ACTNOW Funded projects will change lives in North East Essex

Anglian Community Trust has launched an exciting new grants programme to support community projects with new ideas to improve the lives of people in the local area.

Community groups were invited to submit their proposals to ACT for consideration for funding. 

Please find below some examples of project subject areas relevant to our criteria, which we considered during the process of agreeing the grants:

• Mental health challenges, especially those experienced by young people
• Suicide prevention
• Frailties of older people, especially those on long-waiting lists
• People suffering from health inequalities in remote regions
• Promoting inclusivity and diversity, relating to people’s ethnic backgrounds, disabilities, gender, the environment and niche lifestyle choices
• Support for people flying under the radar with health conditions, such as people with learning disabilities; people recovering from brain injuries and those who have had strokes
• Carers who are struggling on their own at home
• Supporting people to exercise more, to reduce health issues caused by obesity and diabetes
• Supporting people to eat better, to improve their health
  
  

These are just some suggestions for inspiration, but we were also interested in any original ideas that could make a big impact on people’s lives.

We were looking for projects that could do some of the following:

• Create socially impact change to improve people’s lives long-term
• Improve mental health and well-being
• Improve physical well-being
• Improve social and welfare situation
• Support minority and hard to reach groups
• Elevate grassroot values
• Drive social change
• Promote kindness, honesty and compassion
• Encourage planet-friendly activities
• Show imagination and innovation with improving lives
• Demonstrate the ability to have a long-term impact
• Provide strong evidence based on need
• Connect strongly with other local projects and statutory services
• Offer good value for money
• Support a large number of people
• Demonstrate the potential for long-term sustainability, and the ability to unlock other funds
• Have the ability to generate its own funds
• Provide a good track record for producing good results
• Have a strong financial background

Examples of projects we have supported in the past:

• The Underdog Crew
• Uniform7
• Level Best Café
• Street Tag

For example, we have provided funding advice to the Underdog Crew in the past, which has led to the organisation receiving additional grants from elsewhere.

This work has included helping the Underdog Crew to gain another £20,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund to pay for a new mini-bus and a project that will enable the organisation to take filmmaking workshops to schools in North East Essex. The purpose of this project is to help improve the well-being of young people with mental health problems at these institutions. 

We also introduce projects we support to other relevant community groups they can collaborate with. With the Underdog Crew, some of these groups have now commissioned new services with the organisation, which not only helps the users supported by the other groups, but also helps the Underdog Crew to keep operating long-term.

Additionally, we provide advice with how each organisation we support can develop its functions internally. For example, we provided advice to Uniform7 on how to develop its website, shopping package, plus build capacity and resilience into its operations.

We are now in the process of helping the Underdog Crew work on a bigger application to the Lottery, which could assist the organisation with supporting a number of new exciting projects and securing its future over the next few years. 

To find out more how we can help with extra funding support for the projects we award grants to, please contact Rodney Appleyard here: info@angliancommunitytrust.org.