Community Grants Awarded
MAY 2010
MILTON KEYNES GALLERY
AWARDED £4,499.00 FROM THE MARGARET POWELL FUND
Milton Keynes Gallery has recently completed a pilot audienced-led approach to public access needs and set up a disability consultation steering group. It is this steering group that have requested the gallery support visitors with hearing impairment, in particular those with graduated hearing loss. The Community Foundation is pleased to award a grant from the Margaret Powell Fund to pay for a new portable induction loop system, a wide band radio hearing system and a table top microphone.
SHIKA TAMAA SUPPORT SERVICES MILTON KEYNES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OPEN FORUM MILTON KEYNES YMCA
AWARDED £4,992.00 FROM THE COMMUNITY FUND
This Community Grant will enable Shika Tamaa Suport Services for local people living with HIV/Aids to extend the hours currently offered by the part-time Receptionist/Administrative Assistant currently in post while longer-term funding is sought.
AWARDED £4,997.00 FROM THE BRIGHTON ACORN FUND
Following the successful completion of three freedom programmes delivered during 2009 with support through the Foundation, would to offer a follow-up programme called the 'Recovery Toolkit' for women who are suffering from the longer term effects of Domestic Violence.
AWARDED £5,000.00 FROM THE MK DRUG & ALCOHOL SUPPORT SERVICES
This Community Grant will fund an alcoholism worker to work with the YMCA's homeless client group. This post enables the YMCA to augment and extend their support activities as well as to provide a focused service to residents of the hostel who have alcoholism-related issues
MK WOMEN & WORK GROUP
AWARDED £5,000.00 FROM THE MK PARTNERSHIP FUND
This grant will fund the exploration of the creation of a new employment agency in Milton Keynes that will identify and promote flexible working opportunities for women. This organisation will be run as a social enterprise along similar lines to the success London-based venture Women Like Us. The intention is to run the organisation in tandem with MK Women and Work.
CELEBR8MK
AWARDED £5,000.00 FROM THE MK CULTURAL CITIZENSHIP FUND
This funding is requested to enable the core functions of this major August 2010 event which will celebrate the diversity of our community in Milton Keynes with a high-profile parade and other related activities. This grant will contribute to the cost of public safety measures including marshalling and communications.
MARCH 2010
MARSHALL MILTON KEYNES ATHLETIC CLUB
AWARDED £3,000.00 from the PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPER FUND & COMMUNITY FUND
Marshall Milton Keynes Athletics Club runs an extensive programme of athletics sporting events both at club and non club level which impacts on the lives of most school pupils in Milton Keynes regardless of ability. The grant has been awarded to purchase new sports equipment which will help to facilitate a number of events aimed mainly at 9-14 year olds.
BLETCHLEY PARK TRUST
AWARDED £7,902.00 FROM THE COMMUNITY FUND
The jewel in Bletchley Park's crown is the world-famous Enigma code-breaking machine. Bletchley Park has one pristine example on display, but what isn't generally known, is that due to the generosity of their supporters, they have obtained several more machines, including the only surviving example of the Japanese version of the Enigma machine. This Extraordinary award will cover half the cost of purchasing a secure display case for the collection.
THE PUZZLE CENTRE
AWARDED £4,344.00 FROM THE MARGARET POWEEL FUND
'The Puzzle Centre' is a national centre of excellence for educating pre-school children with autistic spectrum disorders. The award will help to subsidise the places of 4 local children attending the scheme.
BROOK EAST OF ENGLAND
AWARDED £5,000.00 FROM THE COMMUNITY FUND
This forthcoming art project, a touring exhibition of Outreach Art with various stops around Milton Keynes, will be called 'The Sex Express'. As well as engaging young people directly, this exhibition will be very much in the public domain. The overriding message will be the way in which sex is obtrusive in the media and celebrity, with which young people are captivated. This will be juxtaposed against the censorship that often accompanies other means with which to express sexuality and health issues
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
AWARDED £4,990.00 FROM THE MARGARET POWELL FUND
This MaD befriending project provides an opportunity for young people with disabilities to engage in social activities with other young people of all abilities on a Friday evening. The project started in October 2009 and qualified as a finalist in the Pride of MK awards. At the heart of the project are a group of young volunteer befrienders who have received training on how to support and encourage young people to lead and provide feedback on the project to get the most out of it.
THE CHRYSALIS THEATRE CAMPHILL MK COMMUNITIES
AWARDED £19,740.00 FROM THE MARGARET POWELL FUND
This Extraordinary grant will enable the Theatre to pay for a wheelchair lift, giving access to the stage and backstage area to performers, presenters, production crew and volunteers who are confined to wheelchairs or who have severe mobility impairment and who currently must sit on the stage steps and hoist themselves backwards up to the stage one step at a time. It would also pay for the installation of push-button access and an alarm system for the disabled toilet and the installation of a hearing loop in the auditorium for attendees who are hearing impaired.
NEWPORT PAGNELL YOUTH CLUB
AWARDED £5,000.00 FROM THE COMMUNITY FUND
'This funding has been awarded to support the replacement of the club's kitchen. The kitchen units are at least 25 years old and are in a state of disrepair. Although the kitchen is kept clean, 25 years of use has taken its toll. The kitchen also needs replanning to better utilise the space.
