Community Assets programme announces first grant award

This week the Community Assets programme announced its first grant – £337,000 for the Pelton Fell Community Resource Centre in Chester-le-Street. 

 

The scheme, funded by the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) and administered by the Big Lottery Fund (BLF), is intended to encourage the transfer of communal assets into the hands of the local communities who use them most.

 

Currently, 38 community projects have been short-listed to receive grants after submitting detailed plans to the BLF.

 

The grant to the Pelton Fell Community Resource Centre forms part of a £937,000 partnership between Chester-le-Street District Council and the Pelton Fell Community Resource group and will fund refurbishment and extension work on the resource centre between autumn 2008 and summer 2009. It is estimated that over 3000 people and 30 community groups will benefit from this initiative, which will cultivate community participation and social enterprise through a new café sports bar and games area.

 

Source: Office of the Third Sector

Empowerment Fund launch leaves some from sector unhappy

Last week’s launch of the government’s £7.5 million Empowerment Fund has caused a stir amongst some third sector organisations.

 

The Fund, which will run from 2009 – 2012 and will support approximately 25 – 30 organisations with grants of between £250,000 – £500,000, has outraged smaller voluntary and community organisations because of its financial thresholds.

 

According to the Fund’s criteria, only charities with an annual income of at least £400,000 are eligible to apply.  These measures mean a whole host of valuable and entirely competent voluntary sector groups will miss out on a chance of funding and the opportunity to work towards community empowerment- simply because of their income size.

 

Charities and voluntary groups had warned the Communities and Local Government department during a consultation back in September that implementing the thresholds would disappoint the sector and claimed that the steps could “increase disparity” and “limit innovation and new approaches”.  The government, however, insists that limiting the number of eligible applicants will ensure the Fund makes a more “meaningful impact”.

 

For further information visit:

 

J4bCommunity:  http://www.j4bcommunity.co.uk/default.aspx

 

Communities and Local Government: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1005709

 

Source: Third Sector

Funding Deadline Round Up!

October has flown by and November is nearly upon us!  If you are thinking of applying for any of these programmes, you might want to get your skates on – they all have upcoming November deadlines!

 

BBC Children in Need Grants – BBC Children in Need – 30/11/08

 

Calor Village of the Year Awards, England – Calor Gas Ltd. – 30/11/08

 

Road Safety Partnership Grant Scheme – Department for Transport – 30/11/08

 

Digital Mentors Pilot Funding – Department for Communities and Local Government – 24/11/08

 

Wales: Millennium Volunteers – Wales Council for Voluntary Action – 5/11/08

 

Scotland: INCREASE III Enterprise, Prevention and Small Grants – Community Recycling Network for Scotland – 3/11/08

 

Northern Ireland: Core Funding Grant Scheme – Community Relations Council – 28/11/2008

 

Source: j4bCommunity

 

For more detailed information, consult the j4bCommunity website:

 

http://www.j4bcommunity.co.uk/default.aspx

 

 

20.10.08 (1)

Blears announces ‘One-Stop Shop on Cohesion’ site

 

This week will see the launch of phase one of a new interactive, searchable internet site intended to provide expert advice and useful resources for those involved in establishing more resilient and cohesive communities.

 

The website, developed by the Institute of Community Cohesion (ICoCo) and supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government, is aimed at policy-makers, practitioners and organisations that work closely with communities throughout the country.

 

The portal will be continually updated and will include good practice information, case studies, guidance notes, toolkits and policy documents.  The site is also intended to be a forum for discussion and is keen to provide opportunities for useful information exchange and problem solving on topics such as managing migration and overcoming community tensions.

 

The portal was created in response to the Commission on Integration and Cohesion report, Our Shared Future, which sets out to advise the government, local authorities and the public, private and voluntary sectors, on how best to build united, healthy communities. 

