Waltham Forest - Community Learning Grants 2024

New Community Learning Funding Opportunity 23/24

Apply for small funding grants of up to £3,000 to provide teaching and learning opportunities to local residents.

Deadline for applications: Friday 16 February, 2024

Are you a group working with local residents in Waltham Forest to raise their skills?
If so, then consider working in partnership with us. We are offering an opportunity for local community groups to apply for small funding grants of up to £3,000 to provide teaching and learning opportunities to local residents and their group members.

Many residents, who may not feel ready to access traditional learning, education, and employment opportunities, will respond positively when that offer comes through a more familiar or informal route. We want to use community learning and education as a bridge to a better life, where residents have the skills and confidence to make the most of opportunities and improve their job and earning prospects.

We recognise that many community groups are already doing great work with residents in the borough, and we want to help support and develop this work. We are seeking to support projects that provide residents with their ‘first step’ into learning, increasing confidence and motivation and the ability to access further learning opportunities. It is recognised that the community and voluntary sector can provide some of the most innovative ways of providing learning opportunities to groups that have traditionally been hard to engage.

We will achieve this through making community learning easy to access, exciting, and offering a good range of subjects that people enjoy studying. Classes will help people connect, support families, and lead onto qualifications for those who want them.

The main purpose of the Community Learning (CL) funding is to reach disadvantaged communities and individuals, to enable them to participate in learning and to progress towards further learning and/or sustainable employment. With the negative impact that Covid-19 will have had on people’s lives, this fund is now more necessary than ever in supporting community wellbeing, cohesion, and upskilling.

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Information Sharing Meeting and FAQs

ALS will convene a meeting for those interested in applying for this funding, which will give an opportunity for partners to discuss proposals with ALS managers and discuss how it fits with the local offer. This meeting will also give organisations considering putting in an application a chance to ask any questions they have about CL funding in general.

This meeting is aimed particularly at organisations new to this fund, and whilst all are welcome to attend, it is not mandatory to attend as an indication to bid for this funding – your attendance at this meeting will not be considered in the assessment of your application.

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Waltham Forest Adult learning Service’s key aims are listed below, your applications should cover, but not be limited to the following:

Improving quality of life

• Physical Health and Wellbeing and Mental Health and Wellbeing

Improving outcomes for Families

• Wellbeing, healthy eating, and lifestyle programmes.
• Family STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, Math) provision.

Increasing digital literacy skills and digital inclusion*

• Support those with no or low digital skills
• Support more people progress onto the new fully funded Essential Digital Skills qualifications (EDSQs)

Improving participation amongst men and help overcome isolation amongst older residents.

• Reduce social isolation and loneliness.

Increase awareness of Green Agenda:

• Increase and promote our Carbon literacy offer in line with local authority climate emergency agenda.
• Offer upcycling and recycling courses.

Learning Projects that support the cost-of-living crisis

• Supporting residents with household and personal budgets
• Cooking on a budget

Priority groups

We will particularly welcome groups who work with unemployed residents with low-level skills or without qualifications who haven’t learned for a while or are underrepresented in community learning including:

• Individuals and families on low Incomes
• Individuals and families experiencing domestic violence
• Residents with long term health conditions/mental health issues and COVID related health conditions
• BAME especially Pakistani / Bangladeshi / Afro-Caribbean
• Men

Priority Wards / Areas

• Leyton
• Higham Hill
• Cathall
• Hoe street
• Leabridge
• Markhouse
• Wood Street
• Cann Hall

Intended outcomes of community learning:

• Economic outcomes e.g. secure employment, volunteering
• Social Inclusion
• Cultural Integration and Awareness
• Community Cohesion
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

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To request an application form please email us by clicking the link below:

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Get in Touch

Whether you need to get in touch to join a course, let us know if you're unable to attend your course, raise a query, let us know your feedback or anything else, contact us using the options below. You can also talk to an adviser live by clicking on the green speech bubble in the bottom right of the screen.