From healthy eating to healthy hearts and minds

A range of projects run by community groups have received support from Bury Council and Bury Voluntary, Community, Faith Alliance (VCFA) to help residents with the cost of living.

Schemes to provide nutritious meals, to help young people to take part in sport, debt advice, increase the skills of those with learning disabilities or autism, and access to computers and help with going digital have received up to £5000 each from the Cost-of-Living Community Fund.

Bury VCFA, the borough’s local infrastructure organisation for the voluntary sector, delivered the fund on the council’s behalf.

In the latest round of the fund £50,000 has been given out as part of Bury’s ongoing response to supporting our local communities with cost-of-living pressures.

Initiatives funded through the Cost-of-Living Community Fund include:

• Projects to support with ready cooked meals as part of a befriending service.
• Support to increase the resilience of foodbanks and pantries across the borough.
• Debt and money management advice combined with healthy eating guidance.
• Initiative to expand provision to include support to accessing affordable clothing including uniforms.
• Digital education awareness and training – to access support, make applications and to further job opportunities.
• Initiatives tailored to support particular communities of experience.

The fund supports the delivery of the borough’s Cost of Living & Anti-Poverty and LET’S Do It strategies and has been targeted towards activity to support the resilience of local voluntary and community groups in helping and enabling local residents to best manage current hardship pressures.

The money has been made available through Bury Council and the government’s Household Support Fund.

Groups were able apply for up to £5,000 for collaborative projects or up to £2,000 as individual organisations, with the funding to support initiatives across the priorities including tackling food and fuel poverty; finance and debt; work and wages; digital inclusion; childhood poverty, and the impacts of poverty on wellbeing.

Councillor Richard Gold, Cabinet Member for Communities and Finance, said: “We continue to work closely with our amazing voluntary, community and faith sector to collectively address both the impacts of current cost of living pressures but also to work together to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.

“Through the partnership Anti-Poverty Steering Group and cost of living summits, the importance of the role of local community organisations is hugely recognised. These grants are play such a key role in supporting those who need it most in our communities.

“I’ve seen the vital work that these groups do and to hear first-hand from volunteers and residents about the struggles they are facing."