Community Boost, the local organisation that has generated over £2 million in grant aid for voluntary and community organisations, has been offering its services free of charge to voluntary/community groups in Worcester, thanks to a partnership with Worcester Community Trust and a grant from the Strengthening Worcestershire Fund.
Keith Slater, the man behind Community Boost, said “We started this initiative in January and so far we have been working with 30 different community groups; we have helped write a constitution for voluntary groups; helped set up CICs as well as generating to date over £60k in grant aid.”
The project is helping community groups not only to access grant funding but also to look closely at their policies, risk assessment procedures and constitutions.
A whole range of different groups have so far been helped by this project; churches, breakfast clubs, therapies, environmental schemes, women’s groups, writers groups, activities for seniors, arts organisations, community cafes, health initiatives are all among the beneficiaries.
Hope Church who have been active in Dines Green area of Worcester for several years, running a volunteer-led community kitchen, recently worked with Community Boost as part of the scheme and were granted £9,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund.
Based originally in a local community café, the church has prepared several hundred meals for residents at low cost and provided free children’s meals during the holidays.
The church regularly catered for 50 diners but was restricted by the size of the premises.
Thanks to the grant from the National Lottery Community Fund, the kitchen can now move into Worcester Community Trust’s Green Centre, allowing the church to cater for more people.
Jessica Hunt, who has been the driving force behind the project, said: “We were really keen to have a space where people can experience hope, peace, and love of God – for a number of reasons, our previous space was restricting what we could offer.
Supported by a small group of volunteers, Ms Hunt admitted that leaving a popular community café was not an easy decision.
She said: “However, we now have double the number of spaces available for local people; the grant is wonderful as it helps us cover many of our running costs for the next 12 months.
“To a small community organisation like ours, this level of funding will allow us to cater for more people and, at the same time, we can put a sustainable funding plan together to allow us to continue delivering this service to the local community.”
Both Worcester Community Trust and Community Boost CIC are delighted by the impact that this joint project is already making on voluntary and community groups in the City.
This project has 2 more months to run as it closes on December 31.
If you run a community group and would like more information contact info@regeneratingcommunities.com