Community groups awarded grants for social integration projects

A total of 26 local groups will receive funding from Blackburn with Darwen’s social integration programme to take forward projects designed to help make a stronger borough.

Our Community, Our Future grants of up to £2,000 were offered to local groups and organisations with ideas for projects that would bring people from different backgrounds together.

Over 80 applications were received from groups across all wards of Blackburn with Darwen.

A grants panel of representatives of the Our Community, Our Future board and Council officers met to evaluate all the applications.

The successful applicants showed how their proposed projects meet specific criteria including how they support the programme’s social integration goals, deliver a new project or expand an existing project, and are sustainable after the funding ends.

These 26 projects will share £47,665 of funding from the Our Community, Our Future programme, money Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has received from the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government.

From projects involving sport, music and food, to those focused on health and wellbeing, wildlife and the environment, and scouting – there are activities for people of all ages to get involved in.

The full list of projects receiving funding is below.

All projects must be delivered before 31 March 2020.

Councillor Mohammed Khan, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said:

It was very encouraging indeed to receive over 80 applications from groups who want to help us make a stronger borough, and there was such variety in the ways groups were proposing to bring people together.

Small projects in neighbourhoods can have a huge impact and are a very valuable part of our social integration work.

We received some joint applications from groups in different parts of the borough who chose to work together on their proposals, and that’s fantastic to see partnerships forming for the benefit of local people.

All projects receiving Our Community, Our Future grants will be paired up with another project to share learning and support one another over the next few months. I’m really interested in keeping track of their progress to see the impact that their work can have on helping us to make the borough a more integrated place for everyone.

Another round of applications for Our Community, Our Future grants will open later this year. Groups that weren’t successful in this round will be offered support to strengthen their bids or to identity alternative funding possibilities, and new projects are welcome to bid for funds too.

Blackburn with Darwen is one of five national Integration Areas, and receives funding from the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government through its Integrated Communities programme.

For more information on the Our Community, Our Future social integration programme in Blackburn with Darwen, visit the Council website.

To keep in touch with social integration programme news, like the Our Community, Our Future Facebook page.

The 26 local projects receiving Our Community, Our Future funding are:

 

Organisation	For project
Abuhanifah Foundation	AHF Scouts
Alexandra Community Events	Alexandra Bowling Club
Arts 2 Heal	Scraps to Sculptures
Beggars Belief Collective	Life Library
Blackburn & Darwen Bowls Partnership	Bowling For Fun
Blackburn & Darwen Brass Band	Blackburn & Darwen Training Band
Blackburn Cathedral	Our Community, Our Future
Blackburn Festival of Light	Community Beats
Blackburn Predators	Focused Youth Mixed Martial Arts
Blackburn West Health Group	Community Events
Blackburn with Darwen Police Amateur Boxing Club	Women’s Confidence Building and Boxing
Care Network	BSL Come Together Group
Corporation Park Supporters Group	Love Your Park
DARE	The DARE Challenge
Darwen Valley Community Centre	A Space 4 All
Friendship Club & Darby & Joan	The Over 50s Friendship Project (Bingo and beyond)
Greenfields Community Centre	People Matter at Greenfields
Idle Women	Women’s Skill Share
One Voice Blackburn	Together in Scouts
Purple Patch	Blackburn is our Patch
Purple Patch	Community Café
Rooftop Bees working with BwD Library Service	Buzzing
Sew and Sow	Wooden Creations
St Edward’s RC School Parent Teacher Association	One World Edible Garden
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust	Outside Side by Side
Youth Action	Junior Jammers!