A £4.5m fund for local social action has been launched by the Big Lottery Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The Place Based Social Action programme will “support established partnerships to put social action at the heart of plans to make a positive difference in their local areas".
The £4.5m of National Lottery and government funding aims to increase the capacity of communities, civil society organisations, public sector bodies and businesses to work together to address priorities which matter to people locally.
The fund is open to existing partnerships which can include charities and other representatives from VCSE organisations, local authority representatives, statutory and non-statutory bodies and Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Partnerships are eligible for a funding award of up to £240,000, and then a further funding award of up to £255,000. The three-phase programme, which will run until 2025, will be administered by the Big Lottery Fund, in partnership with DCMS.
Dawn Austwick, chief executive of the Big Lottery Fund, said: “Through this new programme, National Lottery funding will play a significant role in supporting people to create the change they want to see locally. We’ll be looking to fund strong partnerships that are embedded in their local community and share a vision for the future.”
Tracey Crouch, minister for sport and civil society, said: "People know what are the most important matters in their local area, and this joint funding will help communities come together and drive the change they want to see. I am looking forward to seeing the positive impact this investment will have."
During the first phase of the programme, successful partnerships will have one year to work with a support contractor to design their local action plan. In winter 2018, these partnerships will then be eligible for a funding award of up to £240,000 to put these plans into action. Partnerships that want to develop and expand their plan for a further three years will be eligible for a further funding award of up to £255,000 in early 2021.
The programme has been created to encourage new ways of working so communities can contribute meaningfully to the design and delivery of services.
The Place Based Social Action fund is made up of £2.5m of National Lottery funding from the Big Lottery Fund and £2 million from DCMS.
Phase one of the programme is open to expressions of interest until 28 November 2017. For more information and to apply click here.
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