ESF Community Grants are part of the European Social Fund (ESF) programme and the aim of the fund is to help unemployed people progress towards employment through access to learning and training opportunities.

Funded activities must be aimed at unemployed individuals aged 18 years and over from the hardest to reach communities such as:

Disadvantaged geographical areas
Lone parents
People aged 50 and over
People from ethnic minorities
Females

However applications will be considered from any community that can evidence deprivation, for example homeless people and ex-offenders.

Your Consortium Ltd are the fund managers for the ESF Community Grants Funding in York and North Yorkshire and we are pleased to announce that we have been awarded the contract for Community Grants 5.

The funding is open to small charities or not‐for‐profit community organisations based in and providing services in York and North Yorkshire. Organisations must employ less than 20 full time and have an annual turnover of £1,000,000 or less, for three consecutive years, and are not in direct receipt of direct funding from the European Social Fund (ESF), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

The aim of the fund is to help unemployed people progress toward employment through access to learning opportunities, progression targets will be included in contracts. Funded activities must be aimed at unemployed individuals aged 18 and over.
Partners would benefit from thinking about a project plan that can fit in with a project delivery time of between 6-8 months. The project plan should consider how you would progress a percentage (to be confirmed) of your learners into employment/further education.

Further correspondence and launch dates/venues will be provided in due course.