Launched this week, Hounslow Council is working with London Councils and the London Economic Action Partnership to fund a Borough Employment project over 17 months from January 2019.
The total European Social Fund (ESF) available for the project is £175,400, and the council is looking for potential providers to bid for the funding and offer opportunities for local residents.
The project aims to help out-of-work Hounslow residents aged 25 and over who are either long term unemployed or economically inactive secure employment opportunities with local businesses in Hounslow’s Digital, Media, Tech and Creative sectors, either through achieving relevant training/qualifications or direct employment. Read more
The closing date to submit your bid is 12 noon on Friday 26 October, 2018.

City Hall will soon be inviting proposals from organisations to apply for small grants as part of our London Early Years Campaign.
The Mayor is offering a total of £150,000 to improve awareness of free early education for 2-year-olds and increase take up of places by eligible families.
City Hall will award a maximum of 30 grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 each to local projects. The proposals must target areas of low take up and evidence how they will effectively engage families and communities who are currently missing out on this vital offer.
Interested bidders should have excellent links with local communities and understanding of barriers to take up of early education specific to those communities. They expect the applicants to have strong partnerships with their respective local authorities in order to understand their local childcare market, and with their local early years providers in order to provide families with access to a childcare place.
Delivery is expected to take place between January 2019 and September 2019.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) will run a pan-London social media campaign to support the local activities and to enhance their impact.
They will be holding an information session for organisations interested in the London Early Years Campaign on Friday 12 October at 10am at City Hall. The session will provide:

• an overview of the programme specification and application process
• opportunity to ask questions
• opportunity to network with early years sector organisations

You can register and find out further information via their Eventbrite page

 

There will be funding surgeries with local Big Lottery funding officers for groups in Hounslow on Tuesday 23^rd October and Thursday 22^nd November 2018 both from 10:00am till 3pm at CAN Mezzanine, 2nd Floor, The Treaty Centre, Hounslow, TW3 1ES.
To book your slot contact whitley@ealingcvs.org.uk

Laureus Sport for Good and Mayor of London have organised the first of three workshops for them to listen to your ideas on how this partnership can work and to explore the opportunity for Model City in Hounslow. The workshop will consist of an introduction into Model City London, some lunch and an opportunity to network with like minded organisations. If you know of any other local organisations or people that operate in your area that would also contribute to this partnership, please do share the sign-up link so that they receive further information. This partnership is driven by collaboration within the community. And they therefore need your enthusiasm and support even more! They would like to continue the conversation over the next few months and build this project alongside community groups.
Tue 28 August 2018,12:00 – 15:00 BST
Springwest Academy, Tudor Park and Leisure Centre, Drama Studio, Feltham,TW13 5DH
Sign up to the workshop here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/laureus-model-city-hounslow-workshop-1-tickets-48947030887
 

Eligible charities and community organisations from across England can apply from today (15 August 2018) for up to £80,000 from the Building Connections Fund Youth strand, to expand or enhance their work tackling youth loneliness.

Funding, delivered by the Co-op Foundation, is available for projects that support any groups of young people within the most deprived 30% areas of England.
Grants can also support projects from any location in England that mainly benefit young people with any one or more of the following circumstances:

• Being a carer
• Being unemployed or precariously employed
• Experiencing bereavement
• Having a disability or long-term health condition
• Having been in the care system.

Please read the guidance notes in full before applying through our online form. The deadline is 26 September 2018.
What is the Building Connections Fund?
The £11.5 million Building Connections Fund is a partnership between Government, Big Lottery Fund and the Co-op Foundation, set up in response to the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness to support projects in England that prevent or reduce loneliness.
The fund is split into two strands: the Main fund and the Youth strand.

• Close to £9 million will be distributed from the Main Fund by the Big Lottery Fund, with grants of between £30,000 and £100,000 available. £4.5 million has been contributed by the Government, and £5 million from the National Lottery.
• The £2 million Youth strand is made up of £1m from Government and £1m match funding from the Co-op Foundation.

You can apply to both strands if you have separate projects that meet the criteria for each, but you can’t apply to both strands for the same project. The Main fund closes on 24 August 2018, so check now if your project might be best suited to apply for this.
Why are we tackling youth loneliness?
Research from Co-op’s campaign to tackle loneliness with the British Red Cross found that young people feel lonely more than any other age group.
Our own research also found that 65% of young people say loneliness is an issue for their age group while UK Youth’s A Place To Belong report spoke to youth workers, 82% of whom agreed that loneliness affects the young people they work with.
Despite this, there is still limited understanding of what would be most helpful for young people affected by, or at risk of, loneliness.
ThatÂ’s why, as part of the Building Connections Fund, Co-op Foundation is working with Government to build the evidence base and improve practice on youth loneliness.
How will funding be used?
Successful applicants to the Youth strand will receive funding to explore youth loneliness in greater depth, test youth-led innovations within their existing provision, and share their learning as part of the national Belong network.
Organisations can apply for up to £80,000, as follows:

• Up to £10,000 (to be spent between December 2018 and March 2019) to engage young people in co-designing innovations to improve the impact of existing provision on tackling loneliness
• Up to £70,000 (to be spent between April 2019 and March 2021) to implement and evaluate these innovations.

Successful applicants will be announced in December 2018.
Important links:

• Full guidance notes
• Application form

Learn more about youth loneliness:

• All our emotions are important – breaking the silence about youth loneliness (Co-op Foundation)
• Loneliness connects us – young people exploring and experiencing loneliness and connection (Manchester Metropolitan University)
• A Place To Belong – the role of local youth organisations in addressing youth loneliness (UK Youth)

For more information click here

NHS England’s ‘celebrating involvement in healthcare’ community grants scheme is open for applications for the fourth year. Grants of up to £2500 are available to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to showcase how they have been involving patients, service-users and the public in improving health services. To apply you must be a voluntary, community or social enterprise organisation and be able to share your project successes in a creative way. Full details of eligibility and how to apply can be found on the NHS England website here. The deadline for applications is midnight on Thursday 20^th September 2018.
 

Big Lottery has launched its Building Connections Fund, offering grants of between £30K and £100K for projects / services that aim to reduce or prevent loneliness (see below for an outline).  The closing date is August 24^th (12 noon).
 
If you are interested in applying and /or might be interesting in submitting a bid jointly with another group(s) please come along to an informal meeting to discuss the fund.

• Wednesday 15 August, 12 noon to 1pm
• CAN Mezzanine Hounslow, Treaty Centre 2^nd Floor, Hounslow High Street, TW3 1ES

Please email aine.hayes@hounslow.gov.uk to advise if you will be coming.
If you cannot make this meeting but would like to discuss the fund further please contact me on 020 8583 2453 or Gurpreet Rana on 020 3096 4250
 

The Early Intervention Youth Fund was launched on Monday 30th July, and is now open for bids. The fund, which has doubled from £11million to £22million, will be used to enable communities to intervene early in the lives of vulnerable young people. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) who work in partnership with Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) or the equivalent can bid for funding to deliver projects which steer young people away from violent crime. Doubling of the fund means bids can now be multiyear and have maximum impact-either through expanding successful schemes, developing innovative initiatives and securing matching income streams. The fund is a good example of the Serious Violence Strategy’s multi strand approach, which aims to bring the law enforcement, health, education and local government sectors together to effectively deal with violence and the causes of violence.
For more information click here
If you have any queries, then please send an email to EIYF@homeoffice.gov.uk