Voluntary and community groups helping local people through the current the cost-of-living crisis are being invited to apply for funding to help them with their work.

The Cost of Living Community Fund is now open and is part of Bury's response to supporting the community with the cost-of-living pressures.

It supports the borough’s Cost of Living & Anti-Poverty and LET’S Do It strategies and has been targeted to support local voluntary and community groups in helping and enabling local residents to best manage current hardship pressures.

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Groups can apply for up to £5,000 for collaborative projects or up to £2,000 as individual organisations.

Funding will support initiatives across the priorities including tackling food and fuel poverty; finance and debt; work and wages; digital inclusion; childhood poverty, and the impacts of poverty on wellbeing.

The funding has been made available through Bury Council and the Government Household Support Fund which supports activities and funding projects to support local neighbourhoods.

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Cllr Richard Gold, Cabinet Member for Communities and Finance, said: “We continue to work closely with our amazing voluntary, community and faith sector to collectively address both the impacts of current cost of living pressures but also to work together to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.

“Through the partnership Anti-Poverty Steering Group and cost of living summits, the importance of the role of local community organisations is hugely recognised, through which further funding is being made available to support those groups who play such a key role in supporting those who need it most in our communities."

Applications are open now with bids to be submitted by Tuesday, 5 September 2023.

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Two “meet the funder” sessions are taking place in the coming weeks where groups can ask questions on the fund or seek groups to collaborate with.

These are on Tuesday, 25 July at noon and Thursday, 10 August at 6pm.

Further information on these, along with the application form and full guidance are available here.

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