A total of £44,000 is available, with individual groups able to apply for between £5,000 and £20,000. With just a fortnight until the application deadline on Friday 19 June, councillors are encouraging groups to apply as soon as possible for funding to help children and young people across Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire.
Eligible projects could focus on helping to keep children and young people safe in their communities, to access education, or to develop emotional health and wellbeing. Applicants will need to show how their projects would work towards achieving the following outcomes:
- Helping young people and their communities to develop their own initiatives and, by doing so, contribute to their own resilience and wellbeing and that of their community
- Being inclusive and offering a shared benefit to their communities
- Motivating and empowering other young people to take part and, by doing so, develop social cohesion
- Developing opportunities for children, young people and their families to engage in positive activity which is beneficial to their health and wellbeing.
Cllr John Williams, Lead Cabinet Member for Finance at South Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “We know that there is such an incredible amount of work being done across the community to support each other – in normal times as well as during crisis. This one-off grant offers a really valuable opportunity for existing groups to be able to plan ahead to continue some of the work already being done, or for new projects to meet needs that may have come to the fore in recent weeks.”
Cllr Anna Smith, Executive Councillor for Communities at Cambridge City Council, said: “With so many great projects out there that would benefit from this money, we want to see as many groups as possible applying for this grant. Council staff are always ready to chat to anyone who is thinking of applying about whether your current project or idea would be eligible, so please make sure you get in touch as soon as possible. We want to make sure funding can get to where it’s needed, to change the lives of children and young people.”
Adrian Chapman, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Service Director: Community & Safety, said: “I’m so pleased that, as a group of partners, we’ve been able to create this opportunity to fund projects that benefit children and young people. There’s probably never been a more important time than now to support young people to build their confidence and resilience, and to create opportunities for them to connect with their communities, and I am sure the projects this fund will support will make a huge and lasting difference.”
This is a one-off grant to utilise funds that were not allocated under the former Area Partnership – a partnership between a number of local organisations, including Cambridgeshire County Council, Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, to fund similar projects to support children and young people.
South Cambridgeshire District Council is acting as administrator for the fund. More information about how to apply can be found online at www.scambs.gov.uk/grants-children-young-people, including details of who to speak to before applying.