Community Choices: Phase Two Open for Applications

Community Choices Phase Two is now open for applications.

Community Choices is Falkirk Council’s participatory budgeting initiative (in partnership with Falkirk’s Health and Social Care Partnership), with over £3 million of funding available over 2 years for local groups and organisations to bring about the changes that can make a difference to their community. Community Choices aims to support proposals that can make local areas fairer, healthier, more connected and more inclusive.

There are two Community Choices funds:

• Small Grants Programme (for bids of up to £5,000)
• Place-Based Capital Programme (P-BCP) (for larger projects of £5,000 and over)

How It Works

Clubs, organisations, community groups and individuals from across the Falkirk Council area can submit applications to secure public funding for their local area or project. Each of the 9 Falkirk Council electoral wards has a share of the public funds to invest in projects; the money allocated to each ward is based on its child poverty rates.

An Advisory Panel will consider each application and support those going forward to a public vote, where people who live in each ward will have 3 votes to vote for their favourite project.

Changes for Phase Two

Phase Two of Community Choices sees the introduction of a new category for project ideas that benefit more than one ward area, the “Falkirk-wide projects” category.

Additionally, for the Place-Based Capital Programme, no one project can put forward an idea that will cost more than 60% of a ward’s fund allocation.

Important Dates

Applications to the Small Grants programme should be submitted by Friday 19^th November.

The deadline for applications to the Place-Based Capital Programme is Tuesday 7^th January 2022.

How to Apply

To apply, or for further information, please contact the Community Choices team to request a Project Proposal form, by email: community.choices@falkirk.gov.uk

Further Information

Alternatively, for further information on participatory budgeting, visit the following sites:

• Falkirk Council’s Community Choices main page (including application guidance and FAQs)
• Phase One’s Small Grants results
• Phase One’s Capital Grants results
• PB Scotland, a national hub from the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC), which shares information and learning about the work being done by PB initiatives around Scotland