 

For further information visit:

 

http://www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk

 

Source: Department for Communities and Local Government

 

10.10.08 (1)

Big funds for council buildings to become community buildings…

 

Good news this week for thirty-eight voluntary sector organisations – as they look set to receive a share of £30 million from a Big Lottery Fund (BLF) programme.

 

The programme, administered by the BLF on behalf of the Office for the Third Sector, is intended to distribute money from the Community Assets Fund in order to allow voluntary and community groups to take over disused local authority buildings.  Grants of between £150,000 and £1 million will eventually be awarded to encourage the transfer of council-owned properties such as community centres to the hands of third sector organisations.

 

Short-listed organisations will now be asked to submit further details in support of their application.

 

Source: Big Lottery Fund

02.10.08 (1)

More affordable homes for communities

 

A new £2 million fund unveiled this week should guarantee a brighter future for Community Land Trusts (CLTs) across the country.

 

The fund, financed by a number of social investment organisations including the Tudor Trust and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, will see CLTs pocket cash in order to buy available land.  This land will be owned by the local community and will be used to provide affordable homes in order to ensure local families are not priced out of living in their local area.

 

Managed by Venturesome, the social lending division of the high profile Charities Aid Foundation, it is hoped the fund will support the creation of up to 30 new CLTs over the next four years and promote new opportunities for financing rural housing.

 

Find out more about Venturesome at:

 

http://www.cafonline.org/default.aspx?Page=6903

 

Source: Venturesome

26.09.08 (3)

Time off for community volunteers!

 

An announcement this week from Communities Secretary Hazel Blears could see a big boost in volunteer numbers across the sector.

 

Plans to refresh the list of activities that entitle people to take time off work in order to offer their services as volunteers could see more and more people getting stuck in to community projects or charity work in their local area.

 

Currently only school governors, magistrates, members of health bodies and police authorities are entitled to time off to carry out volunteer duties.  The latest citizenship data, however, suggests the nearly three quarters of all UK adults participated in at least one day of volunteering in their community in 2007.

 

Blears’ plans follow the lead of a number of major companies such as HSBC and Unilever who already run active volunteering policies which encourage their employees to get involved, allowing them to not only give something back to their community but also to build and develop their own skills base.

 

These proposed changes can only be good news for voluntary and community groups, who often rely heavily on unpaid local support, as more and more volunteers are able to get their hands dirty…

 

Source: Department of Communities and Local Government

 

 

26.09.08 (2)

Co-Op calls for your co-operation…

 

This month the Co-Operative, one of the UK’s largest retailers, is set to ask you what you think about how it should distribute its profits.

 

In a bid to focus its grant-making and prioritise the causes and campaigns it sponsors, a questionnaire will be sent out to more than three million people, including around 85,000 Co-Op employees.

 

The poll, set to be published in the New Year and guaranteed to have a direct effect on Co-Op activities, will ask you which social issues should be supported and which local community projects are most in need of funding. 

 

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to have your say!

 

Visit the Co-Op website for more information:

 

 http://www.co-operative.coop/

 

 

Source: Co-Operative

23.09.08 (1)

Call for local authorities to co-operate with communities

 

The success of the government’s new asset transfer unit, in place to encourage the handing over of disused public buildings to communities and community groups, currently hangs in the balance.

 

Led by the Development Trusts Association (DTA), with support from the Local Government Association and Community Matters, the programme is set to launch in January across 60 local authorities in England.

 

According to Hazel Blears, Communities Secretary, speaking this week at the DTA’s annual conference in Leeds, the unit should be set to accelerate asset transfer following its introduction but local authorities and community organisations must work together in order for it to be a success.  She spoke of the establishment of a “long-term relationship” between the two, in order to forge a “hard-headed business model that works”, if the programme is going to be effective.

 

Despite these concerns, many local council workers and members of local voluntary groups are hoping this programme will see communities benefit from the credit crunch – by allowing them to acquire valuable and sustainable communal assets.  And with an ongoing trend of less private sector interest in public property, the voluntary sector could be set to take even more control of local services and facilities…

 

Source: New Start