ESF Community Grants

The Black Country ESF Community Grants Programme 2011 2013

We are pleased to announce that we have allocated all of our ESF Community Grants Funding for the 2011 2013 programme and are working with our contracted Community Organisations to support their project delivery. We have contracted 44 Community organisations across the Black Country to deliver a range of projects that can help move people closer to the job market, this has seen £483,580 worth of grants approved through the programme.  

At present we have no plans to deliver any further rounds of funding under this programme.  

What are 'Community Grants'?  

European Social Fund (ESF) Community Grants is aiming to extend employment opportunities for all, but recognises that some workless people are a long way from the job market, and are not ready for mainstream education and training programmes.  

'Community Grants' will help local groups do just that, by providing up to £12,000 for projects run by organisations with an annual turnover of less than £150,000.  

Community Grants has been available to community and voluntary organisations (Including Social Enterprises and Community Interest Companies providing they are not for profit organisations with social aims) that provide services to help people to improve their chances of obtaining work.  

Grants are awarded by Black Country Consortium Ltd. Funding is provided by the European Social Fund (ESF) via the Skills Funding Agency.

Participants

All participants must be:
· Unemployed (doing less than 8 hours a week paid work)
or
· Economically inactive (those who are out of work but not seeking work)
· 18* or over
· Participants must have a right to work in the UK

* Participant should be aged 18 over, projects targeting 16-18 year olds may be considered. However you must discuss your application prior to applying if your project is targeting this age group. 

Priority will then be given to the following participants:
· People with disabilities and health conditions
· Lone Parents
· People aged 50 or over
· People from ethnic minorities
· Women

What type of projects have been funded?

Projects helping people move closer to accessing mainstream activity can be funded through the programme examples include:  

• Removal of barriers: for example by mentoring or first contact activities

• Non-accredited learning: for example taster work experience including volunteering, or help with basic skills and sessional training

• Soft skills: for example, confidence building, presentation or communication skills

• Accredited learning: for those who cannot be reached by any mainstream provision

Provision offered through the Community Grants programme must not duplicate provision that is already supported through existing Skills Funding Agency, DWP Mainstream provision or ESF Co-Financing.

An overview of the projects funded in Round 1 can be downloaded here
An overview of the projects funded in Round 2 can be downloaded here
An overview of the projects funded in Round 3 can be downloaded here
An overview of the projects funded in Round 4 can be downloaded here
An overview of the projects funded in Round 5 can be downloaded here 

Round Number	Number of Applications Received	Number of Projects Funded in this Round
1	65	8
2	46	9
3	33	10
4	26	6
5	36	11

Commonly Made Mistakes
 - Not submitting all paperwork required as part of the application including accounts, insurance, Health & Safety and Equal Opportunities Policies.
 - Requesting more than £12,000 of funding.
 - Not having a signed reference for the application
 - Not having the form signed by relevant people
 - Bank account and insurance in another organisations name.
 - Not being clear about what you want to deliver, to who, how you will deliver it and what impacts the project will have on participants


Successes to date

To date (March 2013) the projects have worked with 1388 beneficiaries

Projects from Rounds 1 and 2 that have now closed reported the following successes 

 - 767 people reporting an improvement in soft skills (confidence, CV writing etc) according to the project close down reports.
 - 103 participants gaining employment* thereby contributing to meeting the Black Country jobs challenge of 36,760 jobs needed to reach the national average
 - 20 participants have started up their own business thereby supporting business growth in the Black Country*.
 - 1 community enterprise initiated (community café)*
 - 82 participants accessing learning programmes following attending the project*
 - 72 qualifications gained (33 achieved level 1 Boxing coach award, 10 achieved first aid qualifications)

*All data taken from project close down reports.

Queries

Frequently Asked Questions (we will be updating these regularly)

A list of frequently asked questions regarding Community Grants can be downloaded by clicking here