VCSE Grants: Supportive Communities & Better Health Staffordshire (UK)

Deadline: 31-May-2024

The Community Foundation for Staffordshire is offering grants to support the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in Staffordshire to assist with public health priorities to improve healthy lifestyles promote independence, self-care and reablement by providing a range of one-off grants.

Aims 

• The funding will help organisations to support the outcomes of Better Health Staffordshire, Supportive Communities and 5 Ways to Wellbeing to sustain existing activities and support organisations in responding to the challenges faced by local people by:
  • Preventing ill health and promoting self-care to enable individuals to be independent and live in their own homes for as long as possible
  • Reducing loneliness and social isolation
  • Supporting healthy aging
  • Increasing access to affordable healthy, nutritious food
  • Increasing access to opportunities for people to ‘move more’
  • Enabling mental wellbeing and promoting healthy lifestyles as the norm
• The grants scheme will be available to fund equipment and activities that will contribute to achieving the following aims:
  • Support, sustain and/or build on Supportive Communities outcomes (thematic)
  • Support, sustain and/or build on Better Health Staffordshire outcomes (thematic)
  • Initiatives which promote mental health and wellbeing through at least 2 of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing
  • Building skills, knowledge, and confidence around self-help or in finding help with mental and emotional wellbeing
  • To support costs that are associated with the above outcomes but not limited to: training, equipment, promotional activity, venue hire, staffing or volunteer expenses
• This programme aims to support over 18’s and families

Funding Information

• Grants of between £3000 and £25,000 are available.
• A total of £50,000 from this fund will be reserved to provide smaller grants of between £3000 and £8000.
• All grants will need to be fully spent by 31st March 2025.

Types of Projects they will Fund

• Examples of proposals that would be considered (but not limited to):
  • Supporting local Community Champions to promote community activities particularly using approaches blending both digital and non-digital
  • Assisting local people around form filling
  • Supporting local people with household tasks
  • Setting up/supporting existing local activities in communities to help reduce loneliness and social isolation
  • Support to make health and care information more easily understood
  • Support people in the community to understand how and where to get health and care help
  • Encourage communities to connect with each other to reduce loneliness and isolation
  • Setting up local activities to support people who are exiting structured lifestyle interventions/programmes, for example weight management programmes or exercise referral schemes within local leisure centres. The objectives of which are to help maintain the positive behaviour change around ‘moving more’ and/or healthy diets.
  • Equipment (e.g. raised beds, tools) to enhance an existing initiative that aims to grow healthy produce within limited green space.
  • Piloting a new community cooking class, linked to a community gardening group/community food initiative.
  • Co-producing healthy eating recipe cards to enhance a community garden project or community cooking class.
  • Harnessing existing community assets to support communities to ‘move more’
  • Encouraging healthy living to stay healthy and/or manage health conditions
  • Initiatives promoting use of the Arts as a way to maintain/improve mental wellbeing
  • New/existing groups using practical, hands-on activities in ways that help to encourage positive outcomes for mental health and emotional wellbeing
  • Aiding people in the community to have the confidence & knowledge necessary to maintain their own mental health and wellbeing, and that of those around them.

Geographical Reach

• Organisations should be based in or working in:
  • Staffordshire wide, including the borough and districts of:
    • Cannock Chase
    • East Staffordshire
    • Lichfield
    • Newcastle-under-Lyme
    • South Staffordshire
    • Stafford
    • Staffordshire Moorlands
    • Tamworth
  • As this fund is provided by Staffordshire County Council, projects being delivered in Stoke-on-Trent are not eligible to apply

Eligibility Criteria

• Constituted Voluntary groups
• Constituted Community groups
• Community Interest Companies
• Registered Charities
• Social Enterprises
• Parish Councils
• They are particularly keen to see applications from smaller, grassroots level groups.
• Organisations should have been operating for a minimum of 12 months

Ineligible

• Organisations they are unable to support
• Private businesses
• Companies limited by guarantee, (if they are not also a registered charity)

For more information, visit The Community Foundation for Staffordshire.