Oldham housing association helps local community groups receive over £115k in funding

FCHO's Kevin Field with Northern Lily's Victoria Holden at the GROWE Project in Failsworth

Over the last 12 months, several community organisations across Oldham have received external funding adding up to over £115k, thanks to the support of local housing association, First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO).

The support provided by FCHO helps community groups and enterprises access grant funding streams, and means that local voluntary, community, and social organisations (VCFSEs) can carry out projects which will benefit Oldham’s residents.

These include community growing, food and planting initiatives; networks for disadvantaged children and young people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds; and the roll-out of a ‘city of trees’ project, which will help tackle climate change through planting trees and restoring woodlands.

As part of FCHO’s ‘Big Plan’, the housing provider is committed to creating great neighbourhoods by investing in projects which ‘enable thriving and resilient communities’.

Kevin Field, Funding and Social Value Officer at FCHO, has been supporting the community groups that have successfully received the funding awards.

Kevin said: “It’s fantastic to be able to support Oldham VCFSEs with such a range of interesting ideas and projects.

"The initiatives which can now come into fruition because of the funding are really exciting and will help Oldham continue to be a welcoming, diverse, community-led town.

"It’s great to help local people take positive action in their neighbourhoods and I’m looking forward to seeing the projects take shape.”

One of the grant recipients is Northern Lily; a Failsworth-based social enterprise which founded the GROWE project, a community growing and wellbeing facility which opened in September last year.

Thanks to the help of FCHO, Northern Lily was awarded £15k from Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s (GMCA) Green Spaces fund in March 2023, and every penny will be invested into the GROWE project site to continue its development.

Victoria Holden, Director of Northern Lily and Co-founder of The GROWE Project, said: “The help we have had from FCHO is invaluable, not just regarding support around signposting us to funding bids and completing applications, but also connecting us with other like-minded organisations so we can all get to know and help each other.

“FCHO’s support to help orchestrate this is immeasurable and I would urge any local social enterprises to connect with FCHO to see how they can help you.”

As well as helping local organisations access external funding, FCHO also supports community groups through its in-house grant funding stream, ROCA.

If you belong to a community or voluntary organisation and would benefit from support to access funding and grants, get in touch with FCHO’s Stronger Communities team at: roca@fcho.co.uk

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