Agenda item

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet:

Approved the allocation of Community Infrastructure Grant £289,500 across the pool of organisations outlined in Appendix 1. 

Delegated powers to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery to review and award the Community Infrastructure Grant in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Lead, the allocation of £110,500 to support community infrastructure development work including the management of any gaps in provision either geographically or by community. The specific awards will be confirmed through collaboration with the successful providers, to shape the final design including delivery configuration and resource allocation.

Agreed in principle, approval for a second and third year of funding for Community Infrastructure organisations for 2023/24 and 2024/25, as set out in Appendix 1 and subject to future budget availability. These would be subject to annual review in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Lead.

Delegated powers to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery to review and award the Community Chest Grants for 2022/23 in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Lead.

Noted the awards of project-based grants to organisations, including those funded through a budget that in previous years has been deployed for one-off commissioning of youth activity by the Children and Families Service in Appendix 2. Approval of these grants was delegated by Cabinet to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery.

Noted that the review of project based and Specialist grants is still being progressed and in view of this agree in principle to continued funding for 2023/24. 

Agreed to the launch of an open process of applications for advice grants in August 2022. Recommendations on awards for three years, subject to future budget availability, will be brought back to Cabinet in January 2023.

Agreed to delegate powers to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Lead, to reinvest in the advice system £35K previously awarded to HCVS over four years in order to develop that organisation’s knowledge and skills in systems thinking.

Reasons for decision

The recommendation to launch a VCS grants programme was agreed by Cabinet on 24th January 2022 based on the budget for 2022/23. Cabinet is asked to agree the recommended awards for the Community Infrastructure Grants, the launch of an open application process for the advice grant programme and note progress on the review of Specialist and open, project-based grants.  This is a key decision of the Council as it affects two or more wards and is related to Council spend.

A grants review was planned for 2020, and the intention was to build on continuous learning about the best ways to make grant investments in a complex environment, learning in particular from earlier work with advice providers. The direction of travel for this grant review had already been summarised in the Council’s Voluntary and Community Sector Strategy 2019. The formal review was delayed following the onset of the pandemic because of the  need to focus on grant making that responded to the immediate crisis. However the Council was able to put the learning into practice in the way we funded organisations during this period, when we had to accelerate plans to change the way we understood grant funding. 

From this learning we know that there are much more effective and impactful ways to invest in the voluntary and community sector than the traditional approaches to grant making and to commissioning. This traditional approach is  transactional and arms-length and assumes complex challenges can be addressed through short term, separate projects and measurable outputs.

The future of the grants programme is being shaped by the Council’s experience of working with the sector during the pandemic, the knowledge we have gained from working with our advice providers, and the change and transformation we are trying to achieve as a Council. We do not intend to change the objectives of the grant programme and the two main aims are still relevant, if not more so given the refresh of the Council’s Corporate Plan: 

·  To promote social inclusion, encourage independence and develop personal resilience

·  To build positive relations between different groups and communities that will maintain the high levels of community cohesion in Hackney

The next phase of the review of the grants programme will be progressed over the next six months focussing on the project-based grants and Specialist grants. This will include exploring further opportunities to build in equality focussed and anti-racist approaches to the delivery of the investment e.g. in the application process.

Councillor Kennedy outlined the report to Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet:

Approved the allocation of Community Infrastructure Grant £289,500 across the pool of organisations outlined in Appendix 1. 

Delegated powers to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery to review and award the Community Infrastructure Grant in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Lead, the allocation of £110,500 to support community infrastructure development work including the management of any gaps in provision either geographically or by community. The specific awards will be confirmed through collaboration with the successful providers, to shape the final design including delivery configuration and resource allocation.

Agreed in principle, approval for a second and third year of funding for Community Infrastructure organisations for 2023/24 and 2024/25, as set out in Appendix 1 and subject to future budget availability. These would be subject to annual review in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Lead.

Delegated powers to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery to review and award the Community Chest Grants for 2022/23 in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Lead.

Noted the awards of project-based grants to organisations, including those funded through a budget that in previous years has been deployed for one-off commissioning of youth activity by the Children and Families Service in Appendix 2. Approval of these grants was delegated by Cabinet to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery.

Noted that the review of project based and Specialist grants is still being progressed and in view of this agree in principle to continued funding for 2023/24. 

Agreed to the launch of an open process of applications for advice grants in August 2022. Recommendations on awards for three years, subject to future budget availability, will be brought back to Cabinet in January 2023.

Agreed to delegate powers to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Lead, to reinvest in the advice system £35K previously awarded to HCVS over four years in order to develop that organisation’s knowledge and skills in systems thinking.

Reasons for decision

The recommendation to launch a VCS grants programme was agreed by Cabinet on 24th January 2022 based on the budget for 2022/23. Cabinet is asked to agree the recommended awards for the Community Infrastructure Grants, the launch of an open application process for the advice grant programme and note progress on the review of Specialist and open, project-based grants.  This is a key decision of the Council as it affects two or more wards and is related to Council spend.

A grants review was planned for 2020, and the intention was to build on continuous learning about the best ways to make grant investments in a complex environment, learning in particular from earlier work with advice providers. The direction of travel for this grant review had already been summarised in the Council’s Voluntary and Community Sector Strategy 2019. The formal review was delayed following the onset of the pandemic because of the  need to focus on grant making that responded to the immediate crisis. However the Council was able to put the learning into practice in the way we funded organisations during this period, when we had to accelerate plans to change the way we understood grant funding. 

From this learning we know that there are much more effective and impactful ways to invest in the voluntary and community sector than the traditional approaches to grant making and to commissioning. This traditional approach is  transactional and arms-length and assumes complex challenges can be addressed through short term, separate projects and measurable outputs.

The future of the grants programme is being shaped by the Council’s experience of working with the sector during the pandemic, the knowledge we have gained from working with our advice providers, and the change and transformation we are trying to achieve as a Council. We do not intend to change the objectives of the grant programme and the two main aims are still relevant, if not more so given the refresh of the Council’s Corporate Plan: 

·  To promote social inclusion, encourage independence and develop personal resilience

·  To build positive relations between different groups and communities that will maintain the high levels of community cohesion in Hackney

The next phase of the review of the grants programme will be progressed over the next six months focussing on the project-based grants and Specialist grants. This will include exploring further opportunities to build in equality focussed and anti-racist approaches to the delivery of the investment e.g. in the application process.