Community Residents Fund

A one-off capital fund of £4 million, will be used to support community and voluntary organisations to increase their resilience, sustainability and enable them to continue the vital work they do.

Funding will be invested in community organisations and groups based in and working with the top 30 per cent most deprived areas of the city, and in city-wide self-organised equality groups, for example Disabled people, Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and LGBT communities. Community-led decision making is central to the fund. Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations in all the eligible areas of the city, and across different equalities communities, will lead conversations with community organisations during summer 2022 to identify potential projects. When all potential projects have been gathered, a group of VCSE organisations, local councillors and residents in each community will be recruited to review them and make a decision about what to invest in.

Grants for community-based organisations will be a minimum of £50,000, with some smaller grants of a minimum of £10,000 available for equalities community groups. This funding can be used to pay for a variety of projects, to help support our city’s community-led organisations during a fina ncially challenging time for our city and our country.

The project must be something physical not a service or activity. For example: • Improving access for Disabled people • Adding an extension to a community building or creating new spaces within them – this can benefit residents today but also future generations too

• Upgrading IT systems or buying equipment

• Upgrading a community centre’s heating system to make it more environmentally sustainable and save on costs This is a new and innovative approach for us and puts communities at the heart of the decision-making, ensuring the money will be invested in projects that can meet the challenges being faced by that specific community. We are providing an opportunity for communities and their residents to help shape decisions for the future, decisions that will ultimately benefit them and their neighbourhood.

The new fund builds on Bristol’s Citizens’ Assembly which worked with a group of diverse residents to make recommendations about key decisions which effect citizens. It also takes learning from the Port Community Resilience Fund (PCRF), which invested £1 million in communities connected to Bristol Port in 2018, with £314,000 invested specifically in community facilities. Decisions were made through a combination of council staff assessment, resident panel interviews with applicants and a community vote.

One group that benefited from the PCRF was Ambition Community Energy CiC, who received a grant of £100,000 to complete planning work for a new community owned onshore wind turbine. This is currently in construction and is expected to deliver a 25-year income that will fund activity to deliver the Lawrence Weston Community Plan.

Ambition Community Energy CiC are a small community organisation with little to no funding who are now successfully delivering their project. The PCRF made this possible, playing a significant part in moving it forward and supporting a community plan that identifies the needs of the communities and focuses resources on making things better.

If you’re part of a community group or organisation which might be eligible for the fund and have an idea for a project we’d love to hear from you. You need to: • Contact the VCSE organisation leading conversations in your community- use the interactive map and details on the website to find out who to speak to If you’re an equality group there is a list of VCSE organisations on the Bristol City Council website to contact depending on the community you represent. For full details about the fund visit the Bristol City Council website.