About the Fund
There is a commitment across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to increase opportunities for people to stay healthy and well with a particular focus adult mental health and wellbeing.
The ‘Getting help in Neighbourhoods’ mental health grant fund is one element of a wider mental health transformation programme. It has been set up because the NHS LLR want to enable and increase local charitable, voluntary, community organisations to provide local activities for people aged 18+ that;
- Build resilience and prevent adult mental health issues from developing or becoming worse
- Provide more opportunities and places for adults aged 18+ to seek help and support
- Support adults ages 18+ recovering or living with long-term mental health challenges to live as independently as they can
- Improve healthy life expectancy and reduces health inequalities
To get a grant you will need to demonstrate a commitment to supporting adults that values and promotes their skills, experiences and potential.
Your activities will need to be inclusive, promote and celebrate local diversity and use local venues that people can easily access to reduce isolation and feel part of the community.
The fund values what voluntary groups can bring in terms of an alternative, creative and innovative approach and will support your organisations to develop its knowledge and skills about mental health and how you can best support people who need help.
For Round 2 the fund is particularly welcoming applications from:
- Organisations based and delivering in The County and Rutland (but no areas are excluded)
- Organisations supporting groups that are tackling the health inequalities
- Organisations offering innovative or preventative support
It is a condition of this fund that you plan for the training offered and evaluation required
How Much Can I Apply For?
- Grants of £3-5K
- For small groups (annual income up to 20k) to maintain or increase your current activities, or for one-off neighbourhood events/activities to support community mental wellbeing.
- Grants of £6-20k
- For established groups (annual income between 20K to £500k) to maintain or increase your current activities AND/OR to develop more mental health support within existing activities AND/OR reach new people.
- Grants of up £50K
- For established groups (minimum annual income of 100k) with proven mental health support experience, whose service users consistently struggle with mental health, to maintain or increase your current activities AND/OR to partner with another group to build on mental health provision in a particular area or neighbourhood.
What types of projects will the fund support?
Your application will need to clearly show how you will do one or more of the following:
- Provide activities for adults aged 18+ that help people to stay healthy and well. This means: preventing and tackling the issues that cause mental health challenges (e.g. reducing isolation and loneliness, debt support, housing security, physical activity, arts)
- Tackle health inequalities: – This means: Identify and deliver activities that support key groups of adults aged 18+ with specific mental health needs within different communities and localities.
- Reach adults aged 18 + in your community who tend not to engage with your service or with existing statutory services.
- Provide support for adults aged 18+ who are recovering or living with mental health challenges so they can reach their potential and live as independently as possible (e.g. recovery coaching, training, skills & education)
- Projects and initiatives that can support multiple needs. This means a partnership of organisations that seek to provide a range of support in one organised approach collectively.
Requirements of the Fund
Because this Mental Health Fund aims to improve local people’s mental health, it will be a condition of the grant that your project:
- Develops your staff and volunteers’ knowledge about mental health, growing your organisation’s confidence to support people with mental health needs.
Recommended training sessions will be provided (see Additional Information Page) and we expect you to add costings in your budget for staff and volunteers to attend a minimum of 2 of these courses
- Works to establish links with existing statutory provision or other experienced VCSE organisations, to signpost people to the right help earlier, and reduce escalation to emergency and acute services.
- Attend at least one sharing/general event, so that you can understand and link with other groups and agencies offering help. You can include the costs of attending events for your staff and volunteers in your application
- Provide quarterly and end of grant reporting.
This will be made a straightforward as possible (see Additional Information Page) and we expect you to add up to a maximum of 5% costings to your budget to ensure this is done.
What can the grant be used for?
- Costs of organising the project or activities, and people needed to manage and deliver these
- Specialist or qualified staff
- Volunteer expenses
- Materials or equipment needed
- Food and non-alcoholic drinks
- Marketing costs to promote your project or event
- Overheads relating specifically to the project (such as insurance / room hire / rent etc)
- Costs of making your event accessible to all, such as BSL interpreters, translation services, additional signage.
Opening and Closing Dates: Round 2
Opens: Thursday 16th June 2022
Closes: 9am on Monday 8th August 2022
Groups will be notified of panel decisions in November 2022*
Projects should start from December 2022 onwards, for a maximum 12-month period (project completing in December 2023).
*Grant payments will made directly by the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) not by the Community Foundation.
Before submitting an application, please read the following documents:
You may also find it helpful to read the NHS Reducing Health Inequalities Core20plus5 information:
We will be running online ‘Coffee and Chat’ zoom events in relation to this fund
Tuesday 28th June, 10am – 11am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/368379552157
Tuesday 5th July, 10am-11am
Please note: This session is specifically for small groups applying for under £5K ONLY https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/368382069687
Tuesday 12th July 10am-11am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/368385319407
Tuesday 19th July 10am-11am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/368387816877
Please contact a member of the grants team if you have any queries or need help at any stage of the application process. We are always happy to help in any way we can.
