Hundreds of people attended an event in Coventry to celebrate the recipients of a Commonwealth Games legacy fund which saw more than £11.8m awarded to 388 community organisations across the West Midlands and Warwickshire in just seven months.
An Inclusive Communities Fund event was held at Coventry Building Society Arena in a day of celebration in recognition of the organisations which have been awarded funding for projects which are making a difference to communities right across the region.
Inspired by the momentum generated by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Inclusive Communities Fund was set up by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) with funding from the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), and administered by the Heart of England Community Foundation.
It was established to help community organisations bring to life solutions that addressed challenges in their neighbourhoods and local areas.
The event, hosted by the Foundation, was compered by radio personality Brody Swain, and guests included the award beneficiaries, stakeholders and other regional funders.
Centred around the award recipients, it was filled with performances including dances, music, theatre, spoken word and a DJ set as well as a range of speakers giving guests an insight into how they used their grants and the difference the funding has made.
All of the community groups were also given an opportunity to have a stand giving guests an insight into the work they do.
Tina Costello OBE, Chief Executive of Heart of England Community Foundation, and Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair also addressed the guests.
You Can Flourish, based in Leamington, was one of the organisations which spoke at the event.
You Can Flourish provides mentoring and wellbeing services to girls aged 10 to 18 in Warwickshire, with an aim of boosting self-esteem, building confidence and improving resilience, and received £70,055 from the Inclusive Communities Fund to expand its services.
Jenny said:
“We would like to thank Heart of England Community Foundation and everyone involved in us receiving this grant.
The funding has been amazing for us and has enabled us to do three key things to expand our services and support even more girls in our region.
It has enabled us to employ somebody to focus on supporting girls in the latter years of primary school, helping us to reach girls struggling with their self-esteem or confidence earlier.
We have also been able to employ another project worker to work with girls who require one-to-one support. This is already having an incredible impact and we’ve received feedback from both the parents and the girls about how lifechanging that has been for them.
Finally, it’s enabled us to conduct valuable research which saw us ask all of the 900 girls we work with about what it’s like being a teenage girl and how our mentoring has impacted them, which will ultimately help us improve our services going forward.
It was a pleasure to speak at the Inclusive Communities Fund celebration to share our story and hear about so many other beneficiaries who are also making a huge difference in their communities.”
John Paul, Senior Managing Director of Beatsabar Music Project CIC based in Wolverhampton, also spoke at the event.
Beatsbar received £49,219 to deliver five impactful music workshops addressing specific community needs and promoting inclusivity through music and technology, as well as employ a digital content creator, outreach worker and admin assistant to help reach even more people.
John Paul said:
“We wanted our project to embody the Inclusive Communities Fund ethos of being truly inclusive and reaching people right across our community while providing them with a safe space, which is why all five of our workshops were aimed at different people.
This included school children, young people in need of employability skills, those experiencing homelessness, those from the Eastern European community, and older people who struggle with technology, and the additional staff we’ve been able to employ have elevated our project and increased our visibility.
Through this work we’ve heard some incredible stories and had some amazing feedback about the difference our workshops have made.
It was fantastic to speak at the Inclusive Communities Fund celebration and hear from others about their projects.”
Tina Costello OBE said:
“This event was a real celebration of the amazing voluntary and community sector organisations that benefitted from the Inclusive Communities Fund.
What we wanted from this fund was to create a real long-lasting legacy for the voluntary and community sector across the region, and I certainly feel like we’ve achieved that.
This is the largest programme that the Foundation has ever delivered and we wanted to make sure it was transparent, fair and inclusive, so we recruited a diverse panel of individuals who represented the wonderful West Midlands and Warwickshire and made the decision on the grants.
What we weren’t prepared for was the unprecedented interest in the fund, which demonstrates the significant need for additional funding for the voluntary and community sector, and the whole team worked tirelessly to award £11.8 million to 388 organisations.
I am incredibly passionate about the voluntary and community sector and what we do to make a difference to the lives of others, and I would like to thank everyone involved in the Inclusive Communities Fund and our fantastic celebration event.
We would also like to congratulate all of the beneficiaries of the fund who are all doing incredible things to support communities right across the region.”
Richard Parker added:
“This funding has opened up new opportunities for thousands of local people to get involved in sports, arts, and community activities – often for the first time. For many, it has been truly life-changing, giving them the chance to learn new skills and connect with their communities.
This support goes directly to the heart of our communities, helping tackle issues like health inequalities, social isolation, and inactivity. It’s these kinds of changes that build stronger communities and create brighter futures for generations to come.”
To enjoy photos from the event, click here: ICF Event Photo Gallery | Heart of England Community Foundation