£300k community fund launched to boost Hackney’s health and happiness
Hackney Council has launched a new grants scheme to provide community and voluntary groups with funding for innovative health projects.
The aim of the Healthier Hackney Fund is to find and support new ways to tackle some of the borough’s health challenges such as smoking, mental health, substance misuse and sexual health.
Money from the £300,000 fund will be awarded to community groups and organisations that can demonstrate that their project will make an impact. It has three grant streams:
- Healthy Activities. A grant of up to £30,000 to run practical activities that will prevent people from starting smoking or improve mental health.
- Healthy Ideas. A grant of up to £8,000 to develop and pilot a new approach to tackling the entrenched problems related to substance misuse or sexual health.
- Healthy Neighbourhoods. A £1,000 kickstart grant for neighbourhood projects that will get residents helping each other to be healthy.
In addition to funding, successful bidders will receive ongoing support from the Council’s public health staff to help maximise the impact of projects with their specialist skills, knowledge and connections.
As well as known charities and community groups, the public health team wants to hear from individuals or groups who are already doing work or may have great ideas which are currently under the radar.
Councils are learning to work smarter and achieve more with the same money. We know that local partners and external organisations sometimes have better ways of doing things, so the Healthier Hackney Fund was set up to make the most of those ideas and the energy and connections these groups have. “It is a huge opportunity to unite everyone in the borough behind the common cause of improving health and wellbeing and making Hackney a happier, healthier place to live.
Applicants have until Friday December 19 to submit their bid.
Detailed guidance and application forms are available online, and for any more queries please email publichealth@hackney.gov.uk.
A Healthier Hackney Fund Google group has also been set up which contains a set of FAQs and facility to ask new questions, latest updates about the fund and a forum for potential applicants to talk to each other and discuss ways of working together on bids.
The launch presentation, details of the different funding streams and a Healthier Hackney Fund leaflet are available for download in the top right of this page.