Communities Prepared team meets in-person in Bristol, UK
In late May we were delighted to hear that our application to The National Lottery Community Fund for a further five years of funding was successful!
We are hugely grateful for the Fund’s continued support, and the opportunity that this gives us to both continue the work we’re already doing to grow community resilience across England and to explore how we can extend our offer and reach further. You can imagine how hard it’s been for us to keep the news quiet during the period of sensitivity in the run up to the recent General Election! With a new government now in position, we’re pleased to be able to share our news far and wide, and to start planning in earnest for the next phase of Communities Prepared which will kick off next month.
Thanks to this funding, our programme of live online training sessions and workshops will continue after a brief pause this summer to allow us to review our content and plan ahead for the autumn (watch this space for autumn dates coming soon), with plenty of self-led learning still available on our website too. Our training offer will continue to cover our existing topics such as flooding, snow, heatwaves, community emergency planning and coordinator training. We are also planning to expand this further, taking on board feedback from communities and partners we’ve worked with to date – including mini modules focused on different types of flooding, storm volunteer training and a workshop for primary schools.
The funding will also enable us to develop our regional community training and support plans through our national network of Groundwork Trusts and to ensure that our offer is accessible as possible to all those who need it.
Contact us if you want to work with us, know someone we can work with, or have suggestions!
We’re currently looking for partners to help us turn these plans into reality, so if you would like to work with us to grow community resilience in your area, please get in touch.
Beyond this, we’ll also continue to work with other organisations across the community resilience sector to convene and collaborate, ensuring that we all use our limited resources as effectively as possible. With a new Labour government under Sir Kier Starmer we look forward to seeing the momentum around whole of society resilience continue to build and are pleased to have the long term security in our own work to enable us to follow and be part of these developments.
If you have any suggestions for how we should focus our efforts over the next five years we’re always happy to hear them via our contact page or emailing to communitiesprepared@groundwork.org.uk. We’re excited about what the future holds for us and look forward to continuing to work with you all.
Hannah Baker
Communities Prepared Programme Manager
