Deadline: 26-Jul-24
The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has announced the launch of the Community Safety Fund (CSF) funding call 2024.
Objective
- The Community Safety Fund (CSF) supports the work of the Community Safety Partnerships and other policy initiatives of the Department of Justice in the areas of Community Safety and Youth Justice. The initial outlay of the fund was €2 million in 2022, was €3 million in 2023 and will be €3.75 million in 2024.
The Community Safety Fund:
- Allows proceeds of crime to be directed into community projects to support community safety
- Ensures that the most appropriate proposals to improve community safety receive the funding they require
- Encourages the development of proposals to improve community safety from those people who best understand local community safety needs
- Allows best practice on community safety and youth justice to be shared with other partnerships and communities nationally as new proposals are developed
- Reflects and highlights the success of An Garda Síochána and the Criminal Assets Bureau in seizing the proceeds from criminal activity
Funding Information
- Grants will be in the range of €20,000 – €150,000. Smaller or larger grants may be considered on merit on an exceptional basis.
Activities
- Proposals could include activities intended to:
- tackle crime or reduce the fear of crime; improve community safety and feelings of safety
- support the creation of safe and resilient communities
- reduce re-offending
- divert vulnerable individuals away from engagement in criminal behaviour
Eligibility Criteria
- Applications will be invited from existing community safety initiatives as well as groups co funded with local authorities, NGOs and community organisations working on issues relevant to community safety and youth justice. Applications may be submitted by individual organisations, or by a consortium involving two or more organisations where the lead partner is a community organisation, not-for-profit, social enterprise or similar with a remit relevant to community safety and/or youth justice. Applications with innovative approaches will be afforded particular consideration.
- Applications may be for either once-off initiatives or short to medium term projects limited to two years. Project activities must be additional to the usual business of the applicant organisation and should complement but not replace mainstream structures or funding streams at local level.
- Allowable expenditure includes salaries as part of a wider proposal once costs are apportioned in relation to the overall proposal, would not duplicate existing roles and are for a defined and temporary duration. Applications will not be accepted for the creation or support of long-term positions. Duplication of funding is not permitted.
- Repeat funding of CSIF projects will be considered under this grant round only. However, to be eligible, projects will need to strongly demonstrate deliverables from the project to date and the application would also need to delineate how the organisation intends to development a pathway to sustainability, independent of the Fund as part of the application process.
- Applications for capital funding costs; e.g. high value items (vehicles, fixed assets) and infrastructure/building schemes will only be considered if they are integral to the proposal itself and appropriately apportioned; lower value items, for example equipment, will be considered on the same terms.
- In determining the overall allocation of grants, the Department may have regard to the need to achieve a balanced geographical spread of activities.
Ineligible
- Applications from the following are not eligible:
- Applications from individuals or private sector businesses
- Applications for repeat or regular events and existing activities
- Applications for activities which would usually be included in a Youth Diversion Project (YDP) Annual Plan, even if the application is by a different youth service to that already funded under the YDP programme
- Applications for statutory service delivery which should normally be undertaken within the remit of a statutory service delivery organisation
- Applications for schemes that are already funded or delivered through another Service Provider such as the following (this is not an exhaustive list):
- Department of Justice – Community Based CCTV Grant Aid Scheme Information and Documentation
- Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media – Sports Capital and Equipment Programme
- Department of Rural and Community Development – Community Centres Investment Fund
- Applications for detached youth workers in the absence of an innovative element.
- Applications for the creation or support of long-term paid positions
- Applications for capital costs for sporting/ community centre grounds improvement in the absence of an innovative element
- Applications for activities outside of Ireland or by organisations that are not based in, or do not have an existing presence in Ireland. Initiatives with a North-South cross-border component in Ireland may be considered based on merit, when the primary applicant organisation is based in Ireland.
For more information, visit Department of Justice.