Pushing Ahead – Community Activity Grant
Introduction
The Pushing Ahead programme is a department of transport funded programme delivered byNorfolk County Council and Active Norfolk, in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders. The programme focuses on increasing cycling and walking in key growth areas.
The high level objectives for the programme are:
Support economic growth across Norfolk
Improve public health across Norfolk
Further objectives include:
Increasing modal shift away from the private car
Maximising the benefits of infrastructure investment
Build on past successes to boost the economy
Address safety concerns
Reduce transport-related emissions, by supporting a shift to walking and cycling
Address employment issues and improve access to employment, education, skills and training to boost economic growth
Support future investment and delivery of the Norfolk Cycling and Walking Action Plan.
Eligibility of Project
The Pushing Ahead Community Activity Support Grant is open to all community-led organisations that are working to address the needs of the local community. Constituted community groups and organisations are eligible to apply.
Successful applicants will be required to develop a robust community cycling event that will be sustainable beyond the initial funding period. Applicants are required to complete a project plan to detail how they will achieve this. Details of the overall aim of the project, outcomes, outputs, communications and timescales associated with the project delivery are required.
Ineligible expenditure
The Community Activity Support Grant is not intended to be the source of funds for infrastructure projects. We will not fund:
-Retrospective costs
-Political campaigning or activities
-Activities promoting specific religious beliefs/other beliefs
-Loan repayments
Eligible expenditure
Funding can be used to cover the following costs:
-Instructor/staff costs
-Training
-Equipment (up to 20% of total cost)
-Promotion
-Facility hire
Maximum Grant Available
The maximum amount available, to deliver a 12 month series of monthly events, is £10,000. This is to cover all aspects of the project to ensure its success against the outcomes.
Event expectations
We are keen for applications to be innovative in how they meet the aims of the fund, however, we would expect the events to include the following:
A series of regular events – we would suggest that these are monthly, but we are open to other suggestions
The first event to be delivered before 31st March 2016
The events encompass activities that are evidenced to encourage behaviour change and a shift to cycling as a means of transport, e.g. cycle maintenance/confidence training, community led rides
Training of local community ‘champions’ to ensure the acquisition of skills and knowledge that will locally sustain the events – e.g. bike buddies, ride leaders, local cycle maintenance champions
Due to the proximity of the trails network, the surrounding community, and the existing infrastructure in place, we would like the initial series of events to take place in Sloughbottom Park.
Scalability
We would like to use the opportunity of this Community Activity Support Grant to pilot an event that may be scaled and replicated elsewhere in Norfolk. With this in mind it is important that the successful applicants work closely with our evaluation partners, UEA, to ensure that the processes, learning and outcomes are monitored and can be used to potentially fund future events of a similar nature – therefore presenting an opportunity for the initial grant recipient.
Completing the Application Form
The CASG grant involves the distribution of public money and therefore all bids must be budgeted, programmed and planned in respect of:
Aims, outputs and outcomes
Co-operative and partnership arrangement
Benefit to local communities as a result of grant funding
Proposed publicity and communications
Monitoring and evaluation
Future sustainability
TheCASG application form provides the opportunity for applicants to demonstrate how their proposal meets these requirements.
Section 1:Summary
Section 1 of the application focuses on the summary of the project. This section asks you to detail general information about your organisation, the total grant amount you are applying for and background information of your organisation.
Section 2: Your Project
Section 2 titled ‘your Project’, requires you to detail the cycling event that the grant will support. You should mention key partners i.e. local groups and organisations you plan to work with to deliver the project. You are asked to highlight the aim of your project. You should also describe how you see the project developing in the future i.e. beyond this 12 month funded period. This may consist of revenue generating prospects to allow the project to become self-sustaining or could detail future funders you intend to approach.
Section 3: Criteria
Section 3 of the application asks you to describe how your project will meet the criteria. The criteria are detailed below. Associated maximum scores each aspect can receive are detailed respectively.
Encourage more journeys by bike in the community
(10 points available)
Your project will encourage more everyday journeys to be made by bike locally. This can consist of activities such as journey planning and raising awareness of the benefits to cycling.
Increase opportunities for people to cycle in your community
(5 points available)
The project will increase the opportunity to cycle locally through provision of training, skills development, events and access to cycling equipment.
Ensure a sustainable legacy
(5 points available)
The project will have a plan for creating a sustainable legacy beyond the initial funding period.
Project Plan
(5 points available)
The project plan aims to compile all aspects of your project into one deliverable plan. Your project plan should detail the following;
Project Aim
Outcomes
Tasks/ Outputs
Monitoring the effectiveness of your project
Communications plan
Project delivery timescale
Further detail and examples for each have been given on the application form.
The Timescale section should be completed as accurately as possible and will be revisited at the 6 and 12-month monitoring reports. You should detail when you will deliver each output/ activity you have identified in the project plan.
Section 5: Financials
This section relates to the breakdown of spend of the grant applied for.
Section 6: Organisation Contact
This section relates to organisation contact. Details of the main contact, who will be contactable during normal office hours, should be given.
How will grant applications be assessed?
Applications will be assessed on their individual merits and scored against set criteria across three themes and the overall project plan as detailed in the application and above in the Criteria section of these Guidance Notes. This scoring system is intended to support and allow fair comparison between diverse projects.
Agrants panel will score each project based upon the information supplied in the application form.
We encourage applicants to be as concise as possible, providing relevant detail and citing any facts or figures useful to your application e.g. number of participants to be trained, number of sessions delivered etc.
Receiving Your Grant
Successful applicants will receive an offer letter in the post along with associated documents which should be completed, signed and returned within 14 days of receipt. Your grant will be will be deposited into your bank account as a one-off up-front payment. The grant should be spent within twelve months from the date the grant acceptance letter is signed.
Monitoring
Successful applicants will be expected to work with the UEA to contribute to the overall evaluation of the Pushing Ahead programme. Processes and procedures will be established at the point of successful award, and applicants will be fully supported to undertake this.
More information
For a further discussion about your grant application please call Shelley Ames on 01603 731565 or email