LOCAL community groups throughout Northern Ireland are being encouraged to apply for grants to help people access the skills and opportunities needed to get into work or start a business.
The Ulster Bank’s Skills & Opportunities Fund, first launched in 2015 and now in its second round, is a UK and Ireland Fund that distributes £2.5m annually over a three-year period and supports projects in disadvantaged communities which help people access the skills and opportunities needed to get into work or start a business.
In this round the bank is also inviting applications for small to medium sized projects that promote financial inclusion and personal finance education.
Past recipient, the Lenadoon Community Forum, was awarded £35,000 to help implement a range of education and employability programmes. Training Manager Sharon McCullough is clear that without the bank’s funding they simply wouldn’t have been able to roll out vital programmes to support the local West Belfast community.
Calling on local community Community groups can bank on funding groups to submit an application form ahead of the closing date on September 9 Sharon said: “Winning a funding award has helped us implement a range of projects allowing us to engage with over 250 disadvantaged people.
“We kicked off our programmes in September 2015 and to date 331 men and women aged 18 to 62 have completed a range of personal development and accredited courses enabling them to develop the skills and confidence to more effectively compete in the job market, indeed nine of our participants have so far gained permanent employment. The funding secured has also enabled us to create employment for seven part-time sessional tutors to deliver the Programme.
She continued: “Sourcing community funding is often challenging and without this invaluable award from the Skills & Opportunities Fund our employment programme would cease to exist. Winning the award has enabled us to continue with our Lenadoon Training for Employment programme which has helped many of our course participants turn round their lives and work towards a much more positive future.”
A panel of experts, including independent judges and Ulster Bank senior managers, will be involved in assessing all entries and publishing a shortlist.
Voting will then be open to the public from October 21 to November 4 with the public vote counting as one vote within the final phase of judging. The winning projects will be announced week commencing December 5 2016.
To date Northern Ireland winners in 2015 and 2106 have secured over £132,000 of funding and in addition to Lenadoon Community Forum, successful local organisations include Young Enterprise NI, Cooperation Ireland, Ballybeen Women’s Centre, Sentinus and West Bann Development.