STRONGER North Stonehouse has handed out almost £42,000 of grants from its Community Sparks fund.
Stronger North Stonehouse, which last year was granted over £500k from the Home Office’s Safer Street fund, is delivering a series of infrastructure and community improvement projects – Community Sparks being one of them.
The people of north Stonehouse responded magnificently when asked to come up with ideas
activities and projects which help make their community a stronger, safer and better place to live.
The scheme received 30 funding applications ranging from £150 to the maximum of £3,000.
All applications were assessed by a panel made up of members of the Safer Stonehouse Board and independent judges. The panel was asked to make recommendations based on the merit of the potential impact they could have in the community.
“The number and quality of applications was astounding,” said Wendy Hart, director of Nudge Community Builders who has administered the Community Sparks project.
“The panel were set quite stringent parameters to work within, but the bids were so strong the vast majority past the threshold.
“As a result, the £20,000 budget needed to be doubled to accommodate them all and in total we have awarded £41,904 in grants. To help as many projects as we can we have been able to re-direct some underspent funds from other parts of the project and increase the initial £20,000 budget for the sparks fund.
“As these projects have all to be delivered before the end of March, North Stonehouse will be a hive of activity for the next few months and the impact on the community will be very visible, very quickly. It is an exciting time.”
The full list of successful bids is:
1 Snapdragons £3,000
2 Claremont St Community Room £3,000
3 Inner City Seeds £3,000
4 Friends of Victoria Park £3,000
5 Green Boxes £3,000
6 Community Composting £250
7 Wantage Gardens make-over £1,750
8 Patna Park equipment and activities £250
9 Exeter St Clean-up £250
10 Winter Wanderland £,1725
11 Rhythm City £3,000
12 Mindful Art Club £1,000
13 Exim Dance £3,000
14 Melbourne Place Clean-up £250
15 Generous Earth £3,000
16 Fotonow £2,000
17 Conscious Sisters £3,000
18 St Peter’s Church £1,740
19 Online Family Dance Classes £250
20. Fashion Fix £2,005
21 Wonderzoo £3,000
22 Friends of Wyndham Square – Keep Talking £300
23 Jamie House, Leadworks, Kintsugi Project £3,000
24 Omnium Radio, Music workshop £134.40
About Community Sparks
The aim of Community Sparks is to support small initiatives which enhance the area, which will deter anti-social behaviour and make a space more ‘friendly’ and safe for local residents.
Two levels of funding were available.
Small sparks – small-scale projects requiring up to £250. These projects are likely to involve a small number of people, maybe a couple of local residents who want to do something close to home to improve the street that they live on.
Big Sparks – Larger-scale projects requiring up to £3,000 and these projects are likely to involve more people, to bring people together within a neighbourhood and spark a longer-lasting legacy of collaborating to continue the momentum of positive change.
Applicants were asked simply to submit a 400-word statement or a three minute video, outlining the project and the expected impact on the community.
Bids were required to demonstrate a positive impact on the neighbourhood in ways which help people feel safe, feel a greater sense of belonging and involvement.
Each project had to show it can be completed by 31 March 2021.
