# £2.5 million Communities Fund opens for applications

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/12/13/2-5m-communities-fund-opens-applications/
- Published: 2016-12-13T09:24:01+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The Department for Communities and Local Government has announced a £2.5m fund
to help small grassroots community groups.**

The Communities Fund is available to local authorities working with community groups
including neighbourhood organisations, parishes and local voluntary groups, and 
is intended to help alleviate communities’ specific local pressures. These could
include helping early intervention projects, providing support for disabled or disadvantaged
children’s services or providing employment support for the long-term unemployed.

The Department is looking for proposals from local collaborations between local 
authorities and neighbourhood or community organisations to bid by **16th January**.
Bids should be for new projects or to extend an existing project into another area
but not to prop up an existing approach.

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Grant recipients will receive funds of up to £70,000, as well as advice from the
local government sector, training, and advice on evaluating the success of their
services.

Communities Minister Andrew Percy said:

> “Local grassroots community groups are best placed to understand the challenges
> in their local neighbourhoods and reaching those who need their help. This new
> multi-million pound fund will go direct to those groups of people who are struggling
> to manage, including those facing domestic abuse or long-term unemployment.”

The fund will be delivered through £2 million funding in 2016 to 2017 with the additional
£500,000 in 2017 to 2018. Applications close on 16^(th) January 2017. Details on
criteria for application and how to apply are available on the [.gov.uk site](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/communities-fund-prospectus-and-bidding-form).

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