The Coalfields Regeneration Trust, the only organisation dedicated to supporting the UK’s former mining towns and villages, has been awarded £1m funding from the Government’s Community Match Challenge Scheme.

Matching the award pound for pound, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust has created a £2m fund to be used to support its Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Fund and its Coalfields Food Insecurity Fund.

A new Regional Impact Fund is also being created to provide higher value grant support for exemplar projects. Over the lifespan of the fund, 200 small-to-medium voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations will benefit, helping them respond to emerging needs caused by Covid-19.

Andy Lock, head of operations (England) for the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, comments: “When lockdown hit, we knew that our communities would once again be disproportionately impacted, bearing the brunt of the economic and social challenges. Forty two percent of coalfield neighbourhoods are in the most deprived thirty percent in Britain and still face significant social, economic and health challenges.

“Recognising that important and urgent support was desperately needed, we quickly established our Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Fund and the Coalfields Food Insecurity Fund. While both have been a huge success in providing much-needed financial support, we simply haven’t been able to meet demand.

“The Community Match Challenge Scheme from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has presented a lifeline; not only will it help our support go further, but it will address the longer term challenges that our communities face in light of the ongoing pandemic.”

The funds will be distributed through an application process and submissions will be welcomed from projects that support individuals from across the area.

To date, the projects that the Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Fund and the Coalfields Food Insecurity Fund have supported have been vast. They have helped those addressing mental health issues, tackling food poverty, supporting children, young people and the vulnerable including those with disabilities and victims of domestic abuse.

In each instance funds have helped to strengthen these organisations by purchasing essential equipment and improving their capacity to deliver and to meet with growing demand for services.

For more information about the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, visit www.coalfields-regen.org.uk

Comments