Grassroots Groups Invited to Bid to Deliver Community Activities

GRASSROOTS and community groups across Reading are once more being invited to bid for pots of Council funding to deliver local activities which support and create new opportunities for residents – particularly in areas of town where need is greatest.

Reading remains a town of contrasts. It boasts a powerful local economy, but more affluent areas sit alongside deprived communities where residents do not have the same life chances as their neighbours. As part of its ongoing drive to tackle social inequality in the town, Reading Borough Council has again ringfenced £200,000 in its budget this year to deliver its popular Small Grants Fund initiative.

The bidding window opened yesterday (June 12), and community groups can bid for funding pots of £5,000, or £10,000 for partnership bids, sharing a total of £100,000 worth of grants for this first phase. More information, including on how to bid, can be found at www.reading.gov.uk/SmallGrantsFund

While the bidding criteria is deliberately non-prescriptive to enable as wide a variety of community activities as possible, groups are being asked to demonstrate key elements of the Council’s Tackling Inequality Strategy in their bids. These include: enabling everyone in Reading to share in the town’s success; driving attainment in skill, education, training and access to employment; and supporting people in areas of the town where need is greatest.

The deadline for applications is 23 July 2023 and all applicants will be notified of the results by the beginning of September.

Councillor Jason Brock, Reading Council Leader, said:

“Reading is known for the huge variety and depth of grassroots and voluntary sector groups in the town, and the Council has once again set aside funding this year to ensure they are able to deliver a range of activities which make a real difference on the ground, particularly in communities where people may not always have the same life chances as others.

“It is difficult to put a price on the incredible array of activities which were delivered as part of last year’s Small Grants Fund and the difference they have made in local communities and to people’s lives.   

“The bidding window is now open to groups across the town, whether they have previously been awarded funding or not. I’m certain our amazing voluntary sector will come to the fore once again.”

The Council’s Small Grants Fund has proved popular with local voluntary and community groups since it was first introduced in 2020.  Last year’s pot of funding saw a large number of community activities funded though the initiative under the theme of inclusion and connectivity for the town's most marginalised residents.

Activities coordinated by community groups which were funded by the Council’s Small Grants Fund included:

• Organising events like Reading Mela to support greater connectivity in communities
• Developing an SEN sensory outdoor play area in a school for high SEN children with significant learning difficulties
• Running a social club group for less confident and isolated residents to build a bridge into socialising with others and learning and developing new skills to help them thrive 
• Developing a theatre performance through a participant-led programme of acting, playwriting, poetry, films and podcasts, involving participants who are refugees or sexual/domestic violence survivors
• Running a new service for LGBTQIA+ people to engage in creative, arts-based activity sessions
• Organising sport and mental health workshops to young people
• Providing education for children with autism, sensory processing issues and children with high anxiety
• Providing learning resources for volunteer-led English courses, providing a better understanding of English language for a group of vulnerable ex British Gurkha veterans and older Nepalese community members