Liverpool City Council has today announced the 75 organisations that will receive grant funding to support young people and communities in the city.
Liverpool-based voluntary, charity and social enterprises that share a wide range of objectives with the council, such as health, education and skills, safety, financial wellbeing and access to justice in the city were invited to apply for Youth and Community Grants in June with 227 applying for funds.
The total grants available are worth just over £1.5m a year for five years and are unrestricted meaning that organisations have freedom to decide how they will spend their funds provided they support an organisation’s goals. Spending is monitored by the council.
The programme is funded through budgets that previously supported two separate grant schemes. The budget for one of the previous schemes, the Community Resources Grant, has this year been reduced by 20 per cent. However, this margin of reduction has not been passed on to the recipients of the communities element of the new combined programme. Although some organisations will receive less than previous years all will receive at least 92 per cent of previous funding.
Five previously unfunded organisations have also been awarded a grant which will support vulnerable and diverse communities.
Micro, small and medium-sized organisations have been awarded 64 per cent of the funding, compared to a national average of 17 per cent.
All applications are subject to a rigorous evaluation process with all councillors being given an opportunity to feedback. The final decisions are made by the corporate director for Neighbourhoods and Housing, in consultation with the cabinet members for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetscene; Finances, Resources and Transformation; and Children’s Social Services.
The Youth and Community Grant is one of several administered by the council, including the Our Liverpool grant programme, the Community Champions Grant and The Covenant Fund.
Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins Cabinet member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetscene, said: “Supporting the city’s young people and communities, particularly in more disadvantaged wards, is a priority for us. And as the recent scenes of violence have shown, strong, safe and resilient communities are more important now than ever.
“We are still in a challenging financial situation regarding funding received from central government so some organisations will be disappointed that they have not been successful – but we thank them for the support they provide to our city and for their applications.
“The variety of support that the successful organisations provide is really heartening and the fact that these grants are for five years will give providers a sense of stability, enabling them to develop their future plans.”
