Exeter Community Centre awarded grant of £80,000 from the City Council
Published: 31 January 2020
Exeter Community Centre has been awarded a grant of £80,000 from the Council’s Strategic Fund to help increase space and boost its work in the community.
This year around £1m has been made available by the council in grant support for community groups and organisations to work on local projects that help make Exeter such a great place to live.
Council Leader Phil Bialyk said: “When you look at what Exeter Community Centre does, and the number of groups and people who use it, I am amazed every time I come here. It is right in the city centre, and is exactly the sort of community group that we want to assist.
“We set aside over £1m for grants and supporting and commissioning services like Citizens Advice Exeter, which is very important to a lot of our residents.
“We give grant support not just for big projects like this – we give ward grants of £500 to community groups, like football teams, running groups and a whole range of things.
"It is fantastic that we are in a position to do this. We have earmarked this money for a number of years now, and we are going to continue supporting our communities.”
Cllr Amal Ghusain, Lead Councillor for Equalities, Diversity & Communities, said: “I am delighted that we have continued to support the refurbishment of Exeter Community Centre. St David’s is a densely populated area that is within the 20 per cent of most deprived areas in the country.
“So the grant that Exeter City Council has afforded will help the Trust to provide more affordable and better quality space for the community to come together.”
Hannah Reynolds, Chair of Trustees at Exeter Community Centre, welcomed the award.
She said: “Over the years we have refurbished the building, but we did not have enough money to refurbish the top floor – now we have.
"This will provide more space for community groups on the top floor, but also through our community engagement programme celebrate the heritage of the building and the area around St David’s.”
The Council has made around £1m available in grant support for community groups and organisations.
The Grants Programme supports projects that:
- Help people to help themselves and each other
- Build on the strengths of people and communities
- Connect people and organisations within and across communities
There are a number of funds with different criteria and amounts available. All the information is available on the council's website at exeter.gov.uk/grants
Anyone in any doubt on which grant to apply should email at grants@exeter.gov.uk