The deadline for project idea submissions to the latest round of the Community Choices programme is approaching next week, closing at 11:59pm on Friday 1^st December.

Community Choices is Falkirk Council and Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership’s participatory budgeting programme. It gives local people a way to apply for public money to improve their local area and vote to decide how public money is spent.

About Community Choices

Two grants are available:

Small Grant: up to £5,000 for projects that will make a real difference to the lives of people living in each of Falkirk Council’s 9 electoral ward
Place-based Capital Grant: supporting proposals which need a capital investment of more than £5,000 to build something new, improve an asset or purchase equipment

This round, £3.5 million is available for projects across Falkirk District’s 9 wards. Previous projects supported by the programme include Strathcarron Hospice’s Lymph Notes Choir, Bailliefields Community Hub SCIO, and Falkirk Golf Club.

Place-based Capital Grants are allocated by electoral ward; there is also a Falkirk-wide Capital Grants category for projects aiming to benefit the whole community. Groups can apply once to the Small Grant fund and once to the Capital Grant fund simultaneously, but cannot apply for the Ward-based Capital Grant Fund and the Falkirk-wide Capital Grant Fund simultaneously.

Projects must aim to make communities in Falkirk District fairer, healthier, more connected, or more inclusive. Projects that meet the grant criteria applied for will be put to a public vote at the end of January 2024 and must secure at least 10% of the total eligible votes cast in that ward to secure Community Choices funds. Results of the public vote will be announced at the end of March 2024.

Further Information

For further information, including all eligibility criteria, and how to submit a project idea, please visit the dedicated Community Choices page.

Alternatively, for further information, view the Falkirk Council news article.

Our team at CVS Falkirk & District is also available to support you in a number of ways around your project; contact us by email: info@cvsfalkirk.org.uk