Issue - meetings

Voluntary Sector Grant Applications 2009/10

 

 

Meeting: 09/12/2009 - Executive (Item 200)

200 Voluntary Sector Grant Applications 2009/10 pdf icon PDF 173 KB

To consider recommendations of the Grants Assessment Panel in awarding grants to voluntary sector organisations form the Community Forum allocation.

 

(Report attached)

Decision:

RECOMMENDED that

 

1)         the budget for grants to voluntary sector organisations for 2010/11 be set at £244,800;

 

2)         the Grants Support Officer post role be enhanced to a full time post to provide support and strategic focus on the voluntary sector, and the associated costs arising from the development of this post be approved;

 

and RESOLVED that

 

3)         grants be awarded to voluntary sector organisations as detailed below;

 

 

Organisation

Amount Requested

Details of Project

Redditch Chinese Association

£2,000

To support the Chinese New Year Celebration in February 2010

Sandycroft Wellbeing Centre

£1,742

To support the development of a nutrition awareness program which is tailored towards the diets of the BME community

Polish Community

£2,000

To teach Polish children to learn Polish dancing , enabling them to perform and bring the generations and cultures together

West Indian Society

£2,000

Provision of luncheon club, social activities, exercise and health living for people over the age of 50, primarily of African and Caribbean descent.

Caribbean Roots

£2,000

To enhance the Celebration of Black History Month celebrations

Rainbow Redditch

£1,000

To hold a Mardi Gras event for LGBT history month in February 20010

Romani Roots

£2,000

The grant would support the launch of the POD. The POD is an interactive computer pod which will have details of local history, local communities/groups/organisations, and individuals of note within the community in the past and present.

British Asian Women's Group

£2,000

To provide local women with an arena to experience aspects of the British way of life and promote values such as good health and cultural education.

 

 

 

 

4)         authority be delegated to the Head of Strategy & Partnerships to withdraw grant funding to Rainbow Redditch should the full funding not be obtained to complete the project; and

 

5)         the ‘core funded’ organisations be requested to complete a grant application for 2010/11 at a level not exceeding their current level of grant funding.

 

(Prior to consideration of this item, and in accordance with the requirements of Section 81 of the Local Government Act 2000, Councillors Anderson (Play Council) and Clayton (Citizen’s Advice Bureau) declared personal and prejudicial interests in view of their involvement in local third sector organisations and withdrew from the meeting.)

Minutes:

The Committee received a report setting out the recommendations of the Grants Panel for utilisation of the remainder of funds from the 2009/10 financial year and proposing a figure for the grants budget for the following year. A further key element of the report was the proposal to enhance the role of the post of Grants Support Officer.

 

In response to questions from Members, it was clarified that the Grants Support Officer post would be a temporary post for a minimum of two years. Grant funding for this post from the County Council was, however, available for a period of five years.

 

Members were assured that the performance of the Citizen’s Advice Bureau was of a level that provided no cause for concern to the Council and that the Council actively engaged with the Bureau in a performance management process.

 

Members were keen to demonstrate the work of organisations that benefited from Council grant-funding and it was suggested that this be show-cased in the Council’s civic newspaper.

 

RECOMMENDED that

 

1)         the budget for grants to voluntary sector organisations for 2010/11 be set at £244,800;

 

2)         the Grants Support Officer post role be enhanced to a full time post to provide support and strategic focus on the voluntary sector, and the associated costs arising from the development of this post be approved;

 

and RESOLVE that

 

1)         grants be awarded to voluntary sector organisations as detailed in paragraphs 5.4 of this report, and

 

2)         authority be delegated to the Head of Strategy & Partnerships to withdraw grant funding to Rainbow Redditch should the full funding not be obtained to complete the project.

 

3)         the ‘core funded’ organisations be requested to complete a grant application for 2010/11 at a level not exceeding their current level of grant funding.

 

(Prior to consideration of this item, and in accordance with the requirements of Section 81 of the Local Government Act 2000, Councillors Anderson (Play Council) and Clayton (Citizen’s Advice Bureau) declared personal and prejudicial interests in view of their involvement in local third sector organisations and withdrew from the meeting.)