Get Growing Grants now open for applications

The Get Growing Grant scheme is a pot of money to help more people to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

The scheme is part of Blackburn with Darwen Food Resilience Alliance which aims to make Blackburn with Darwen a healthy and sustainable food borough. Anyone can apply – you can be an existing group, or someone looking to start up a new activity or project in your local area.

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is a fun and healthy way to fill your plate. It can help cut the carbon footprint of your food, boost your mood and your health, and give you a chance to get involved with your local community.

There is £10,000 available in total across the borough with £2,500 allocated to each locality (East, West, North and Darwen/Rural). Bids for less than £250 will be fast tracked.

Plan your scheme, then complete an application telling us telling us how your activity or project will encourage more people to grow their own food.

Blackburn with Darwen Councillor Jackie Floyd, who is Chair of BwD Food Resilience Alliance said:

“I’m delighted the Get Growing Grants are being offered to BwD residents. It’s a brilliant opportunity for our borough to improve food resilience across our food network. Through our work with primary health care we know that good food is the first medicine. I’m looking forward to hearing from those who take up this offer about their food growing journey.”

How can I spend the money?

You can spend the money any way you want, if it encourages people to start growing their own food. For example, you could use the grant to buy seeds, tools, rent an allotment or publicise events to get more people growing.

More information on the criteria you will need to meet is available in the document at the bottom of this page titled ‘Get Growing Grant – guidance.’

Your application will be reviewed and if it is approved, we will let you know as soon as possible so you can start spending your money.

You will need to promote your activity or project to encourage people to get involved. After six months you will need to fill in an evaluation report to let us know how you got on, and how many people you managed to get growing.

More information on what happens after you receive your funding is available in the guidance document.

What is the money for?

The money is to help groups train and support people to grow fruit or vegetables. We have two key criteria:

• To get new people starting to growing fruit and vegetables
• To provide more residents with growing opportunities and peer to peer learning locally to give them the confidence to continue growing within the group and/or at home.

Successful applicants are expected to promote Blackburn with Darwen Food Alliance, sign up to our pledge and acknowledge the grant in your publicity material and social media posts.

To successfully get the grant you must attract new people to growing. You may be a new group with no experience of growing, or you may be an existing group who wants to extend an existing scheme.

Here are some examples of what to spend the money on:

• To buy resources such as seeds and tools (although we encourage finding what is already in the community to swap and share)
• To rent rooms and/or allotment space
• To publicise events or training sessions

You can get help and support to develop your ideas and complete your bids from a range of people and websites including:

• Adult Learning Courses in Blackburn with Darwen (bwdlearning.org)
• Community Connectors | Blackburn with Darwen Local Offer (bwd-localoffer.org.uk)
• Space for food growing: a guide – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Inspiration | Food for Life Get Togethers (fflgettogethers.org)

Here are step-by-step instructions about how to apply:

• Come up with an idea that fits the criteria above – develop a plan
• Discuss this idea with other interested people in your community, or anyone who may contribute to the project. (This is important as other people may have great ideas. Your application is more likely to be successful if you have demonstrated you have discussed and engaged with local people.
• Fill in the application form and think about how you might measure the impact of your project before you start.
• If you need help with the form, please email publichealthadmin@blackburn.gov.uk – we will find the right person to help
• Your application will be passed onto a small panel who will discuss and
• agree the money to be allocated if approved for funding
• Once the amount has been agreed, you’ll be informed and it will be transferred into your bank account
• Spend your money – keep the receipts as you will have to submit these with your evaluation
• Deliver your project and advertise to get people involved – try to get publicity from the press or promote on social media channels.
• After 6 months, complete the evaluation report and return it to publichealthadmin@blackburn.gov.uk

Applications for the Get Growing Grant will be accepted up to 31^st December 2021.