Mayor of West Yorkshire urges community organisations to apply for biggest funding pot yet

West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, has made £350,000 available to voluntary and community groups, charities, and partners with an innovative project that will make their local area safer.

This is the largest round of the Safer Communities Fund which has supported projects to the tune of £4.3 million since 2014.

It will focus on ‘Safer Places and Thriving Communities’ and the Mayor is welcoming applications from projects that address anti-social behaviour, serious violence including knife crime, drug misuse, hate crime, road safety and more.

Mayor Brabin said: “I am determined to end the scourge of violence on the streets of West Yorkshire – whether that is hate crimes, county lines gangs exploiting our children or violence against women and girls. This has no place in our society.

“That’s why we are providing vital money to organisations that are helping to build a safe, just, and inclusive region.

“I encourage anyone with a project that aims to make their local area safer to apply.”

The Mayor’s Safer Communities Fund is financed by money from criminal activities recovered by police and prosecutors under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Through the fund, this money is used for projects that aim to make their communities a safer and better place.

Recognising the financial challenges many organisations are currently facing, the mayor has increased the amount of funding a project can apply for, from £6,000 to £8,000.

Organisations have a few weeks to get their bids in for funding as this round closes in November.

This announcement comes just days after Mayor Brabin and Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Alison Lowe OBE, awarded funds to 61 innovative projects from across West Yorkshire.

Some of the latest projects to receive this funding include drugs intervention and prevention workshops for men and boys in Bradford, weekly self-defence and fitness classes for women in Kirklees, and a programme for young offenders, combining rehabilitation with horsemanship, in Leeds.

This latest grant round of the Mayor’s Safer Communities Fund is open until noon on Friday, November 11 2022.

For more information about the fund, including how to apply, visit https://www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/policing-and-crime/mayor-s-safer-communities-fund.