MILTON KEYNES COMMUNITY MEDIATION
AWARDED £5,000.00 FROM THE SURVIVE & THRIVE FUND
This grant will enable the Community Mediation service to train and mentor 18 new volunteer mediators. The service has shrunk over the last two years from 49 mediators to 26, but there are many aspiring volunteers on a waiting list to be trained. The demand on the service has not waned, and numbers of people seeking their intervention have increased somewhat. A lack of funding has been the only obstacle to getting these hopeful volunteers instructed and mentored to become part of the team
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DECEMBER 2009
ST GEORGE'S CHURCH WOLVERTON
AWARDED £5,000.00 - FROM HEART FM
An award has been made to contribute to the refit of the valuable community facility, which in addition to serving as a venue for community events, also offers serveral weekly hot meals for vulnerable, marginalised and older people and which serves as an outlet for the local Food Bank project, delivering food parcels to people in hand.
ASPIRE
AWARDED £4,033.00 - FROM THE MARGARET POWELL FUND
Aspire has been awarded a grant to provide furnishing for a new, specially adapted 'halfway' home for recently discharged spinal injury patients whose homes are not suited to wheelchair access. This new community resource will significantly reduce the length of some local people' hospital saty, and will bring them back to Milton Keynes to be closer to their families during their recovery.
MK YMCA
AWARDED £10,000.00 - FROM THECENTRE:MK FUND AND HEART FM
This award will contribute to the costs of refurbishing the facilities at the YMCA's emergency night shelter, which offers accommodation to homeless and vulnerable young people. This important local service has been in great demand, with an occupancy rate of 98% during the last year, and is in serious need of improvement.
MK SPRINGERS
AWARDED £5,000.00 - FROM THE MARGARENT POWELL FUND
As part of their focused efforts to be as inclusive as possible, this award will assist MK Springers in improving disabled access to their facility at Kiln Farm. This will expand their capacity to work with young people who have special needs, as well as better accommodating the needs of disable parents of service users. This award will also make the facility more accessible to other local special needs gymnastics groups who wish to use it to help prepare young people for the 2009 Special Olympics.
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OCTOBER 2009
MK MIND
AWARDED £5,000.00 - FROM THE SURVIVE & THRIVE GRANTS FUND
Funding has been awarded to train new counsellors to help MK Mind build its capacity, which has been stretched recently due to the strain of the econmic recession on local families. With this grant, MK Mind will be able to reduce their waiting lists, see clients more quickly and increase the number of local people supported each week.
THE PATCH ALLOTMENT ASSOCIATION
AWARDED £4,689.00 - FROM THE COMMUNITY FUND
Funding has been awarded to connect the Assocation to the power grid and greatly enhance the services and facilities on offer to the hundreds of local people who utilise this popular community resource.
NEWPORT PAGNELL BOWLS CLUB
AWARDED £5,000.00 - FROM THE COMMUNITY FUND
This popular community resource in Newport Pagnell is in desperate need of new security fencing, as the current fencing was installed in the 1960's and is now severely dilapidated. Funds have been awarded to replace the damaged security fence.
BEAVERS SHORT MAT BOWLS CLUB
AWARDED £5,000.00 - FROM THE MARGARET POWELL FUND
This grant will enable the group to purchase equipment that will expand access to the clubs recreational activities to older members with mobility issues and physical disabilities whilst simultanously providing for a safer experience for the whole membership. This vital community group meets twice per week and offers valuable opportunities for older members of the community to engage in physical excerice and promote healthy activities.
MILTON KEYNES CITY KORFBALL CLUB
AWARDED £5,00.00 - FROM COMMUNITY FUND
The club faced a significant funding gap due to a delay in other grant funding decisions. Without this emergency funding, the prgramme could have been significantly damaged, losing coaches and participants. MKCKC have a 3 year plan to expand and develop the MKX programme across Milton Keynes. This includes employing an England Youth Coach (a GB player who won all domestic honours) to lead MKX and work with local coaches to develop their skills and help improve policies and business approaches. He will run sessions in and out of schools to increase participation and raise performance.
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JULY 2009
STONY STRATFORD BOWLS CLUB
Awarded £2,200.00 - from Community Fund
To boundary fencing
SPORT MILTON KEYNES
Awarded £4,150.00 - from Community Fund
To run subsidied First Aid and Child Protection courses for club coaches
BLETCHLEY INDOOR BOWLS CLUB
Awarded £4,588.50 - from Sport Relief Fund
To purchase 2 "Bowls Buggies"
THE CROSS LINKS CENTRE
Awarded £4,808.00 - from The Brighton Acorn Fund
To extend the Drop In service for 9 months
SWIMMING TRUST
Awarded £5,000.00 - from MK Partnership Fund
To help support and retain young swimmers within the sport in Milton Keynes
OLNEY BOWLS CLUB
Awarded £5,000.00 - from Margaret Powell Community Fund
To support funding for a new disabled toilet
MK CENTRE FOR INTERGRATED LIVING
AWARDED £4,991.00 FROM THE MARGARET POWELL FUND
This grant will pay for a fortnightly deaf community drop-in. The drop in sessions will be a valuable source of support for combatting the isolation experienced by deaf members of our community. The drop-in sessions provides: social interaction, translation service, telephone advocacy calls, information, a CAB advice worker, problem solving and general support
