Bottoms Up! Raise a Glass to the Government’s Latest Community Fund

A new initiative has been launched by the Plunkett Foundation and the Office of the Third Sector to help communities establish and run community pubs.

The Community-Owned Pubs Support Programme will help up to 50 communities to set up and run community pubs over the next three years. The programme will be supported by a number of experienced organisations including Pub is the Hub, Co-operative and Community Finance, Co-operativesUK, CAMRA and the Co-Operative Development Network.

The scheme will support community-ownership through a mixture of funding, advice and support. Grants will be matched with loans from Co-operative and Community Finance and information will be provided on how to open and run a community pub.

Chief executive of the Plunkett Foundation, Peter Couchman, said:

“Pubs are vitally important to communities. They provide places where people can come together to socialise and join in a number of community activities.

“Community ownership can secure the future of pubs, just as it is doing for village shops, through harnessing the creativity and energy of a whole community.”

A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said:

“This is an exciting way of enabling 50 communities to come together to buy and own their own pub. Communities will be able to use the building to offer other services they want and need, which will improve community cohesion and also provide opportunities for members to gain new skills.

“It will also create a network of community hubs across England which will act as inspiration to a range of communities, and increase awareness of social enterprise, and mutual approaches to self help within communities.”

Source: The Plunkett Foundation, 22/03/2010

Grassroots programme awards 5000 grants in first six months

The government’s three year £130 million Grassroots programme has awarded 5000 grants during its first six months of operation.

 

The programme, managed by the Community Development Foundation (CDF), has served to strengthen communities throughout England by awarding cash sums of between £250 and £5,000 to voluntary and community groups and has worked to target organisations that have never before received grant aid.

 

In addition, the scheme is determined to adapt to new economic challenges and has been recently adjusted on two levels – raising the maximum annual income of applicants to £30,000 in order to reach a larger number of organisations and ensuring a pound for pound match (rather than the previous 50p for every pound) from the Government for the Endowment Match Fund.

 

The 5000^th grant was awarded to a toddler group, Barnys Babs, in Solihull to pay for running costs and volunteer training.

 

For further information visit:

 

http://www.cdf.org.uk/bfora/systems/xmlviewer/default.asp?arg=DS_CDF_TECHART_23/_page.xsl/27&xsl_argx=3

Regional networks safe for another two years

Good news this week for the nine black and minority ethnic (BME) regional networks across England.  Government plans to pull the plug on vital network funding as early as March 2009 have been dashed and a £1.5 million reprieve is in the pipeline.

 

The proposed funding, provided by the government and third sector support agency Capacitybuilders, will secure the future of BME and more generalist regional networks for another two years and will ensure they can continue to deliver and influence government policy effectively. 

 

Third Sector bodies have spoken out in unison about this proposed reprieve.  Many have claimed the funding is “vital” if the voluntary sector is to continue to be the voice of England’s regions and have also suggested that, given the current economic climate, regional plans on how to tackle the looming recession are a must.

 

Source: Third Sector

Government set to pull the plug on funding for BME regional networks…

Black and minority ethnic (BME) representative body Voice4Change has this week spoken out against government plans to pull the plug on funding for regional BME support networks in March 2009.

 

According to Voice4Change, government plans to withdraw funding worth £540,000 from BME networks in nine English regions could spell disaster for BME voluntary and community groups and the BME third sector as a whole.  Without BME regional networks, the government is likely to lose touch with up to 15,000 BME voluntary organisations.  Without network support, these already under-resourced organisations are unlikely to be unable to manage themselves at a strategic level or speak on matters such as policy and public opinion.  They are also unlikely to be able to access the best and most useful funding streams. 

 

Undoubtedly, this fatal blow to regional BME networks could kick-start a downward spiral: BME voluntary and community organisations will no longer be able to provide services to, or act as the voice of, BME communities throughout England and, if that is the case, the government, out of touch with this portion of the third sector, will be unable to develop coherent inclusion and equality policies.

 

Source: Third Sector

Change 4Life Programme gets underway

This week Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced the nine English towns that will each receive a share of £30 million of government funding as part of the Change4Life programme.

 

The scheme, backed by government and implemented by local community groups, charities and even food retailers, is intended to promote healthier lifestyles amongst residents of Manchester, Dudley, Halifax, Sheffield, Tower Hamlets, Middlesbrough, Tewkesbury, Thetford and Portsmouth.  It is hoped the programme will encourage activities such as healthy food promotions in supermarkets, walking campaigns, cycling groups and free swimming classes.

 

Plans are already being put in place in each of the nine participating towns and include a Points4Life loyalty scheme in Manchester that will offer points that can be converted into healthy food or free sports activities to those taking part in exercise, a Cycle Recycle project in Thetford, junior health trainer programmes in Middlesbrough and a new ‘urban garden’ with new green spaces in Tewkesbury.

 

For more information on the Change4Life scheme visit:

 

http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/default.aspx

 

 

Source: Department for Health