How you could make Dewsbury better with community crowdfunding scheme

Growing Great Places is a new community crowdfunding programme to support citizens and organisations who have great ideas for projects that involve people in their local places.

As part of the programme, Kirklees Council and partners Spacehive are running two free community workshops.

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One of these will take place at Dewsbury town hall February 4 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

Along with the workshops and tailored project support, there is a fund of £50,000 available to help get great ideas off the ground. Successful projects can potentially receive a pledge of up to £5,000 from Kirklees Council to support their campaign.

Councillor Cathy Scott, Cabinet Member for Democracy, said: “The Growing Great Places programme offers citizens and local organisations a fantastic opportunity to get support for projects that can make a real difference in their communities. 7 out of 8 projects that Kirklees Council have pledged to support so far have already hit their funding target, which is a great success, with another project still working towards their target.

“It’s all part of our work to give more people a stake in their local places and to grow a stronger local democracy in Kirklees, from the ground up.”

Individuals and local groups can attend the free workshops to learn about the programme and how to get involved, hear about the funding available and the process to apply, learn about what makes a great crowdfunding project, and get tips and advice on running a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Of particular success was the campaign for Cleckheaton Folk Festival. It was backed by 117 people, and 90 people have helped East Bierley Cricket Club to support their young participants with all-weather cricket strips.

Overall, seven successful projects have received pledges in excess of £54k from over 400 backers.

Anyone interested in signing up to one of the free workshops or finding out more about current projects should visit: www.GrowingGreatPlaces.org.uk

Further advice about Growing Great Places is also available via [email protected] or by calling 01484 221000 and asking for Jackie Ingham.