Elevate grants to groups to tackle health inequalities in local communities

Community Development & Health Network (CDHN) and the Public Health Agency (PHA) are delighted to announce that 23 groups have been awarded mentoring support and a grant of up to £5,000. The funding for Elevate is provided by the PHA through the Transformation Work Stream.  

Now in its third year, the Elevate Community Mentoring & Grants Programme offers a range of training, networking and support opportunities so groups can bring their ideas to life, focusing on using community development approaches to reduce health inequalities at a local level.  

This year, due to Covid and the associated pressures, a higher number of applications focused on mental health, social isolation and combatting poverty, experienced by young people, older people, parents and migrant communities. Other applications highlighted the value of supporting their volunteers who work with people living with dementia, those with disabilities and members of the rare disease community. 

Elevate projects funded this year will vary from creative arts to improve health literacy for people living with learning disabilities to employability and self-care skills for young adults. The programme staff and mentors will work with people and communities across the life course from children to older people. 

The versatility of the programme is reflected in the range of approaches proposed to achieve success. Some applicants will focus on organisational development, including the use of design thinking methodology, others will concentrate on piloting new programmes to groups experiencing social exclusion, programme development and community capacity building. 

To deliver the Elevate Community Mentoring & Grants programme, CDHN works in partnership with five community mentoring organisations who build the capacity of groups to address health inequalities in their local community. The successful groups will benefit from the expert support of their mentor organisations including shared experiences, guidance and networking opportunities as well as an opportunity to attend Elevate training.  

The mentors for the programme are Mid and East Antrim Agewell Partnership (MEAAP) for the Northern Trust area, County Down Rural Community Network (CDRCN) for the South Eastern Trust area, ARC Healthy Living Centre for the Western Trust area, Bolster Community for the Southern area and Women’s Tec for the Belfast Trust area.    

The groups taking part in this six-month community capacity building and networking  programme are as follows: 

  •  An Tobar CIC 
  • Ballynahinch Community Collective 
  • Brookville Enterprises/Ballymena South Cluster 
  • Causeway Rural and Urban Network (CRUN) 
  • Compass Advocacy Network (CAN) 
  • Cornabracken After School CIC 
  • Crisis Café 
  • Dungannon Multiple Sclerosis Support Group 
  • Fermanagh Rural Community Initiative 
  • Garden of Music 
  • Greater Shankill Job Assist Centre  
  • Horn of Africa People’s Aid NI 
  • Leonard Cheshire 
  • Mind Your Mate and Yourself (MYMY) 
  • Newtownabbey Arts & Cultural Network 
  • Northern Ireland Rare Disease Partnership 
  • Polish Sisterhood 
  • The Right Key 
  • The Churches Trust 
  • Turas Na nDaoine 
  • Waterside Women’s Centre 

CDHN Director, Joanne Vance said “CDHN is proud to be working in partnership with such a wide range of groups who want to bring their ideas and experience to the Elevate programme to share with others in the community and voluntary sector.  Everyone involved is working hard to ensure that all voices are heard in our society as we tackle social and health inequalities together.” 

Congratulating this year’s successful groups, Diane McIntyre, Senior Health Improvement Manager at the PHA said: “It is great to see the wide range of community organisations taking part with the aim of implementing a community-based project, following identification of local needs and solutions. The Mentoring & Grants Programme provides a unique opportunity to put collective learning on health inequalities into practice in a supportive and encouraging environment. We look forward to hearing more from the groups throughout the year.” 

For further information, please contact CDHN on 028 3026 4606 or email info@elevateni.org