A new grant is available this winter for organisations supporting vulnerable residents with food, heating, warm clothing and other essentials.
We’ve received funding from central government to offer additional support to vulnerable households over the winter months during the pandemic.
Small grants up to a maximum of £5,000 are available for community and voluntary organisations in the city who can deliver extra support quickly to help vulnerable people and families this winter.
What can be covered by the grants
The grant is aimed specifically at projects working in Brighton & Hove to help ensure vulnerable people and families are warm and well fed this winter.
For example, this could include providing warm clothing, helping families to cook nutritiously on a limited budget or help paying heating bills so that the household has money for food.
The grants aren’t intended to cover debt advice, general financial hardship support or housing costs.
Applications for the funding are expected to set out:
- what they want to do
- why there is a need
- who will benefit from the support
- how the funding will be used
- how the organisation applying will link with other organisations in the city
- how they will know the funding has been successful in addressing the need
Any funding will need to be spent by the end of March 2021.
Applications should be for project costs, with up to 8% management cost for running the project.
The grants can be used to fund small ‘capital’ items or goods, but cannot be used fund organisational core costs.
How to apply
We’re aiming to get the first grant payments approved and paid as soon as possible.
Organisations interested should e-mail our Communities, Equalities & Third Sector team on communitiesteam@brighton-hove.gov.uk. Please include ‘Application for winter support funding’ in the email subject box to request an application form.
Where we can, we will aim to send the application form within one working day of your request.
The first application deadline is 12 midnight on Wednesday 13 January 2021.
Vital support his winter
Councillor Steph Powell, joint chair of the Tourism, Equalities, Communities & Culture committee, said: “This new funding to provide extra help for the city’s vulnerable residents this winter is much needed.
“It has been a hard year with many residents facing increasing financial difficulties.
“The city’s community and voluntary sector have been incredible in their response to supporting vulnerable people throughout the pandemic. I’d like to thank them for the vital help they’ve provided.
“We’re now looking for projects that can get off the ground quickly to provide vital support to make sure everyone can be well-fed and warm this winter.
“We appreciate it’s a tight turnaround over a busy time for support organisations in the city, but this extra government funding is specifically for winter hardship support and we need to move quickly.
“We’ve designed the application process to be as simple as possible, and are very keen to hear from any projects able to help residents this winter.”
