Birmingham invites organisations to join Stronger Communities scheme

A search has been launched for organisations that can help support activities designed to bring people together in Birmingham.

The activities will form part of Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Voluntary Service Council’s (BVSC) Stronger Communities project, which is utilising an allocation of £500,000 from the Council’s £6m Commonwealth Games Community Fund.

Organisations are being asked to submit applications to support three of the workstreams that make up the scheme, including providing ideas, content and volunteers for potential heritage trails, gathering narratives about living and working in Birmingham from local communities and identifying people with interesting stories to tell, and recruiting and working with women from diverse backgrounds who have been marginalised and have difficulty engaging with others.

Cllr John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities, said: ‘The Commonwealth Games will be a moment to celebrate our city’s identity and personality with the world. Birmingham is a diverse, welcoming, and inclusive place. We want to enable local people and communities to participate in the Games in a way that builds civic pride, cohesion and inclusion.

‘We can use our Proud Host City status as a turning point in uniting our population and tackling inequalities. We’ve engaged with the people of Birmingham to shape the Stronger Communities programme and will be working with BVSC and others to deliver it – now we need organisations to come forward to help do this and I hope we receive a wide range of submissions to help us achieve a key legacy aims from the Games.’

The deadline for submissions is 7 January, and more information about submitting a proposal can be found here.

In related news, Triodos Bank UK has finalized new lending to YMCA Dulverton Group, supporting the charity’s plan to expand its work supporting communities, families and vulnerable people across the South West.

Photo by Hannah Busing