In response to the new £30 million scheme from the Big Lottery, Community Action Suffolk is hosting a workshop to look at the possibilities for Suffolk.
The Help Through Crisis fund aims to improve the futures of people currently living in, or at risk of crisis as a result of hardship, focused on supporting people to overcome barriers to access the services they need.
Grants of between £300,000 and £500,000 over five years will be available, to provide immediate support such as food parcels or a bed for the night. Projects will then work to address the underlying causes through advocacy and advice on issues such as family breakdown, health problems, homelessness or debt.
Projects must be partnership based, rooted in the community and focused on supporting people who find it difficult to access mainstream support, perhaps because they are disabled, have a mental health or learning disability issue or live in an isolated rural community. The main focus of the projects will be on addressing hardship crisis through advocacy support and advice, but projects may also provide other activities that help to support immediate need for example; hot meals, food parcels, emergency furniture, clothing and shelter. Projects will need to have experience in providing hardship services and will need to show they are fully engaged with the people they are supporting and local partner organisations. Deadline: Stage 1 – 26 August 2015.
If your organisation is currently running or has run (within the past year) a successful project supporting people who have experienced hardship, or you have experience of engaging with people who experience barriers to accessing the support they need – this fund could be a good fit for your organisation.
To find out more and to explore lead and partnership opportunities, then attend the free CAS event:
Wednesday 29 July 2015
9:30am to 12:30pm
Castle Hill Community Centre, Highfield Road, Ipswich, IP1 6DG (Google map)
Please contact [email protected] with any enquiries.
Booking is required, free places can be reserved below:
Press release from The Big Lottery Fund:
The Big Lottery Fund has launched a new £30 million scheme to support voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to improve the prospects of people currently living in crisis or at risk of crisis as a result of hardship.
Despite improvements to the UK economy, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that 13 million people across the UK continue to experience poverty. Findings also show that there has been a rise in the number of people that have reached an emergency in relation to a lack of basic needs such as food, shelter, fuel and basic health and/or social care.
The Big Lottery Fund, in collaboration with a wide range of organisations, has established the new £30 million Help Through Crisis programme to fund projects that draw on the strengths and personal experience of people facing hardship crisis so that they can overcome immediate difficulties and be ready for opportunities and challenges ahead.
Voluntary and community unincorporated charitable associations, registered charities, community benefit societies registered as industrial and provident societies, community interest companies, and social enterprises in England are invited to apply for grants of between £300,000 and £500,000 for projects that will last five years. As the Big Lottery Fund wishes to support collaborative projects with a number of organisations involved, one organisation must apply as a lead applicant on behalf of all involved in the project.
To be eligible for funding, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:
- The organisation is currently running – or has run within the past year – a project that has been successful in supporting people who have experienced hardship crisis with a holistic, person-centred approach, including advocacy and advice, and this has informed the development of the proposed project.
- The organisation has experience of strong collaboration as either a lead or a delivery partner.
- The organisation must either be based in, or should be able to demonstrate links to, each community it intends to support.
- The organisation has experience of engaging with people who experience barriers to accessing the support they need, in order to influence the delivery of projects and policy.
All projects should be rooted in the community and focus on supporting individuals who have the most difficulty accessing mainstream services, for example disabled people, those with learning difficulties, people with mental health issues and those who live in rural locations.
Funding can be used to cover revenue costs and overheads. 5% of the project cost can also be allocated to funding emergency items (such as hot meals, food parcels, emergency furniture, clothing, travel costs and shelter) where they cannot be obtained through an alternative approach, and applicants are also encouraged to apply for up to £15,000 towards capacity building.
All proposals must demonstrate how they will achieve all four of the following objectives:
- People who have experienced hardship crisis are better able to improve their circumstances.
- People who are at high risk of experiencing hardship crisis are better able to plan for the future.
- Organisations are better able to support people to effectively tackle hardship through sharing learning and evidence.
- Those experiencing, or who are at high risk of experiencing, hardship crisis, have a stronger, more collective voice to better shape a response to their issues.
The deadline for Stage One applications is 26 August 2015 (midday).