Who we are funded by
The ESF Community Grants programme is commissioned through the Education Skills Fund Agency (ESFA) and is a key investment that supports the delivery of the ESIF strategy.
Community Grants is co-financed by the European Social Fund.
Programme duration
Our 5th Community Grants programme, also referred to as ‘Community Grants 5’ or ‘CG5’, commenced on 1st April 2019 and will finish July 2022.
What is Community Grants?
The aim of the fund is to help unemployed people progress towards employment through access to learning and training opportunities.
CG5 distributes small grants in the Humber, East Riding, York and North Yorkshire region between £5,000 and up to £20,000.
The 1st application round has just finished. Check out our What’s Happening page for future rounds, or sign up to our mailing list.
The York and North Yorkshire programmes are sub-contracted to Knaresborough based Your Consortium.
Who is Community Grants for?
Funded activities must be aimed at unemployed individuals aged 18 years and over from the hardest to reach communities in Humber, East Riding, York and North Yorkshire.
The identified priority groups for our region are as follows;
- Disadvantaged communities
- People with disabilities and health conditions
- Lone parents
- People aged 50 and over
- People from ethnic minorities
- Females
However, applications will be considered from any community that can evidence deprivation, for example homeless people and ex-offenders.
Learner and organisation feedback
Delivery partners
HLC have successfully managed the delivery of Community Grants since 2007 across Yorkshire and the Humber. The small grants scheme is aimed at small to medium VCO’s who work with some of the most disadvantaged communities and are the furthest away from the labour market. These projects work with organisations locally and the project aims are:
- To help the most disadvantaged
- To tackle social exclusions
- To be focused on the capabilities of each individual
- To lead to better coordinated services
- To create new opportunities for work
Current success
Our Community Grants 5 project has been going since April 2019, these statistics show just how successful it currently is:
Statistics taken from the SAR 2020/21 report.
More than 1700 people have benefited from Community Grants funding
Over 78% of learners achieved to date
Grants have been awarded to more than 118 training organisations
Reporting fraud is the only real way of stamping it out
If you are a Community Grants participant and suspect fraud maybe being committed help us by reporting any suspected fraud directly to the Community Grants Team at HLC.
Telephone 01482 327438, option 3.
We are able to take your call from :- 8.30 – 4.30 Monday to Friday
Closed Saturday and Sunday.
If you wish to report a suspected fraud anonymously please leave a message on our answer phone after working hours or during the weekend.
