£200,000 Windfall for Local Groups

May 5th, 2010 | By Chris Towland | Category: Burton Stuff, Info Snippets

East Staffordshire Borough Council has granted around £207, 000 to community and voluntary groups in the borough this year to help them carry on their vital work in the community.
The money is from the Grant Aid scheme, which is available to voluntary and community organisations that provide services and support to the residents of East Staffordshire.
Nineteen applications were received this year for Grant Aid, an increase of seven in comparison with 2009/10, and each project was evaluated across a range of factors including:

The extent to which the project supports the aims of the Council
Whether there was proven need for the project
The benefit of the project to East Staffordshire’s communities
Details of performance management and costs

The organisations that will continue to benefit from Grant Aid funding in the next financial year include:

Age Concern Burton
Burton upon Trent and District YMCA
Burton and District MIND
Burton Youth for Christ
CASES (Community Action and Support East Staffordshire)
East Staffordshire Citizens Advice Bureau
East Staffordshire Racial Equality Council
Harvey Girls
Relate East Staffordshire
SARAC (Sexual and Domestic Abuse and Rape Advice Centre)
SCALE
Uttoxeter MIND
Victim Support Staffordshire.

The Council is also pleased to be providing funding to the Burton Chinese Community Association, Cruse Bereavement Care and Uttoxeter Gateway Club for the first time.
The new projects that have been funded include a specialised mental health service for young people not in employment, education or training; advice workshops for members of the Chinese community and festival celebrations; supporting training for volunteers and contributing towards a club for adults with learning disabilities.

Sal Khan, Head of Organisational Development at ESBC, said: “Grant Aid is an important part of the Council’s work with the voluntary, or third, sector. These groups provide essential services for a wide variety of age groups and abilities across the borough and the Council is pleased to be able to offer some financial support to help these services continue.
“However, dispensing the funding is not an easy task as there are so many worthy groups now applying for funding and we only have a relatively small pot of money to contribute.