The Falkirk Children and Young People Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund – known as the Falkirk Bairns Wellbeing Fund – is now open for applications.
Managed by CVS Falkirk (in partnership with Falkirk Council), the Fund aims to tackle mental health inequalities and support community-based support options for children and young people aged 5 – 24 years old (26 if care experienced) across Falkirk, based around the Five Ways to Wellbeing.
Charities, social enterprises, community and voluntary groups, schools and parent councils, and other third sector organisations operating in the Falkirk Council area can apply for up to £5,000 to help children and young people develop coping strategies and resilience around their mental health.
There are also opportunities for unconstituted groups to apply and access the Fund – we can support you to become constituted, or fund small value grants for wellbeing support and capacity. Unconstituted groups can apply for up to £2,000.
The deadline for all applications is 12pm on Monday 9th May.
Information on the Falkirk Bairns Wellbeing Fund – including how to apply, and all eligibility criteria – can be found in the relevant section below. This text is also available as a pdf, and there is also an Easy-Read version (linked for your convenience).
All local authorities within Scotland receive funding to support the development of supports and services to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people aged 5 – 24 years old (26 years old if care experienced). This support is additional to what can be provided through universal services and is provided for children and young people who would benefit from additional help to promote, manage and improve their mental health and wellbeing, and to help them develop coping strategies and resilience.
The Falkirk Children and Young People Mental Health and Wellbeing (FCYPMHW) Fund, otherwise known as the “Falkirk Bairns Wellbeing Fund” will be distributed by CVS Falkirk & District to eligible applicants.
The aim of this Fund is to support small community organisations to provide informal support based around the Five Ways to Wellbeing:
- Connect
- Be active
- Take notice
- Keep learning
- Give
The intended outcome of this Fund is to develop a culture of mental wellbeing and prevention within local communities in Falkirk and to improve awareness of how we can all stay well and help ourselves and others.
In line with the long term outcomes for mental health in communities, this Fund intends to provide stable investment for:
- Fostering a strategic and preventative approach to improving community mental health.
- Supporting the resilience of communities and investing in their capacity to develop their own solutions, including through strong local partnerships.
- Tackling the social determinants of mental health by targeting resources and collaborating with other initiatives to tackle poverty and inequality.
The Fund also seeks to contribute to the following national outcomes from the National Performance Framework:
- We are healthy and active.
- We will live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe.
- We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally.
The ambition of this Fund is to support initiatives which promote mental health and wellbeing at a small scale, grass roots, community level. It should be accessible to all groups, no matter how small or inexperienced they are. It can support both new and existing groups or projects. These do not have to have mental health and wellbeing as their main focus, but their application does have to clearly benefit the mental wellbeing of people in their community.
Applications up to the value of £5,000 will be accepted from a range of schools and voluntary, “not for profit” organisations, associations, groups and clubs or consortiums/partnerships which have a strong community focus for their activities. The range of organisations that can apply are:
- Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIO)
- Not-for-profit company or asset locked company or Community Interest Companies (CIC)
- Schools
- Parent councils
- Unincorporated Associations
- Companies Limited by Guarantee
- Trusts
- Cooperative and Community Benefit Societies
- Community councils
CVS Falkirk will also consider funding unconstituted groups, either by supporting them to become constituted, or by providing small value grants (for example up to £2,000) for wellbeing support and capacity building purposes. We will also consider allowing a constituted entity (that meets criteria above) to hold a grant for the unconstituted group. As grant giver, CVS Falkirk would require to be satisfied with arrangements in terms of assurance around monitoring and accountability of spend.
Unconstituted groups interested in applying should contact CVS Falkirk in the first instance for an informal discussion about their project.
The Fund aims to support those groups more vulnerable to poorer mental health and wellbeing. For this reason, we are interested in projects supporting children and young people who:
- are living in poverty or face food insecurity
- are from a minority ethnic group
- have a child protection plan
- are looked after or care experienced
- are young carers
- are asylum seekers or refugees
- have a disability
The above table provides a summary of what can and cannot be funded; it is not an exhaustive list.
While the Fund can support the expansion of existing activities, it is intended to provide additionality, not replacement funding.
It is the responsibility of the applicant organisation to make sure that the proposed activities are in line with all relevant legislation, including the COVID-19 guidance in place at the time of delivering the activity. The application form will ask for a contingency plan should guidance or restrictions at the time require applicants to change their plans.
Eligible groups and organisations form the list above can apply for up to £5,000. Unconstituted groups can apply for up to £2,000.
The Falkirk Bairns Wellbeing Fund is now open for applications; the deadline for all applications is 12pm on Monday 9th May.
Please download and complete the application form as a Word document (linked for your convenience), and return to us by email: info@cvsfalkirk.org.uk
To request a printed copy of the form sent to you, please contact our team by phone: 07717600520, or email: info@cvsfalkirk.org.uk
