New fund available to community groups in Central Ward

A new fund is available to community groups within the Rochdale area.

Central Ward has been selected as one of the 600 areas to receive Community First funding.

A Community First panel has been set up in your area, made up of local people. Get in touch to find out more or get involved.

Funding is available for projects that meet agreed priorities for Central ward. These are:

• raise aspirations and support the improvement of skills, employment and enterprise
• build local capacity and confidence to enable people of all ages to do more for themselves
• support cohesion, intergenerational understanding and improve community safety within the ward
• promote inclusion, health & wellbeing linked to the 5 ways to wellbeing
• improve the quality of our environment in particular tackle route causes to the litter and detritus within the ward

What is Community First?
Community First is an England-wide programme, funded by the Office for Civil Society, on behalf of the Government. It will run for four years, until March 2015. Two funds of money, worth £80m, have been created to help communities come together, become more resilient, and make their local area a better place to live.

Neighbourhood Match Fund: A £30m fund to encourage people to give time and expertise to local projects. The funds will be distributed to 600 areas across England, which have been selected by CDF according to several criteria.

Community First Panels: Each of the 600 areas will have their own panel, comprised of local people to represent their community. They will be involved in creating a plan for the local area, raising awareness of the funds, and planning how they will match and spend the money. 

For more information and an application pack contact:

Email: centralfirst.rochdale@kyp.org.uk or telephone: 01706 516606

Closing date for 1st round applications is 5.00pm Monday 25 June 2012.