About us
Welcome to Octavia Foundation, registered charity no (1065817). We connect people affected by unemployment, ill health, social isolation or low incomes in central and west London with opportunities for positive personal change. Our mission is tackling inequality by empowering people to live well and connect.
You can find out more about two of our projects by watching this short film.
Our unique activities are built around the diverse and changing needs of individuals with much of our work taking place in Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. We work with people who are living in some of the most affluent boroughs in the country, yet are affected by unemployment, ill health, social isolation or low incomes.
We welcome people of all ages to benefit from and be inspired by our jobs, training and volunteering opportunities, our regular groups and activities or our innovative one-off projects. We deliver services in five key areas:
- care and support for older and vulnerable people
- work with young people
- help with training and employment
- help with money and debt
- involving the community
Raising vital funds for our activities, our charity shops are based in some of the best shopping streets in London and sell high quality donated clothes. They provide a local presence in the community, giving people a chance to do their bit for where they live - whether through volunteering, donating or picking up a bargain.
Inspired by the work of our name sake Victorian Philanthropist Octavia Hill, we started with just one staff member in 2006. We have grown with time as we have built trusted partnerships with local companies and individuals, but we have stayed as warm and friendly as we always were.
We know that working together with others really can transform lives. How can you make your local London community stronger? It starts with you and us - it’s a community thing.
Octavia Hill
We were established by Octavia, a housing association with an excellent reputation for high quality, affordable homes in central and West London, to continue and develop the legacy of our namesake, Octavia Hill.
Octavia was founded by Octavia Hill, the Victorian philanthropist and social reformer, whose ideas formed the basis of the profession of housing management. Octavia began her work with the poor of London in the 1860s; she was a pioneer of social housing, a founder of the National Trust and the first clean air campaigner for London.
Octavia’s philosophy was ‘to make homes happy, lives noble and family life good’. She believed that communities were about the people living in them and not just the buildings they lived in. Her principles, which continue to resonate, included a commitment not just to good housing but to a wider sense of responsibility to ‘her people’ - those that were housed.