Community groups across Leeds are being urged to apply for a slice of £600,000 in funding to ensure they can provide vital support to people across the city during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The lifelines provided by charities and community organisations are more vital than ever before, but the challenges of coronavirus have added further complications for many.
Last year, Leeds Community Foundation (LCF) issued almost £800,000 in emergency funding to help hundreds of charities across Yorkshire.
And now they have announced a further £600,000 is available to groups through The Leeds Fund. The pot of cash will allow grassroots groups to focus on the day-to-day delivery of their services, providing a lifeline and long-term stability to those in need.
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In previous years, The Leeds Fund has focussed on themes such as Mental Health and Loneliness and Inclusion.
This year, the priority is simply Resilience.
Kate Hainsworth, chief executive of Leeds Community Foundation said: "There is no doubt community-led activity has played a crucial role in national wellbeing and resilience during Covid-19 - closely connected with and complementing our emergency public services.
"What is less visible, is how fragmented and fragile is the infrastructure behind that community support — and how vulnerable it is to being swamped or swept away by the ongoing crisis.
"We need to invest more, and more consistently, in sustained resourcing of the community sector."
Steph Taylor, programmes director at Leeds Community Foundation, said: "We’ve worked with a wide range of partners and groups we fund to develop this programme and approach and are committed to continuing to learn from our Community Organisations.
"We distributed nearly £790,000 in emergency funding to keep organisations existing during the initial Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020 and we hope The Leeds Fund strategic grants will support those frontline groups to continue to exist and thrive now and for many more years to come.
"We are also committed to ensuring we can increase The Leeds Fund pot to keep the funds flowing to more and more in the years ahead and are working with existing and new donors to pledge support for The Leeds Fund in 2021."
For more information or to apply for a grant, visit the Leeds Community Foundation website.
