Hull City Council Leader Mike Ross, alongside key partners, have launched a Winter Warmth Community Grants scheme to offer grants to charities, faith groups and residents’ associations to help people keep warm and well this winter. The scheme is supported by businesses in the city and facilitated by Forum, an umbrella organisation working with the voluntary sector in Hull.

The Council is inviting local organisations to bid for grants of between £1,000 to £10,000 for projects which support residents to stay warm and healthy over the winter. Examples of the kind of project we mean include the provision of warm clothing banks, running activities in a designated Warm Space, providing microwave ovens or slow cookers.
Projects are expected to run to the end of March 2023, and is funded by donations from businesses active in the city.

The first generous donations to the fund Already, the fund has received generous donations of £50,000 from Fortem and £33,000 from Efficiency North. Fortem has extensive experience in decarbonisation, specialising in making homes more energy-efficient and helping organisations on their journey to become zero carbon, and has a long association supporting the city’s housing regeneration programme. Efficiency North specialises in economic regeneration, providing professional services for social housing procurement employment and training, land development and support for social and economic regeneration, and has worked with the council on a number of projects.

Cllr Mike Ross, Leader of Hull City Council said “Today we are launching the latest initiative in our battle to help people deal with the impact of the rising cost of living. This is on top of our commitment to creating warm spaces, increasing funding for boiler refurbishments and extra help for food banks. It’s sad that such activity is needed in the 21st century, but the whole country is a facing a national cost of living crisis and we are determined to do our part to help here in Hull.

“I am very grateful for the strong support from local businesses, including Fortem and Efficiency North, and in particular their generous donations to help support local residents. I hope that more donations will be forthcoming, and I would love to see more local organisations consider how they can get involved and apply to the scheme to deliver their projects.”

The Winter Warmth Grants scheme is being administered by Forum, an umbrella organisation working with the voluntary sector based in Hull. Details about how to apply for grants and an application form are on the Forum website northbankforum.org.uk/winter-warmth-community-grants/. . For further information or assistance to apply, please contact Jane Thompson, Grants Officer, Forum at jane.thompson@nbforum.org.uk. The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Monday 14 November.
Businesses which are interesting in making a donation or supporting other activities should go to business.engagement@hullcc.gov.uk