Community Action Suffolk (CAS) has brought together over 40 representatives from voluntary and community organisations across Suffolk, to explore how the county can benefit from a new £30m fund from the Big Lottery.

The event, held at the Castle Hill Community Centre, Ipswich on Wednesday 29 July 2015, discussed the new Help Through Crisis fund. This fund aims to improve the futures of people currently living in, or at risk of, crisis as a result of hardship, focused on supporting people to overcome barriers to access the services they need.

Grants of between £300,000 and £500,000 over five years will be available, to provide immediate support such as food parcels or a bed for the night. Projects will then work to address the underlying causes through advocacy and advice on issues such as family breakdown, health problems, homelessness or debt.

Jo Whiting, Senior Development Officer for Rural & Communities Issues at CAS, explained why it was important for CAS to bring together organisations from across the county,

“The Help Through Crisis fund was recently launched and CAS felt it was important to facilitate the opportunity for organisations from around Suffolk to meet one another and network as the application deadline is 26 August 2015.

Projects must be collaborative and partnership based, rooted in the community and focused on supporting people who find it difficult to access mainstream support, perhaps because they are disabled, have a mental health or learning disability issue or live in an isolated rural community. We’re delighted to see so many local organisations attend, all prepared to explore partnership working.”

Naomi Marek, Chief Executive of Sky Badger, said, “the links and contacts I’ve made here [today], they’re going to help us go forward for the next 10 years, we’ve made connections that we didn’t know were there. We’re not overlapping with others, we’re complimenting each other, so I’m really excited.”

Drena Black from Waveney Domestic Violence and Abuse Forum, said, “This morning was a really positive event. We’ve always been particularly able to look for gaps in service and where we feel people are falling between the cracks. We’ve found other people here today who are saying the same, so we can now ask ourselves ‘what can we do together to put this right?’ and [from today] so many people have said that they’d be happy to work together.”

The event has now identified potential lead organisations and  partnerships which, with the support of Community Action Suffolk, can now work together and develop applications to the Help Through Crisis fund.

If you would like to know more about the fund and how your organisation can get involved, visit www.communityactionsuffolk.org.uk or contact Jo Whiting on 01473 345318 or [email protected]

 

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Notes

Community Action Suffolk

Community Action Suffolk (CAS) offers help and support services to voluntary and community groups in Suffolk. We provide bespoke services and products that are relevant, accessible and designed to meet the needs and expectations of individuals and community groups. We make sure the voluntary and community sector has easy access to networks, information, tools and resources, so they can operate successfully.

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Help Through Crisis Fund

This new funding programme has been developed in collaboration with a wide-range of organisations. Stage One Applications need to be submitted by 26 August, with the best invited to complete a second stage application by 11 November. Applicants will be told if they have been successful in March 2016. Full details can be found on the Big Lottery Fund website at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk and follow the conversation on Twitter using #crisishelp, #UKpoverty.

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The Big Lottery Fund

The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery for good causes and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes.

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Contacts

Ben Matthews, Marketing and Communications Officer
Community Action Suffolk
[email protected]
01473 275197 / 07935 722847

Chris Abraham, Deputy Chief Executive
Community Action Suffolk
[email protected]
01473 345302

Jo Whiting, Senior Development Officer – Communities and Rural Issues
Community Action Suffolk
[email protected]
01473 345318

Community Action Suffolk reception
01473 345400

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