Kent Community Foundation is delighted to announce that The Lower Thames Crossing has appointed them to administer grants for community and environment projects in Gravesham and Medway through their pilot Community Fund
Grassroots organisations in Gravesham and Medway are invited to apply to Kent Community Foundation for grants of up to £10,000 from the Lower Thames Crossing Fund. The new Fund will open with £250,000, which will be allocated to projects in Kent and Essex. Kent Community Foundation will administer grants for projects in Gravesham and Medway and Essex Community Foundation for projects in Havering, Brentwood and Thurrock.
The initiative is being funded through National Highways’ Designated Funds programme, which is a national initiative that looks beyond managing the county’s Strategic Road Network, to deliver lasting benefits for communities and the environment.
Josephine McCartney, Chief Executive, Kent Community Foundation said. “Kent Community Foundation is delighted that National Highways has allocated funding to support projects in the Gravesham and Medway area. Applications are open until I March for grants of up to £10,000 for local schools, charities, community groups, environment and heritage groups for initiatives near the route of the new lower Thames crossing.”
Community projects that will be considered for grants from the Lower Thames Crossing Fund should meet one of the following criteria:
- Encouraging physical activity and increasing public use of local green spaces
- Improving the health and wellbeing of local communities
- Helping communities to connect with their heritage
- Supporting local people to secure permanent employment in the area
- Increasing the use of technology to help local communities better understand the Lower Thames Crossing proposals and inspire future careers in construction
- Improving signage and or way markings to increase accessibility for walkers, cyclists and horse riders
To contact Kent Community Foundation about funding from the Lower Thames Crossing Fund call 01303 814500, email admin@kentcf.org.uk or visit www.kentcf.org.uk/funding
About the Lower Thames Crossing Fund
The Lower Thames Crossing Fund will open with £250,000, which will be allocated to projects in Kent and Essex. Kent Community Foundation will administer projects in Gravesham and Medway and Essex Community Foundation will administer projects in Havering, Brentwood and Thurrock.
Grants of up to £10,000 will be considered for local initiatives by not-for-profit organisations, including local schools, charities and community groups, for projects that meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Encouraging physical activity and increasing public use of local green spaces
- Improving the health and wellbeing of local communities
- Helping communities to connect with their heritage
- Supporting local people to secure permanent employment in the area
- Increasing the use of technology to help local communities better understand the Lower Thames Crossing proposals and inspire future careers in construction
- Improving signage and or way markings to increase accessibility for walkers, cyclists and horse riders
Applications are open until I March 2023
The pilot is being funded through National Highways Designated Funds programme, which was set up to look beyond purely investing in the road network, and deliver wider benefits directly to road users, and the environment and communities surrounding the Strategic Road Network. Between 2020 and 2025 National Highways is investing £936 million from this fund into local communities and has recently funded projects ranging from building new and upgraded cycle ways, to providing playground equipment for local schools.
About Kent Community Foundation
Grant-maker Kent Community Foundation has been finding, funding, and supporting some of the smallest voluntary organisations in the county for over twenty years. In this time, it has distributed over £50 million to support thousands of small charities and deserving causes where a modest sum of money can make a significant impact.
They are part of a UK wide accredited network of forty-seven Community Foundations who are committed to improving the lives of local people and communities, particularly the most vulnerable, isolated, and disadvantaged by matching those who want to help, with those who need the help.
Responsible for more than ninety philanthropic funds, Kent Community Foundation is unrivalled in its knowledge of local causes and assists individuals, families, and businesses, who want to help, to establish and administer their own charitable funds.
