ORGANISATIONS working to address poverty in Leicester – such as schools, charities, community groups and businesses – can now apply to the city council for a grant of up to £10,000 to support their work.
Applications for Leicester’s Anti-Poverty Community Grants open today (Tuesday), with the council keen to hear from groups with new ideas that will help people through the cost of living crisis, as well as from those wanting to expand an existing project.
The council is particularly encouraging applications from anti-poverty projects that will benefit families and children, support mental health and target debt, help those who are digitally excluded, address the poverty experienced by those in work, and that have a sustainable theme.
Ideas could include a re-use project that collects, cleans and repairs outgrown school uniforms, before passing them on to families who need them, a scheme to recycle white goods and make them available to those who would struggle to buy them, or a service that helps vulnerable people complete grant application forms.
Deputy city mayor Cllr Sarah Russell, who leads on the city council’s anti-poverty programme, said: “Leicester is fortunate to have a very active community and voluntary sector that does incredible work to support people.
“By providing these grants, we will help an even wider network of organisations to provide support to even more individuals and families, as they struggle with rising food and fuel bills.
“We welcome bids of all sizes, whether it’s a community group seeking £2,000 to improve its food preparation and storage areas, or a scheme led by a charity and supported by a local business that needs £10,000 to trial a new small-scale project.
“This programme shows our determination to support local people through the cost of living and energy crisis. Working with our partners, we will do all that we can to tackle poverty and mitigate its impact on Leicester.”
Full details about the scheme, eligibility criteria and the application form are available at leicester.gov.uk/anti-povertygrants
The deadline for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 7 December.
Only one grant will be awarded per organisation per round, so larger organisations wishing to support more than one strand of work are advised to team up with smaller community-led organisations to make multiple applications.
Round two of the programme will be launched next year, when grants of more than £10,000 will be available for large-scale or more transformative projects. A final round – round three – will be open for applications towards the end of 2023.
In total, the city council’s anti-poverty scheme will make £250,000 available for community grants each year for the next three years (2022-25).
The city council’s anti-poverty community grants scheme is part of a range of measures the council is taking to help people through the cost of living crisis. These include the provision of ‘warm spaces’ at all 16 city libraries, where people can keep warm and enjoy a hot drink, without having to put their heating on at home, and administering the Government’s £3.4million household support fund to ensure help is given to the city’s most vulnerable households.
Anyone who is facing crisis because of rising fuel and living costs can email the council at c19support@leicester.gov.uk, setting out their needs and contact details.
Help and advice on the cost of living is available at leicester.gov.uk/costofliving
More information about the city council’s anti-poverty strategy is available at leicester.gov.uk/anti-poverty