The strength of Kingston is its rich, diverse communities and our fantastic community, voluntary and cultural organisations play an essential role in the life of our borough. The work they do to support, enable and enhance the lives of people cannot be underestimated. But they, just like many residents, are facing the harsh impacts of the continuing cost of living crisis. We need to help ensure these invaluable organisations can survive and navigate the current challenges, and are able to plan ahead with some certainty.

This is why we have launched a new £720,000 Community Resilience Fund to support community, voluntary and cultural organisations through this difficult time.

The Community Resilience Fund focuses on investing in culture and wellbeing and strengthening our communities to help them thrive. It aims to ensure that groups can not only manage, but also feel confident in planning activities that will continue to support residents through all kinds of activities for all ages and needs.

We created this fund as part of the council’s 2023-24 budget and it launched in April for one year. There will be three opportunities for groups to apply for funding, with applications for the first round now open until May 31.

I know how much stronger we are when we work together. There is already much collaboration and joint working across community and cultural organisations. This is important for all of us and our strength in the future. Bids involving more than one group are strongly encouraged.

Organisations will be able to apply for three pots of funding, which will be awarded based on how bids are supporting communities across the borough to be more resilient.

This fund is available to organisations across the whole of the borough, whether they have worked with the council before or not. We understand some groups may be less confident making applications digitally, so we have put in place an application support service offering face-to-face or video call appointments to help with completing the digital form. Translators are also available through this service. You can email strategy@kingston.gov.uk for more information.

So if you are part of a community, voluntary or cultural group in the borough, or if you know any groups who may be interested, please go to our website to find out more and apply at kingston.gov.uk/communityresiliencefund.

And remember, you can contact us if you need any help to apply.

At a time when we all face financial challenges, this fund has been created to recognise the power and importance of communities and all the individuals and groups working to support people. We want to enable voluntary, community and cultural groups to continue their innovative and inspiring work with communities - Kingston is a much better place because of the great things they do.