The Education and Skills Funding Agency has contracted with London Learning Consortium to act as a managing agent and to make ESF Community Grants available in the form of small grants (up to £20,000) to third sector and other small organisations for the purpose of mobilising disadvantaged or excluded unemployed and inactive people to enable their progress towards employment. Organisations that access grants need to be well placed to reach excluded individuals facing barriers, which hinder their access to mainstream provision Grants will:
o engage with marginalised individuals and support them to re-engage with education, training, or employment;
o will support a range of activities aimed at assisting the disadvantaged or excluded to move closer to the labour market by improving their access to mainstream ESF and domestic employment and skills provision; and
o will provide support to the hardest to reach communities and individuals, especially those from deprived communities, to access employment or further learning and training.
To be successful in applying for a Community Grant you must be a Third Sector Organisation (any size which operates within the Third Sector) or Small Organisation (Employ fewer than 49 full time equivalent staff and have an annual turnover or balance sheet equal to or below EUR 10 million).
You must also work with some of the following 16+ participants:
o Participants over 50 years of age
o Participants with disabilities
o Participants from an ethnic minority
o Participants who are Women
o Parents/mothers
o Carers
o Groups with low labour market participation
o Migrants and refugees
o Homeless
o Ex-offenders
All participants must be either of the following:
o Inactive = Not in employment and not registered as unemployed.
o Unemployed = Persons who are without work, available for work and actively seeking work.
You must deliver services in one or more of the following Local Authorities:
There are 17 Local Authorities within the Coast to Capital area made up of county councils, district and borough councils and a national park authority:
o Adur District Council
o Arun District Council
o Brighton & Hove City Council
o Chichester District Council
o Crawley Borough Council
o Croydon Council
o Epsom & Ewell Borough Council
o Horsham District Council
o Lewes District Council
o Mid Sussex District Council
o Mole Valley District Council
o Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
o South Downs National Park
o Surrey County Council
o Tandridge District Council
o West Sussex County Council
o Worthing Borough Council
You must also offer some of the following types of activities for your service users:
o First contact engagement activities, e.g. activities that benefit Participants who are not normally in contact with official organisations for example but not exclusively DWP, FE Colleges, for example by arranging events or training in places that Participants feel comfortable to visit.
o Projects to improve confidence, motivation and social integration such as sport, gardening, music, art and other creative activities.
o Developing local networks and groups to support people to get a job or access learning e.g. Job Clubs or Learning Champion type activity.
o Softer skills development e.g. assertiveness, anger management and motivation.
• Innovative approaches to attract under-represented Participant groups into learning.
If your organisation is eligible to apply for ESF Community Grants funding under Coast to Capital’s Community Grants Programme, please contact London Learning Consortium to find out more.
London Learning Consortium (LLC) has a track record of demonstrating the strategic and local impact of community projects and grant funding on the communities and lives of those living in the Coast to Capital region and as a part of this LLC has been awarded a contract to manage ESF Community Grant funding for Coast to Capital.
The closing date for Coast to Capital Expression of Interest (EOI) to be submitted is the 8th of November 2019 at 23.59pm.
You can download the Coast to Capital EOI here: ESF Grants – Coast to Capital – Expression of Interest
If you would like to find out more then please contact LLC via the following details:
LLC Community Grants Project Manager
Tel: 0208 774 4040
Email: community.grants@londonlc.org.uk
Website: www.londonlc.org.uk