Recently, John and Alan from Crook got in touch with me via Crook Councillors Pat and Mike, as they run a Community Interest Company (CIC, a Charity that invests in community assets) and want to put some funding back into help the area they grew up in.
Via Wear Valley Renewables they already give out grants to local community organisations and charities - you can apply for them here >>> https://www.cdcf.org.uk/gran.../wear-valley-renewables-fund/
But they want to do something more permanent in Crook. However, they seem to be coming up against some difficulty trying to get the matched funding they need either from the Council or the Government via the Community Ownership Fund. They got in touch with me and my team and I managed to connect them with the Minister in charge of Levelling Up to see what we can do to help move this in the right direction for the people of Crook and the surrounding towns and villages. (Full details of the Community Ownership Fund here: https://www.gov.uk/.../community-ownership-fund-prospectus). They are now progressing with their idea!
I’m more than happy to do all I can to help make it work and if you've got a similar project in your community, or are applying for funding, please reach out AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE so that my team and I can help with bids, even if you've had a bid that failed in the past, we might be able to help. Just drop me a message via www.richardholden.org.uk/contact