£2.4 million Ballymena community fund now open to bidders

A massive £2.4m fund to improve community facilities in the Ballymena area is now open for applications.

The ‘Enabling Community Capital Grants Programme’ may not exactly trip off the tongue but it could prove a huge benefit to local people.

It was launched last week by Ballymena Borough Council who are calling for applications to enhance facilities within the tourism, sports and arts sector.
The grants programme is open to constituted community groups, voluntary sports organisations, arts clubs and associations along with the Ballymena Community Clusters.

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The programme will provide up to a maximum of £350,000 per project on a match funding basis.
Speaking at the launch of the scheme on 19 July 2012 in The Braid Ballymena Town Hall, Museum and Arts Centre the Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson MP MLA commented:  

“The Executive recognises the significant contribution that community groups make to society in Northern Ireland and is committed to ensuring that we work closely with the sector to ensure our most disadvantaged citizens, families and communities continue to receive the support they need”. 
“We need to be innovative and effective in our approach and think about new ways of funding our activities and new ways of delivering vital services to our society. Ballymena Borough Council’s Enabling Community Grants Scheme is innovative and to be commended. It will undoubtedly provide much needed assistance to the community and voluntary groups in these challenging financial times.”
 Mayor of Ballymena Alderman PJ McAvoy added:“This is a fabulous opportunity for local groups in the borough to provide themselves with improved facilities and I would urge local groups to fully embrace this opportunity. We are committed to driving forward a shared community planning approach which allows us to work better, more efficiently and more innovatively to ensure our Borough delivers on the needs of our citizens.

“The way that we are doing this is through working together with all who have a part to play to help our local communities achieve their full potential.  Two years ago Council adopted a community planning approach to all that we do and this community planning approach has ensured that all the public, private, voluntary and community sectors work together across the Borough to achieve our citizen’s needs.  

“We, the Elected Members, continue to be grateful to all of our key stakeholders across the Borough who have signed up to and, more importantly, are committed to working together within this community planning model.”

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Council Town Clerk and Chief Executive Anne Donaghy commented: “This scheme will help all communities, by making available match funding to allow them to secure investment from external funding mechanisms, including Europe.  
“For every one pound spent by Council through this Enabling Scheme, we will deliver a further 2/3 pounds income to the Borough from external funding sources.  This means our £2.4million Community Enabling Scheme will deliver approximately £6-7m real investment in the communities across the Borough, whether that be on infrastructure, programmes, or activities.”
Further information on the Enabling Community Capital Grants Programme can be obtained from the Grants Office, Ballymena Borough Council.

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