PCC small grants scheme supports 25 groups

Organisations from across the Devon and Cornwall are celebrating after receiving awards from Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg’s small grants scheme.

In total, 25 groups have been awarded over £90,000 in the first round of grants.

The judging panel, which included an independent member representing Cornwall volunteer services forum, considered 171 applications and drew up a short list which was put to the commissioning board to examine and review the selection process.

Each application was judged against a set criteria and the strength of their answers:

• How strongly the funded activity would support the delivery of the Police and Crime Plan priority areas (this was seen as the most important element of the bid);
• Who the project was aimed at supporting/assisting;
• What positive benefits the initiative would bring and how clearly these benefit/s could be identified and quantified;
• Clearly identified need for the initiative and the reach of the proposal in terms of numbers of people likely to be helped;
• Sustainability - what (if required) were the means by which the initiative could continue after the PCC funding ended;
• Degree of clarity of what the funding would be used for and assurance on the ability of the bidders to account for how the money was spent.

Each bid was scored and those scoring two thirds of the maximum possible score were taken forward to a second round of scoring where the score for how closely the bid could evidence support for the Police and Crime Plan were doubled.

PCC Tony Hogg is pleased that so many organisations will benefit from the scheme.

“It is clear from the number and quality of applications that there is real benefit to a scheme like this,” he said.

“There are many small organisations doing so much work to make their communities safer but who struggle for funding. It is often the case that a relatively small amount of money can have a disproportionately big impact on communities and I am sure that when put together these awards will help make Devon and Cornwall a safer place to live.”

This second round of awards will be made in July 2014 and bids will need to be lodged by May.