Cash available for Rotherham community projects

Rotherham groups are encouraged to get their share of the £414,000 worth in grants available through the Community First Neighbourhood Matched Fund (CFNMF).

There are 11 wards in Rotherham that benefit from this funding: Wingfield, Rotherham West, Keppel, Rotherham East, Boston Castle, Hoober, Rawmarsh Valley, Silverwood, Rother Vale and Maltby.

Community groups can find the details of their local panel in the Community Development Foundation website and apply for funding directly to them.  

In the last two years, £3 million were matched with community organisations’ projects across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Among those that have benefited from the CFNMF in Rotherham are community festival in Eastwood Village and the Adopt a Street scheme in Canklow.

The Eastwood Village Community Association won £2,500 from Community First to put on Funfest in 2012, an event with world music, cultural foods and various other activities for its multicultural local community.

In Canklow, a parent group got awarded £2,500 for a cleaning scheme to combat fly tipping and littering in the area.

The Canklow Community Connections group is using the funding to buy equipment, work with children and young people and ensure the correct removal of the rubbish takes place.

Steve Ruffle, development manager for Rotherham Federation of Tenants and Residents, said: “There are some really inventive projects that communities have come up with and some creative ways of bringing in match funding, including use of volunteer time.”

The Government launched the CFNMF in 2011 to provide small grants to community groups and local social action projects in some of the most deprived areas of the country.

Nationally, a total of £26.8 million in contributions from the community have been matched, including over 1.5 million volunteering hours, and £4.5 million in cash.

Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd said: “We want to support people who are passionate and have the drive to make their communities better places to live.

“That’s why we are making small amounts of money available across the country through the Community First Neighbourhood Matched Fund so that many more people have the means to make their ideas come to life and improve where they live.”