Community Engagement grants application

Wokingham Borough Council firmly believes that there is no place for inequality in any society and together, we can make a difference.

We want to enrich the lives of all residents, in safe and strong communities and remove barriers. This can only be done by making the effort to actively tackle inequality. together. 

The Council is developing a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy to help to achieve these aims. We need to understand the needs of our diverse communities in order to develop a truly inclusive strategy and are looking to the Voluntary and Community Sector to help us to engage.

The council is aiming to allocate up to £500 each to small community and voluntary organisations to help them to run engagement sessions in their communities.

Criteria

The criteria for applications is that the group must be:

1. A community or voluntary organisation.

2. Work solely with one or more of the following protected characteristic groups:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender Reassignment
• Maternity/Pregnancy
• Race
• Religion
• Sex
• Sexual Orientation
• People on low income/financial hardship
• People who have experience of being in care
• Armed Forces Veterans or their dependents

3. The funds must be used to support the council’s engagement on its new EDI Objectives, for example:

• Lead and run engagement sessions with community members where you have a connection
  • Facilitate conversation based on the questions (to be finalised):
• How fair and welcoming do you feel Wokingham Borough is as a place to live or work?
• Can you share examples from your own experience?
• What can we do together to create a place where everyone belongs?   
• Evaluate feedback, present emerging themes which will be the baseline for development of the new EDI policy 
  • Sessions must be completed and feedback provided by 16th May 2025
  • We welcome applications from two or more organisations working together
  • A total of up to 10 awards will be made 
  • Awards are made directly to the successful organisations who will determine how the finding is used, however we would expect some form of recompense for participants to be included.

The assessment panel

The assessment panel will consist of a minimum of three council officers, including the Head of Insight, Strategy & Inclusion, the Head of Communities and Partnerships and at least one representative from the council’s staff equality networks. The panel will assess each application on its merits, whilst being mindful of their responsibility to ensure the funds are distributed across all protected characteristic groups, where possible.

Innovative and imaginative approaches to understanding community needs and promoting inclusion will be welcome. Where applications are unsuccessful, we are willing to provide verbal feedback on request.

The Application Process

Applications can be received from 9am on Tuesday 11th February 2025

Please complete the application form  by 5pm Friday 7th March 2025. 

Panel meet week commencing 10th March 2025