A welcoming city

Celebrating communities across Birmingham

What is the big idea?

Celebrating Communities Small Grants Funding Scheme has been set up by the Council to help people in all 69 of the city’s wards feel involved with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, celebrate the occasion and hopefully spark some long-lasting initiatives. Local communities are invited to submit proposals against one (or more) of the fund’s simple, inclusive and accessible themes:

• Get Active: encouraging communities to get out and get active by participating in sports and recreational activities
• Ready, Steady Fun: delivering community projects to ensure a local area is ‘Games ready’, hosting community celebrations to connect people and foster civic pride
• Celebrating Culture: developing community- led cultural initiatives that encourage intergenerational activities.

Two rounds of funding are open in 2021 to 2022 with allocations made towards based on a formula taking into account local deprivation data and the size of the ward.

Ward funding allocations range from £11,100 to £35,000.

What does this mean for me and my city?

To ensure the very best outcomes, training and support workshops are being delivered by Locality and Birmingham Community Matters, throughout both rounds of funding, to help community groups develop viable proposals and complete the application process. This capacity building training provides groups with core skills that will assist them when applying for funding applications in the future.

Since its launch in June 2021, a number of community groups have spoken to us about the fund, including several newly established groups.

We’ve received positive feedback about the availability of training and the simplicity of the process, setting the conditions to enable people to succeed.

Conversely to traditional grant funding programmes, all eligible proposals will be presented at their local ward forum meeting and attendees will vote for the projects they feel most align with their local ward priorities. This process of participatory decision making has been selected because it gives ownership of decisions to the local community.

What can be learnt from this to ensure it continues?

We have learnt a lot from delivering the funding and are committed to developing further initiatives to strengthen and support the long-term viability of the new and existing small community groups t hat have become known to the council as a result of the Celebrating Communities Small Grants Funding Scheme.

We plan to build awareness and support for participatory decision making within community groups and elected members to ensure we give local community groups and elected members to ensure we give local communities the power to influence the decisions that impact their local areas.

Enhanced marketing

This fund has encouraged our Communications and Marketing team to think differently and be creative. Launching the fund during a period of COVID-19 restrictions we had to craft a marketing strategy which would ensure wide-spread engagement across the city, promoting the scheme to every ward.

Our toolkit included the use of the creation of a distinctive brand, large signs placed across 30 of the city’s parks, use of digital screens outside supermarkets, local radio advertising, captivating and simple to understand animation videos and an impactful social media campaign. We also delivered a series of briefings for our elected members to help them encourage advocacy and participation with the Scheme in their wards.

Celebrating Communities Small Grants Funding Scheme was introduced to open up the Games to everyone and produce a positive impact across the entire city.