Building safer communities in Gwent
I am often asked: what does a High Sheriff do? There are not enough column inches to answer in full but the most important task of any High Sheriff is to support voluntary groups in their county.
The shrieval county of Gwent was formed in 1972 and covers Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen.
No voluntary group can survive without funding and the job of supporting such heroes in Gwent is made easier by the Gwent High Sheriffs’ Community Fund.
The fund is overseen by the Gwent High Sheriffs’ Community Fund panel with support from Community Foundation Wales. The panel members include High Sheriffs present, past and future together with the Police and Crime Commissioner, and Chief Constable.
From November 1st 2021, we are inviting applications from community groups, voluntary organisations and local charities in Gwent. Full details of the fund and how to apply can be found here.
High Sheriffs want to support projects that provide a safer and better quality of life for the people of their county, especially supporting community-based initiatives and projects for young people that help reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.
After a pandemic that none of us will forget in a hurry, the kind of projects we want to fund will be those that provide support to young people and the challenges they face in the 2020s. This includes the risks associated with online activities, the impact of Covid, and reducing crime, antisocial behaviour and their causes.
We want to engage young people in activities that will foster good citizenship in the future, so we want to support projects for children and young people up to the age of 25.
We will be providing mostly single-year grants, but we recognise how important it is for groups to be able to plan for the future and that having secure funding can give the confidence and reassurance to develop projects over the long term. We will award at least one successful applicant up to £5,000 a year for three years.
Applications will close on December 6 2021. Groups will then be shortlisted and invited to present their bid for a grant at the annual “Your Voice, Your Choice” participatory grantmaking event on February 19, 2022.
So, if you have a project that mentors and supports young people in Gwent, apply today!
