Friday, July 8, 2011
Beverly Davies from Essex County Council gave a presentation to nearly 40 representatives from last week’s meeting of the Tendring Voluntary Sector Partnership about the Essex Big Society Fund.
The criteria and guidelines were described and the total funds available were £1.4 million across Essex. Expressions of interest can be submitted to www.essex.gov.uk/bigsocietyfund
Beverly reported that Tendring had submitted the most applications in Essex. In total, 22 expressions of interest had been submitted so far and 11 had been rejected. Salary costs were not eligible as applications have to demonstrate sustainability beyond the life of the grant.
One award of £2,500 had already been presented to the Bradfield Post Office as this was an essential community facility for the village. Urgent applications can be assessed quickly but need to state the reasons why. The Fund is open to community groups, parish and town councils, schools and colleges, hospitals, the military and social enterprises.
Beverly was thanked for an interesting presentation. Attendees were particularly interested in hearing which projects had been successful for the Tendring Big Society Fund.
There were six presentations from community groups attending including: Extra Support for Families, TENPAG, Family Support,Tendring Mental Health Support, Manningtree Youth Drop-In and Opportunities through Technology.
The next VSP meeting is Friday 14th October 2011. Please contact us for more details or to book your place.