Decision details

Award of grants under the Community Support Funding in consultation with the Chief Executives of the Combined Authority’s constituent councils.

To award round 1 grants under the Community Support Funding (CSF) programme to the following applicants:

Recommended for funding no clarifications:

•           Bath City Farm, working with various partners to tackle long-term unemployment in local areas of high deprivation through a green skills scheme. Offering therapeutic vocational training courses in horticulture, food growing, retail and catering. £49,953 requested.

•           Creativity Works, working with various partners to deliver a creative assets-based project offering a training programme around creative arts that builds confidence, wellbeing, inclusion and employability skills. Signposting and bridging education and volunteering opportunities with partnering organisations. £41,000 requested.

•           Developing Health and Independence, The Peer Academy is designed to enable socially excluded people to undertake accredited Peer training, and use lived experience to provide peer volunteering roles. The project is in collaboration with Julian House and Weston College, facilitating participation in digital skills, employability schemes and routes to employment. The project intends to produce a toolkit for community organisations to launch their own Peer Support Service. £80,163 requested.

•           Eastside Community Trust, working with various partners the project aims to develop pathways into playwork through developing a volunteering and training programme at Felix Adventure Playground. Equipping 19-25 year olds in the local area with training and progressing to facilitating paid placements in the sector. £49,887 requested.

•           Empire Fighting Chance, working with various partners the project aims to integrate non-contact boxing training with a range of careers activities to support 80 young people from Bristol’s deprived neighborhoods.  Providing careers support while participating in boxing sessions, including sports based qualifications, employability skills, 1-2-1 support with employment opportunities. £48,888 requested.

Recommended for funding – with clarifications

•           Ashley Community Housing, working with consortia partners Babbasa and wider partners to engage refugee and marginalised BAME groups (focus on young adults) in employment skills and training that strategically aligns with the employment demands of the region. £99,609 requested. Conditional approval on first submitting acceptable clarifications in various areas including; clear explanation of what is new/unique from existing funded elements of their work and additions to risk register to explain how they will work with partners to deliver outcomes provided in their application.

•           Clean Slate, A training programme tackling unemployment that builds financial resilience, providing education in income maximisation, on to work experience and readiness to work in the care sector, where there is a labour shortage. £99,609.33 requested. Conditional approval on first submitting satisfactory clarifications to add detail to risk register around mitigating risks to engage target audience and reach progression outcomes. Clear explanation of what aspects of delivery are new/unique and don’t duplicate existing funded delivery. 

•           Learning Partnership West, Learning Partnership West aims to support marginalised young people (16-18) who are Not in Education Training or Employment (NEET) and whose needs cannot be met by mainstream support services, in order to overcome barriers to accessing, engaging in and sustaining EET opportunities. Its key activities are: Engagement support, ‘Into EET’ Workshops, and Reducing barriers to EET. £49,998.51 requested. Conditional approval on first submitting satisfactory clarifications on several aspects including; clarifying that funding cannot support those under 19 years old, how this fits with We Work for Everyone, clarify if there is match funding, and how they will  incorporate digital badging.

•           Stepping Up, Stepping Up Community will use the architecture of “Horumar Somali Women’s Programme” (whose goal is to support isolated individuals, food parcels, children Sunday meals, vaccination clinics or children activities), to create an inclusive programme for women from minority groups or those furthest from employment for the WECA region, based in disadvantaged community locations in Bristol and Bath. £45,800 requested. Conditional approval on first completing satisfactory due diligence and submitting satisfactory clarifications on several aspects including; detail to finances, detail on evaluation methodology, clarity around overlap with other funded services such as AEB, social value outcomes need further refining. Due diligence is incomplete and recommendation is conditional on reaching the appropriate threshold.

•           The Natural History Consortium, The programme 'City Nature Challenge' will provide environmental skills and training for young people living across the WECA region, seeking to address the impact young people have experienced as a result of the pandemic in gaining work experience, and creating opportunities for young people to progress into volunteering roles that will help to alleviate widespread worries over the loss of education, feelings of isolation, and eco-anxiety. £42,759.74 requested. Conditional approval on first submitting satisfactory clarifications which remove ineligible activity around participants under 19 years old and any lighter tough engagement.

•           The Princes Trust, The Project -Back on Track- aims to focus on improving health and wellbeing of young people into the Prince’s Trust support system for further progression in employment and skills. This will operate with brand new themes, activities and modules which were piloted during the covid period and proved popular with young people experiencing low mood, anxiety, loss of motivation and healthy lifestyle. £59,685.93 requested. Conditional approval on first submitting satisfactory clarifications which address how they will provide wider progression routes than onto further Princes Trust funded programmes and clarity around how they plan to expand delivery outside of Bristol.

•           Voscur, will deliver a 10-month programme engaging people from marginalised communities and supporting them to volunteer and start-up social enterprises. £49,905.67 recommended. Conditional approval on first submitting satisfactory clarifications around non-staffing costs and if there would be any match, preferred with a grant of this size.

•           Windmill City Farm, Growing People programme proposes to run courses, placements and activities for people experiencing mental health challenges. These will be based in supported outdoor environments at one of four city farms in Bristol, in different locations in order to bring down barriers such as travel or unfamiliar environments. Three are the groups of people targeted, each disproportionately affected by Covid-19 for different and interconnected reasons: people experiencing mental health challenges at a mild-moderate level; people from Black, Asian and monitory ethnic backgrounds; young people aged 18-25 years old. £49,064.90 requested. Conditional approval on first submitting satisfactory clarifications around new/unique aspects of the funding.

•           Redcatch Community Garden, The project’s aim is to offer adults therapeutic sessions that combine their therapeutic and expertise with a view to building emotional resilience and confidence in new skills. £7,442.36 requested. Conditional approval on first submitting satisfactory clarifications around details within the project plan and risk assessment.

Delegated authority has been granted to the Combined Authority’s Chief Executive to take decisions on the award of grants under the Community Support Funding in consultation with the Chief Executives of the Combined Authority’s constituent councils.

1          At Stage 1 Expressions of Interest Phase, 36 bids were received. 24 of these met the threshold to proceed to Stage 2 Full Application Stage and 19 of these submitted a final application.

2          Following this assessment, 14 bids were recommended for funding, 9 of those with clarifications. 5 bids were not recommended for funding.

3          Overall the total funding requested which was recommended for funding (including those with conditions) is £693,803 which will engage 1,891 residents most disaffected by COVID  and most vulnerable in our community to achieve employability and skills outcomes through various social value activity by December 2022.

Not applicable in relation to this specific decision, i.e. this was the option considered.