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08 Essex Community Foundation Annual Review 2024The highest proportion of our grants paid this year was to a wide range of charities and voluntary groups whose primary work is providing advice, advocacy and mentoring to people in need. These grants totalled nearly %u00a3727,000 and include projects that offer informal, peer and professional support to individuals facing a wide range of issues.Organisations tell us that they are seeing not only an increase in numbers of people wanting to access their services, but also from individuals who have more complex needs and may have multiple issues. FACTS%u2022 Basildon, Tendring and Colchester have the highest volumes of children in Care.%u2022 In Essex, it is estimated that there are approximately 3,000 homeless people.%u2022 Over a quarter of a million people in Essex have some degree of hearing loss.%u2022 Essex has around 55,000 vision impaired people, the third highest of two-tier local authorities in England and this number is forecast to rise by 20% in the next ten years.CHESS Homeless helps to relieve homelessness and related hardship amongst single homeless adults in Chelmsford and across Essex, by providing a range of support services and temporary accommodation. As well as practical support, they offer training and work opportunities which help to develop positive paths to independent living. Advice, advocacy and mentoringCommunity spotlight