Hello FaithAction friends!

It has been three weeks since I started my new position with FaithAction as a Development Officer and decided it was about time I overcame my reluctance to blogging and introduce myself to you all.  I came to FaithAction from a close partner organisation having been in admiration of their work for quite some time.  What I like about FaithAction is their ability to engage with faith communities on a mass scale and bring contemporary issues in to the light of the government, hard-to-reach communities and grassroots organisations all in one go.  The team are committed, fast-paced and of course lovely too.

So what have I been doing and why was it necessary for them to recruit me?  Well, many of you will be aware of the DCLG funded Creative English programme.  That amazing, crazy-fun way of teaching people English through drama and role-play!  What some of you may not be aware of though is the £140,000 that we have to give away to organisations to innovate and sustain the programme!  And that is where I come in.  I have been working with another researcher to design the award process, criteria, communication materials etc. and am very excited to say that we are nearly ready to get the message rolling out!

Having been on the other side of the funding process (i.e. the one writing the application) it has been an amazing experience to take all that I have learnt and transfer it to being the one distributing the money.  It is my main aim that the process is as easy and simple as possible for people to get the grants of either £7,500 or £10,000 and hopefully with little-no stress over technicalities.

Keep a sharp eye on the FaithAction website, information will be being released over the next couple of weeks.  There will be three rounds of funding and the first round is only open to the Hubs currently delivering Creative English.  I will be setting up some regional cluster meetings in the later part of June to meet our partners and talk in more detail about the funds available.

A new email address is in place for any questions that you may have about the fund – [email protected] – where either I or Neil Howlett, another new member to the FaithAction team, will be happy to assist you.

WATCH THIS SPACE – MONEY COMING SOON!!

Bye-bye for now