Funding for Heritage Community Building Projects in Rural NI Villages
A new development support programme has opened for applications.
Funding is available to community organisations in rural villages in Northern Ireland for projects to tackle rural poverty and social isolation by developing a sustainable use for a disused historic building.
The Village Catalyst Grant Scheme is a partnership initiative between the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), the Department for Communities (DfC), the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) which will award up to £4.2 million over a five-year period.
The grant scheme provides three routes of support to applicants:
- Funding of up to £10,000 is available to support project viability work. This support is administered by the Architectural Heritage Fund.
- Funding of up to £20,000 is available to support project development work.
- Funding of up to £200,000 is available to support project delivery, ie capital works on site to enable the historic building to deliver a sustainable use that helps to tackle rural poverty and social isolation.
Applications will be accepted from charities, social enterprises and other not-for-profit groups in rural villages of less than 5,000 in Northern Ireland.
Support may be accessed at any time.
(This report was the subject of a GRANTfinder Newsflash.)
