Do you have an idea to help your community? bpha can fund small resident-led projects which promote our mission: creating places where people are proud to live.

You might want to:

• Pay for room hire and a tutor to run some workshops around cooking, face painting, self defence, gardening, basic DIY, singing, parenting tips
• Improve security in a communal area such as new gates, lighting or CCTV
• Arrange transport for an outing or regular visits to a community activity.
• Put on a Fun day with lots of activities for children
• Buy toys to set up a new parents and toddler group or toy loan scheme
• Build and plant a new communal garden
• Install a piece of community art work
• Buy a computer or other IT hardware for a community project

It doesn’t matter if you have never done this kind of thing before.
You can talk through your idea with your Housing Officer or a Community Development Officer. We can help you with some of the practical aspects of making your idea happen.

Printers Yard residents, Kettering £952

The residents of this small block wanted to improve the courtyard garden at the back of the flats into a nice communal garden area for socialising and growing their own vegetables. bpha paid for garden furniture, garden books, professional fees, plants, containers, fence paint, shed and small green house. We also arranged for a brick BBQ to be built.

Wootton Park Rangers Football Club, £490

The Club has over 60 youth players and provides cheap and affordable sports for the community, giving the youth a few more valuable years of nurturing. Their application for new football strips and first aid kits was successful.

The Aristocrats and Area 51 £500

This music project uses music to work with people with mental health problems. The grant enabled the purchase of musical instruments and performance equipment.

 Fit@Sixty £1920

This group already provide weekly exercise sessions in retirement homes in Bedford and want to expand to provide a service to older people outside of Bedford. The grant will be used to pay for a tutor in retirement homes in Northamptonshire to run a specifically designed programme for older people. This will help to promote independence, improve health and well being, reduce the risk of falls and encourage socialising within the court.

Conditions

• Phone us first to talk through your idea
• You must be a bpha resident to apply.  We will fill the form in with you.
• If you are under 18, an adult must support your application
• The project must benefit bpha residents, amongst others, and not just one individual.
• Any award must be spent within 12 months of being made.
• For awards of up to £500, bpha will pay invoices and buy items on your behalf.
• For awards of £2000, you must be part of a group that has its own bank account and rules of operating, such as a constitution.
• Take an active role in ensuring that contracted work is carried out as agreed

Ready to find out more?

Please contact your Housing Officer (listed on your rent statement) or Community Development Officer for further details and to discuss your idea.

Awards are made four times a year by a Panel of staff and bpha residents. Applicants are informed of decisions as soon as possible after the Panel meeting.