?

Once the project is complete we will work closely with the local councils' grounds maintenance to see how it can be replicated across the rest of the borough. We will also consult with them about employment opportunities within their department for the local young Foresters.

How we’ll spend the money raised

The £32.76k will be used on 3 housing estates in different boroughs across London (excl Camden where the pilot was)  and split as follows:

Over 3 estates at £10,920 per estate made up of:

• a 30 sq/m wildflower turf lawn and installation inc. labourers - £800 
• Communal Beeline Boxes (number tbc based on the number of estates we sign up)  - for  - £10k for 90 boxes  - 30 boxes per estate  (£111 per box) - £3330 
• Project Management - £2000
• Logistics- gardening equipment, transport & delivery - £850
• Community Engagement - £300
• 1 day labour - £200
• Railings painted - paint - £150 
• New mural painting - £40
• Community outreach print & design - £200
• New garden furniture (subject to if  required)
• Paying 2 x young foresters per estate over 26 wks to water and weed - £750 
• Forester Management - £400
• Compost - £450 
• Herbs - £1080

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Total: £10,920

x 3 Estates: £32,760

Note: We will also provide these gardeners with free herb pruning and maintenance training

How you can help

There are three simple ways to get involved and support our project:

1. Make a donation

Your pledge will be vital to help us get to our target of £32.7k which will mean reaching more estates across the capital.

2. Spread the word

Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed.

3. Volunteer with us 

If you’d like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch through the ‘Contact’ section using the subject "I want to volunteer my time or expertise" on our project page. We are always on the lookout for volunteers to help us lay the turf, paint the railings and mural, do an estate tidy up and help install the herb boxes

Funding method

All or nothing – this project will only receive pledges if it reaches its target of £30,960 by 17th July 2025 at 2:32pm