Grants on offer to improve access to support for Scarborough residents living with serious mental illness and their carers

Applications are now open for grants of up to £30,000 through the Access and Connect Fund, aimed at supporting people to live well in their communities and give them greater choice and control over their care.

The funding is being offered as part of the North Yorkshire and York Community Mental Health Programme, to encourage people with lived experience and local partners to develop improved access to local support.

Mark Hopley, chair of Scarborough, Whitby, Ryedale Mental Health Partnership said: “I anticipate that some innovative project ideas will come from smaller community organisations and larger mental health charities.

“We’re also hoping to receive some partnership funding bids to test out some new ideas about how to improve access to local support and services in both urban and rural areas.”

The fund is open for grant applications from local voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises, sole-traders, and lived experience initiatives.

Large Grants of between £2,000 and £30,000 are available for established Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector organisations.

Organisations are encouraged to work in partnership, both with each other and with smaller grass roots groups.

Small Grants of between £500 and £2,000 are available for local grass roots groups, micro-enterprises, start-ups and for lived experience initiatives.

Applications should illustrate how delivery of community transformation is having a positive impact for people with mental health needs – and can include testimonials from service users or carers.

They will be evaluated by representatives from Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, Community First Yorkshire, and North Yorkshire County Council Stronger Communities.

David Kerr, Community Mental Health Transformation Programme and Delivery Lead for North Yorkshire and York said: “Transformed services are co-created by communities to meet the needs of their community.

“These grants provide an opportunity to trial new ways of working including the development of new community mental health hubs and the services that support them.”

For more information contact Charlene Hoggard, Senior Project Support Administrator – Community Mental Health Transformation for North Yorkshire and York, [email protected] or 07717806497.

Completed applications should be submitted to [email protected] by 23:59 hours on 6 November 2022.