Active Communities is our open funding programme for community groups, not-for-profit organisations and local people wanting to create fairer places to grow, live, work and age.
We fund small and local projects, genuinely designed and run by local people across England, Scotland and Wales and invest between £5,000 and £40,000 for projects lasting up to two years.
The programme supports participants to come up with their own locally determined ideas, in order to strengthen social connections and encourage greater collective control. By enabling participants to take the lead and by putting processes in place to address issues that are important to them, the programme aims to make local communities and neighbourhoods even better.
We fund two types of projects:
- Neighbourhood-based projects - resident-led projects in neighbourhoods experiencing disadvantage because they are the most affected by health inequalities.
- Communities of Interest - projects which connect groups of people with shared identities or experiences who face additional barriers to good health due to discrimination and further inequality.
Projects need to:
- Be designed and led by local people
- Support their neighbourhood or community to come together to address an issue that is important to them
- Create stronger connections between people by supporting them to meet up regularly
- Be for people who experience greater social and economic disadvantage than people living in other parts of the country
