Organisations across Southend, Essex and Thurrock are once again invited to apply for the Violence and Vulnerability Community Grant 2024 – 25.
The grant is to fund projects that have a positive impact on the issues around serious violence.
Local organisations are at the forefront of some amazing work that seeks to address issues such as knife harm, gangs, drugs, exploitation and lack of youth provision, and we are keen to support this work as much as we can.
The 2024-2025 V&V Community Grant is open to applications from local 'not-for-profit' voluntary or community clubs, or organisations based in, and therefore delivering in, Essex, Southend and Thurrock.
Groups can apply for up to £25,000 to deliver support and interventions for children, young people, young adults and families (families must include children, young people or young adults aged 0-24 inclusive). Projects must demonstrate how they have a positive impact through protective factors on issues relating to serious violence.
In previous funding rounds, grants have been awarded to projects that provide one to one support and mentoring, outdoor therapy sessions, youth club sessions, after-school clubs and support, sporting activities including drama and the arts, initiatives that run within schools, detached youth work and targeted support for vulnerable individuals – among many other things!
Projects must evidence they are meeting specific needs as highlighted on a local basis by young people in the Violence and Vulnerability Listening Report 2022 – 23. The Violence and Vulnerability Unit is keen to base the interventions funded on what young people tell us they need in their local area.
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, and Chair of the Violence and Vulnerability Partnership said: “Young people have told us what support they want in their local area and now it is within our power to gift them that support. Listening to young people isn’t a token gesture, we want to act on their local knowledge and help ensure that there is targeted support in their communities that ensures they are safe, supported and safeguarded from risk.”
The V&V Community Grant is looking to fund projects that can run during April 2024 to 31st December 2025, commencing no later than 1st September 2024.
The closing date for applications is noon on 29 September 2023. Groups can apply online via the application form
For more information visit Essex Council for Voluntary Youth Services (ecvys.org.uk)