Grant funding of £29,000 for Assynt group
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An Assynt community group has been granted £29,008 from the government through the Supporting Communities Fund.
In March, the Scottish Government announced an investment of £350 million to support local communities and households across Scotland in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. These funds include the Supporting Communities Fund which has been established with an initial £10 million investment and is being targeted through community anchor organisations; Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is distributing the funds on behalf of the government.
Assynt Development Trust (ADT) worked together with Assynt Community Council (ACC), Community Care Assynt (CCA) and Connect Assynt (CA) to produce a final costed application.
Last week HIE informed ADT that the application for £29,008 had been accepted in full and the first payment of £14,504 (half the grant amount) was received by the trust on Friday. The grant is for the period April 20 to July 31, although the fund may be extended beyond this date and further funding made available.
The fund includes provision for several activities and outputs across Assynt:
Assessing and managing risk and provision of information resources. Hot daily meal deliveries to isolated and high risk individuals. Local food bank establishment and operation. Provision of consumables and equipment including PPE. Contingency fund including support to enable working with other groups. Supplies collection from outside Assynt
The groups are now developing an action plan detailing how and who will deliver the suggested tasks.
The second half of the grant will be paid to ADT by HIE subject to satisfactory review of the interim report of activities and outcomes during the period to mid June. If any funds remain unspent by the end of the grant period they will need to be returned to HIE and the Scottish Government.
A spokesman for ADT said: "It is realised that there may be other needs in Assynt that could be funded so we would ask individuals and organisations to contact us if they know of any needs that could be addressed by this funding. Please come forward and make yourself known.
"The actual delivery of these activities can be undertaken by a range of other community groups and bodies with ADT providing the necessary funds to enable these to happen. It will be possible to move funds and expenditure from one project to another although we need to keep HIE informed if we do this. It is our aim to work with people in Assynt already supporting and assisting neighbours and others. This could be by reimbursing them for travel or associated costs, the provision of items of equipment or aids to improve quality of life of families and others on their own, experiencing the deprivations of social isolation. We cannot use these funds to provide a direct income, but we can support a food bank, the delivery of hot meals and other necessities."
