Community Choices Project Submissions Deadline

The latest round of the Community Choices programme is now live and open for project idea submissions.

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.

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. 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.

The deadline for project submissions is 11:59pm on Friday 1^st December.

Information Sessions

Falkirk Council has organised free information sessions to help local people and community groups learn more about how Community Choices works, including the steps needed to submit ideas.

The next information sessions will take place across Falkirk District, and online, on the following dates  over the coming months:

• Monday 23^rd October, 6pm – 7pm at Falkirk Library, Hope Street, Falkirk, FK1 5AU
• Tuesday 24^th October, 12pm – 1pm at Bo’ness Library, Scotland’s Close, Bo’ness, EH51 0AH
• Wednesday 25^th October, 12pm – 1pm: online
• Thursday 26^th October, 6pm – 7pm at Bonnybridge Library, 19 Bridge Street, Bonnybridge, FK4 1AD
• Saturday 28^th October, 1pm – 2pm at Denny Library, Davies Row, Denny, FK6 6FA
• Wednesday 1^st November, 6pm – 7pm: online
• Thursday 2^nd November, 5:30pm – 6:30pm at Slamannan Library, High Street, Slamannan, FK1 3EX
• Tuesday 7^th November, 12pm – 1pm at Larbert Library, 22 Hallam Road, Stenhousemuir, Larbert, FK5 3JX
• Thursday 9^th November, 12pm – 1pm at Meadowbank Library, 6A Stevenson Street, Polmont, FK2 0GU
• Thursday 9^th November, 12pm – 1pm at Grangemouth Library, Bo’ness Road, Grangemouth, FK3 8AG

To book your place at any session listed above, please visit the Participate+ website (where you will need to create an account), or contact the Community Choices team by email: community.choices@falkirk.gov.uk

Please do not contact the session venues as they will be unable to book your place.

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