Strengthening Birmingham's communities
A new programme to bring together residents, neighbours, communities, public agencies and the voluntary and community sector to improve the quality of life for local people is being launched by Be Birmingham in September.
The Social Capital and Enterprise Programme will run until 2011 and forms part of the larger Working Neighbourhoods Fund to tackle long term unemployment and support the local economy. Social capital is the social glue that helps people, organisations and communities to work together towards shared goals.
It comes from everyday contact between people as a result of their forming social connections and networks based on trust, shared values and giving and receiving. Strong social capital helps to improve quality of life for citizens by forming bonds between neighbours, families and communities.
We are inviting applications for funding from enterprising community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises - organisations that operate as businesses but reinvest profit to deliver social aims - to increase levels of social capital in Birmingham. Funding is available through the following three projects:
- The Active Citizenship Fund
- Small grants are available for third sector organisations from across the city to work with residents to enable and support participation in decisions making processes affecting their neighbourhood.
- Small grants are available for third sector organisations from across the city to work with residents to enable and support participation in decisions making processes affecting their neighbourhood.
- The Social Enterprise Fund
- Grants are available to enterprising community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises from across the city to pilot new ideas and develop into new markets.
- Grants are available to enterprising community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises from across the city to pilot new ideas and develop into new markets.
- The Successful Neighbourhoods Fund
- Small grants are available for grassroots organisations from Birmingham’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods to create opportunities for communities to make a difference, and ensure that local people have the tools they need to get involved.
Be Birmingham’s director, Jackie Mould, said: “It is important to encourage a more neighbourly city where residents know one another and form part of the community fabric – this is what we mean by building social capital. This programme has many exciting opportunities to nurture and support individuals to get involved through volunteering and leading on change in their area. The Social Capital programme will also raise the flag for social enterprise, lay down the foundations for a new way of empowering communities and increase the third sector’s contribution to the local economy.”
For project contact details and more information on what is available through the Social Capital and Enterprise Programme, please refer to Working Together for a Better Birmingham: Building Social Capital and Enterprise.
