Posted on: Friday 18 August 2023
A new fund has been launched by Torfaen Council to help groups and organisations that support communities to be more self-sufficient.
The Community Resilience Grants scheme is offering grants of between £500 and £15,000 for new or existing projects.
These can include initiatives that help communities with the cost of living, such as warm hubs and food banks, projects that aim to improve wellbeing and those that enable communities to find their own solutions.
Councillor Fiona Cross, Executive Member for Communities, said: "The aim of this fund is to support third sector and community partners who are best placed to understand the challenges individual communities face.
"We saw this approach work well last winter when we offered financial support to groups running warm hubs for local residents struggling with high energy bills. Many of these hubs offered much needed community support, including food bank vouchers and financial and wellbeing advice, which can also help people long term.
"It's a model we are looking to develop as part of a new communities strategy, which will help meet the targets set out in the third wellbeing objective in the council's County Plan."
The Community Resilience Fund has received £260,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Organisations can apply for capital grants of up to £10,000 to improve buildings or buy equipment, and revenue grants of up to £5,000 to deliver activities.
The deadline for applications is Wednesday 20 September. For more information or to request an application form, please email communityresiliencegrants@torfaen.gov.uk.
You can read more about the County Plan's nine wellbeing objectives on our website. You can also find out how they will be achieved in the County Plan annual delivery programmes.
A separate fund offering Community Cohesion Grants of up to £2,000 to community groups or third sector organisations is also open for applications.
Notes to Editor:
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. More information about the Shared Prosperity Fund .