Do you have the X Factor?

Today, more than ever, we need good quality councillors at all levels who are ready and willing to engage with the community and make tough decisions.  For this reason the Councillor Development Group has produced a DVD aimed at encouraging people to become more involved with democracy in their local area.  This could be by standing as a unitary, town or parish councillor, campaigning on local issues, volunteering or attending meetings.

The DVD is now available to view on YouTube.

If you would like a copy of the DVD to show at an event or to pass onto someone who may be interested in getting more involved in the democratic process please contact Marie Todd on 01225 718036, or Lynda Williams  on 01225 71317

Funding for Community Shops

The Village Retail Services Association in partnership with Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Co-operative and Community Finance have funding available to support the start up  of new Community owned shops in rural areas of England or  to save an existing shop by transfer to community ownership. The funding which will be available over the next three years will provide up to £40,000 per shop. This will be made up of a grant of £20,000 together with a loan of £20,000 from Co-operative and Community Finance.

Eligible applicants will include community based organisations located in rural communities of not less than 300 residents. The community is required to raise match funding through community contributions, which could take the form of share capital, donations raised through community fundraising events and grants obtained from other sources to the same or greater value than the grant requested from the Village CORE Programme. At least some of the funds raised should have been provided by the community itself and not solely through external grants.

The application process commences with a telephone interview with one of the programme managers. If the community appear to meet the criteria within the programme timeframe and if Village Core funds are available, application forms are sent electronically where possible to the main contact person on the committee.  The forms must be returned within 6 weeks of the telephone interview.

http://www.plunkett.co.uk/whatwedo/core/Core.cfm

Funding to support deprived communities

The Community Development Foundation (CDF) has announced the launch of the Communities First Fund.  

The £80m government-funded programme that will run for four years, until March 2015, consists of a £30m Neighbourhood Matched Fund programme for some of the most deprived areas in the country and a national £50m Endowment Match Challenge. 

Through the Neighbourhood Matched Fund, the 600 most deprived areas in England will be awarded between £17,000 and £200,000 to give out as grants within their locality.  The CDF is currently seeking members for 600 grant-giving panels.  The supermarket chain Asda will provide publicity and support for the programme at both local and national levels. In many areas, charities will also be able to access match funding from the Asda Foundation. 

The £50m Endowment Fund will be available only once £100m in match funding has been raised from other sources.  The target is to help donors create funds valued at £150m, £100m of which will be private donations topped up by £50m of government match.

The fund is currently in the process of raising money and eligible organisations will be able to apply to the programme in 2015.

http://www.cdf.org.uk/web/guest/community-first

Funding for social enterprise ambassadors

The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) has announced that it is offering grants of up to £10,000 to learning and skills providers to develop a programme to identify and develop social enterprise ambassadors, and to cascade this learning to other providers by hosting delivery of the programme to a cohort of people drawn from the learning and skills sector. FE and skills providers will receive a grant to develop a programme of learning on the theme of social enterprise. The provider will then be expected to run the programme with potential social enterprise ambassadors within their own organisation, together with hosting delivery of the programme to a number of partner providers. Eligible applicants are those providers from the FE and Skills sector that are funded through the Skills Funding Agency and/or the Young People’s Funding Agency. The closing date for applications is the 5th December 2011.

http://www.lsis.org.uk/WorkingWithLSIS/Opportunities/funding-Opportunities/Pages/default.aspx

Do you want to publisise a local event?

Graham Ellis of the Melksham Chamber of Commerce is compling a list of dates of events in the Melksham area for a open diary which will be hosted on a new website.

If you would like to add any dates or see what has been added so far please link on:

http://wellho.info/adddates

Criteria for adding events to the diary ...

• Open to the public or effecting the public in and around the Melksham area
• Not meetings that happen every week or fortnight - they may go on a separate regular listing later
• Up to ... well - any time really, but if I can get dates up to the end of next March that would be great.

What matters to you? - Complete this Survey

If you live in Wiltshire and you want to help shape the future please take just a little time to complete the ‘What matters to you’ survey on the Wiltshire Council website.

The survey one of the biggest ever done in the county is designed to give residents a real say on a range of topics that affect life where you live. From issues surrounding community safety to what the council spends its money on to what it’s like to live in Wiltshire all the questions are designed so that your opinion can be counted.  The results will be used by the council and its partners NHS Wiltshire, Wiltshire Fire and Rescue and Wiltshire Police to help develop policies which affect local communities.

Surveys can be completed on line as well as being available in libraries, council offices and leisure centres.

We are also posting out over 20,000 surveys at random to addresses in Wiltshire. If you know of a friend or neighbour that would like to take part then please let them know how to by passing on this message. More information about the survey is on the Wiltshire Council website www.wiltshire.gov.uk/whatmatterstoyou.