Community Foundation to invest an additional £500,000 in local communities following quality of life report

The new funding was revealed as the Community Foundation launched the report at Stormont where it also called for greater collaboration within the Voluntary and Community Sector and between funders to ensure that chronic issues identified by communities can be tackled more effectively. 

The report which used extensive community engagement to uncover the top quality of life concerns for people living in Northern Ireland, found that health and well-being, education and skills, economy and work as well as poverty are the issues which worry people most across the country. 

Speaking at the launch of the report, Community Foundation Chief Executive Andrew McCracken revealed the organisation’s intention to match grant-making against key issues uncovered in the report. He also outlined the Community Foundation’s desire to work more closely with other organisations in the funding landscape, ensuring that the report’s findings help target areas of greatest need. 

Andrew said: “Carrying out this survey in communities across Northern Ireland has given us a valuable insight into the problems people face on a day-to-day basis. This has ranged from people’s concerns around the quality of health provision in their local areas, to worries about employment and housing, to issues around isolation of the elderly and mental health services for young people.  We have already spent £2,000,000 to help tackle poverty as well as almost £700,000 on health and well-being. To further help address some of the identified needs, we plan to use £500,000 of our own endowment alongside year on year investment in addition to seeking new funding partners to maximise the money available for communities.”

Andrew continued: “Our main goal is to connect the people with resources to the causes that matter.   We believe that the key to making a significant difference in the issues people face,  lies in working collaboratively with other funders, local government, the voluntary and community sector as well as statutory and non-governmental agencies.  By using our resources, expertise and understanding of community need we can collectively create meaningful change in communities,” concluded Andrew. 

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