Just Grace is a non-for-profit company with the overarching objective of poverty alleviation in the community of Langa, Cape Town. We aim to engage in people-centred community empowerment initiatives that contribute to sustainable and meaningful change in Langa, one of the oldest townships in the country. The Langa community is plagued by the effects of Apartheid such as poverty, gangs and violent crimes, and high levels of unemployment.

With a vision to make the Langa community a place where residents feel safe and have access to quality education and meaningful employment, we offer the community multi-faceted programmes, initiatives and forums. Our  programmes are connected and intertwined, with the goal of empowering the community. These are:

• QHUBEKA!

Our Youth Development Programme, Qhubeka!, holistically supports learners throughout high school and into further education, training or employment. The programme incorporates academic support, mentoring, computer training, literacy, career guidance, life skills, leadership, coding, entrepreneurship, post-school preparation, arts and culture and fun.The learners have access to excellent psychosocial support and gain valuable soft skills along the way. Each year the learners achieve results that far exceed the local, provincial and national averages.

Click here to find out what a journey of holistic support looks like.

• PHAKAMA!

Our Community Development and Family Strengthening Programme, Phakama!, is open to anyone who works or lives in Langa. The programme provides individual care and practical support to community members to become empowered and active. This gives them the tools they require in order to become empowered and active citizens who contribute towards the social well-being of South Africa.

As part of the programme, we run two skills training courses: a sewing course and an accounting course, both aimed at empowering Langa community members to obtain meaningful employment or to start their own businesses. We work closely with Norton Rose Fulbright and Probono.org to provide access to quality legal and social services.

• PHUHLISA!

Our School Strengthening Programme, Phuhlisa! supports learner retention and educational attainment at five Langa high schools. Learner engagement forms a key part of our offering and is aimed at supporting at-risk learners. The programme does this through a multidisciplinary approach intervention including home visits, counselling, career guidance and life skills.

As part of Phuhlisa!, Just Grace implements the Year Beyond Programme in 3 primary schools in Langa. This programme is implemented together with the Western Cape Government and works with volunteers who provide English literacy and numeracy support to primary school learners.

• COLLABORATION

We love collaboration! Just Grace runs a proactive collaboration forum in Langa with the goal of bringing together all stakeholders in order to pool our efforts for the collective good of the community.

• KHULA!

The Khula! programme offers free advice, support and training to existing or prospective business owners and entrepreneurs in Langa. Many of the participants are individuals who have completed the sewing or accounting training course provided under the Phakama! programme. In addition, Just Grace runs an entrepreneurship course open to all Grade 11 learners to foster a sense of entrepreneurship in the youth.

• ADVOCACY

Just Grace advocates for social justice in all of our programmes. To this end, each programme includes an advocacy element that aims to inform and equip the relevant stakeholders around pertinent human rights issues.

We also run a separate advocacy initiative for general workers. This initiative seeks to uplift individuals employed as gardeners or domestic workers by finding them employment that is dignified and constitutes a living wage.

Click here to find out more regarding our General Worker Upliftment Initiative.

• MERCY FUND

Everyone needs compassion. Although we are overwhelmed with the multitudes of deserving needs in the community, we make a special effort to fundraise towards those that are urgent and require immediate relief. To this end, we raise money for our mercy fund which provides relief to individuals on our programmes.

Click here to view our donate page where you can purchase mercy fund items immediately.