New deal helps faith groups support communities

Faith groups will be able to apply for a share of the £1m Faith New Deal Pilot Fund for projects providing solutions to issues such as food poverty and poor mental health, after a new deal between the government and faith groups was announced.

The project hopes to capitalise on efforts to help communities during lockdown, with faith groups having been instrumental in supporting communities throughout the pandemic, from delivering food to frontline workers and vulnerable people to supporting those who were lonely or isolated.

Projects combating loneliness and isolation, providing debt advice and helping those who were unemployed during the pandemic to get back to work are set to benefit from the new pilot.

Faith minister, Lord Stephen Greenhalgh, said: ‘Over the last 18 months, I have seen first-hand the outstanding work faith groups are doing to serve their communities. Their vital work has helped the most vulnerable members of society during the pandemic with crucial support and services. This new fund will draw on that wealth of experience and energy, for the benefit of all.’

The fund will be open to faith-based organisations to deliver projects to provide community wide services open to all the local population, with an additional aim of fostering good relationships between people of faith and those of other faiths or none within local communities.

The Faith New Deal Pilot Fund comes in response to recommendations made in Danny Kruger’s report for the government on levelling up local communities and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Faith and Society’s report, ‘Keeping the Faith – Partnerships between faith groups and local authorities during and beyond the pandemic’.  

In related news, more than £1.9m of funding is being awarded to organisations across Wales to help tackle food poverty and address food insecurity within local communities.

Photo by Milada Vigerova