£35k available for outdoor projects in Sovereign communities
Sovereign residents living in Abingdon are invited to submit project ideas for creating great outdoor spaces for their whole community.
Proposals can be submitted through Sovereign Housing Association’s Your Community, Your Choice (YCYC) grants programme, with up to £10k available per project.
YCYC lets people submit project ideas, which the community can vote on to receive funding - last year, four Abingdon projects won a share of £40,000.
Jenny Bowley, Community Development Officer, said: “All project proposals for this round of YCYC funding must come from a Sovereign Housing Association resident but Sovereign’s Communities team will offer full support with scoping out their idea and can engage local charities and groups to work with them if they feel they have an idea that will benefit the whole community.
“Project ideas should be uploaded to the YCYC website by 2 August 2021. The community will then be invited to vote online for their favourites, with the winners announced in September.”
One of the winning projects from the last round of funding was the transformation of the communal outdoor area for residents living at Fountain Court in Abingdon.
The garden was landscaped to give it a fresh, open feel, with benches placed around new planters, which residents can grow flowers and vegetables in.
Fountain Court resident Brian said: “I moved in during lockdown and spent a lot of time on my own. But since the garden’s been done, I’ve been able to get out, meet others and sit and chat with people.”
Zoe Gomes, Scheme Officer for Fountain Court, added: “Since lockdown, the garden has become very important to residents, with many not able to go further afield.
“When Your Community Your Choice came up, we saw it as an ideal opportunity to improve it – the result is fantastic and has really made a difference to residents’ wellbeing.”
For more information on YCYC and how to submit an idea or vote, please visit www.sovereign.org.uk/your-community-your-choice