VOLUNTARY and community organisations across Worcester and Malvern have been given a £100,000 cash injection to aid their efforts thanks to the efforts of a city bid chief.
Keith Slater, the man behind Community Boost CIC, revealed his six-figure target for good causes had been reached just days before his own £5,000 handout from Worcestershire County Council’s Community Solutions Fund was due to expire.
The Boost was handed the cash last October to enable it to work with voluntary and community organisations across Worcester and Malvern to help them access their own grant funding.
Following his own helping hand, the ambitious bid chief set a target of £100,000 in grant funding in 12 months and the Boost got off to a stunning start with £80,000 secured by March.
A further £70,000 worth of applications were in the pipeline when the Coronavirus lockdown began, which meant all pending pleas were returned as funders directed their cash to emergency needs.
Speaking to the Observer, Mr Slater said he felt his dreams of a six-figure win for local good causes were set to be dashed by Coronavirus.
“It was frustrating as I thought our project would have to concede we reached £80,000 but no more,” he said.
“But suddenly in the last few weeks applications we made for emergency funding have started to come through and two weeks ago an award for a foodbank project in Malvern Hills meant we reached an overall total of £105,000, literally ten days before the Community Solutions grant expired.”
The community chief heaped praise on the county council for the initial outlay and revealed the two-person operation at the heart of the Boost has also helped to set up projects as diverse as arts and crafts for women with poor mental health, music for adults with learning needs, support for people with poor mental health, youth work, family support mentoring, mentoring vulnerable young children and foodbanks.
As well as celebrating the generation of more than £100,000 for local causes, Mr Slater said he was pleased some organisations had accessed a grant for the first time.
“A grant is not necessarily a much-heralded but very short -term solution; it can well be the start of a longer term source of funding to help make an organisation just a little bit more sustainable,” he added.
The Boost team have generated almost £1.5m in grant funding for small, local organisations and charities.
”These small organisations, often forgotten and left behind, are the unsung heroes and backbone of many local communities. We need to do all we can to ensure their long term survival,” he said.
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