The Minister for Civil Society, Rob Wilson MP, today announced the launch of a new £500,000 fund to support Community Organisers to mobilise residents to take action on the issues they care about.

Twenty seven community organisers across England will benefit from the Community Organisers Mobilisation Fund which is jointly backed by the Cabinet Office and Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

All of the communities benefiting from the Fund will be supported to use the powers available to them under the Localism Act 2011.  Community Organisers will actively support these communities to make the most of community rights, neighbourhood planning and other neighbourhood approaches to create positive change in their local area.  The fund will enable communities to shape the future of the places they live and work in – from using the Community Right to Build with residents of Heaton in Newcastle to setting up community owned pubs in Brighton.

On behalf of Cabinet Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government COLtd are managing a new Grant Fund to support Community Organisers and their communities to learn more about and explore the effective implementation the rights introduced in the Localism Act 2011, as well as other associated policies.

The fund is now open to applications from Qualified Community Organisers and volunteers from the Community Organiser Volunteer Training Programme.  It can be used to support the start-up of new projects or to support the on-going development of existing projects using Community Rights & Neighbourhood Planning powers – with the potential to support up to 40 projects across the country over the next 8 months.

Find out more about the application process in the Community Organisers Mobilisation Fund Briefing Document.

To read more about the Minister’s announcement and the different types of communities from across the country that will benefit, click HERE.