West Yorkshire Community Grants

Groundwork is working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to deliver Community Grants – a programme designed to support people with more complex barriers to accessing work move towards employment and digital inclusion.

Community Grants provides grants to organisations in the VCSE sector in West Yorkshire to help unemployed, economically inactive and socially excluded people towards employment, education and training. VCSE organisations using physical activity and sport to do this are encouraged to apply.

The links between activity, physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing and job creation are well documented. The sport, physical activity and movement sector has the potential to be a significant player in supporting the improvement in employability skills of people within West Yorkshire, particularly those who find it hard to engage with traditional classroom-based approaches. YSF has produced a brochure on the links between being active  and employability, which is available here.

What funding is available?

• The £2.55m programme offers funding pots of typically £20,000 to voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE) organisations across West Yorkshire.
• There is a possibility that some projects can be awarded a grant of up to £50,000 if you can demonstrate how the additional funding would be used to support more participants.

Eligibility Criteria 

• Eligible projects will deliver from a range of interventions to help get people with a range of abilities and needs move closer to the labour market through training, mentoring, job search, employability, and life skills development.
• Projects should aim to target people from priority groups, address need, and complement other local provision. Project participants must:
  • Be 18 years or older (or 16+ if they are not already supported by another provision)
  • Be unemployed or economically inactive
  • Be socially excluded
  • Have the right to work in the UK
• Organisations should already be engaging with a cohort of beneficiaries when applying for the grant, to ensure timely completion.
•  All project delivery must be completed by the end of December 2024.

Timescales

• The programme opened in May 2024 for applications.
• There are rolling grant panels throughout a 6-week period. 
• There is a limited amount of funding available and the fund will close once sufficient applications have been received which meet our funding criteria.

Application Process

• Full application guidance is available here.
• Prospective applicants should complete the eligibility checker to access the application portal

Need support?

• Groundwork can provide guidance and support with the application process
• For support contact: communitygrants.westyorkshire@groundwork.org.uk