Near Neighbours Takes Root

Seeds sown by Near Neighbours funding are already bearing fruit across the city as the grant programme takes root in 2012 and plants its roots firmly in the 13 eligible wards in Birmingham.

Funds awarded to a Somali Community Association in Newtown on December 20th have already been used to bring Christians and Muslims together to create winter flower-beds outside the Huda Centre and Mosque and St George’s Church.
A further 20 community organisations or faith communities have received funding since September 2011 to run projects or activities that bring people together. The applications have been incredibly creative and range from comedy courses and parenting support to food festivals and debt advice.

In the last three months, nearly £80,000 of the Government funding has been allocated by the Church Urban Fund to projects in Birmingham. Naturally, CUF have not been able to authorised awards to all the applicants that have put forward proposals but we are very happy to work with organisations who have been declined funding to help them strengthen their application or develop new ideas that could attract a cash award.

Anyone wanting to apply for Near Neighbours funding should visit the website www.near-neighbours.org.uk or contact Jessica Foster, Near Neighbours Development Worker, on 07817 853452.