North-East community groups hoping to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee are being urged to apply early for grants from a local housing association.

The North Star Housing Group Community Grants scheme is available, through online application, four times a year, and the panel of tenants who consider the applications has recently awarded £14,360 to 10 projects

They are bringing the next applications forward so that groups who want to celebrate the Jubilee have enough time to apply to get their events organised.

The scheme makes up to £2,500 individual awards, to a total of £10,000 each quarter. However, the panel felt that a few more of the recent applications deserved to be included.

Peter Locke, Head of Communities, said: “We had some really great projects to consider, and we appreciate that there are cost of living  pressures at the moment. We felt that there were a couple of projects that would be a real benefit to our community and to our tenants, so we were happy to stretch that budget a bit further.”

The latest beneficiaries are: Nite Lite CiC, Stockton; £900: Distribution of surplus food via a market stall in Stockton – aim to increase health and wellbeing and reduce poverty; Bright Woods, Evenwood, Cockfield & Barnard Castle; £2,500: Access to forest school sessions for adults designed to reduce loneliness and increase physical activity; Let’s Pretend & Play, Belle Vue Estate, Hartlepool; £750: Funding for family activities across the Easter holidays; FRADE, Middlesbrough; £340: Support to purchase tools for a gardening project – part of the SHED project designed to reduce social isolation; Hardwick Partnership, Hardwick, Stockton; £ 1,570: Grant to purchase tablets for socially isolated people on Hardwick estate – group will also provide support to use them and access to affordable broadband; Eden Network, Gresham, Middlesbrough; £2,500: Support to expand their eco-shop model into Gresham, providing surplus food for low prices tackling both food poverty and waste; Teesside Vineyard Church, Thornaby; £2,050: Support to set up a stay-and-play session to allow parents to see the range of free and low-cost baby and children’s equipment they are able to provide; Belle Vue Centre, Belle Vue Estate, Hartlepool; £2,500 : Support to expand the Project 85 Eco-Shop model – the shop provides low-cost clothing and food for a small membership fee and low price; The Moses Project, Stockton; £1,250: Support for the homeless drop-in and to purchase household items once clients have been allocated a tenancy; Five Lamps, Thornaby; £2,000; Support to equip the sensory room at the The Youthy to encourage more engagement.

“We are really pleased to be able to support such a wide range of community projects from across the North East,” said Peter.

“We had an amazing response to the funding and we are only sorry we couldn’t support all of the applications we received. We know this funding will have a fantastic impact in our communities and we’re proud to be able to support such wonderful charitable organisations.”

Applications will open in April, and details can be found at: https://northstarhg.wpengine.com/get-involved/community-grants/

This grant funding is included in the organisation’s Social Value Report, which recognises the value to customers and communities, on top of what they do to provide good-quality, safe, and secure homes.

The 2021/22 report aims to capture the social value generated by North Star’s activities, and can be viewed here: https://northstarhg.wpengine.com/about-north-star/corporate-information/social-value-reports/

North Star generates social value from a wide variety of activities including tenant involvement, supporting community projects, working with our contractors, providing support for our tenants, building new homes and improving our properties. The report sets out what we achieved and what the impact of those achievements has been.