The Neighbourhood Fund
The Neighbourhood Fund (NCIL) is a fantastic opportunity for local community groups to bid for up to £10,000 worth of funding to spend on local initiatives that will benefit our residents. It is a process that genuinely involves residents in recommending projects, to be funded with money received through the borough’s Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL). It has seen over £656,000 distributed across 74 community projects over the six rounds of the Neighbourhood Fund process so far.
Latest (seventh) funding round
The seventh round of funding is open from 18th February until 20th March 5pm and we welcome applications of up to £10,000 from any local community groups who have an idea for a new community initiative for residents.
We are also now welcoming applications from groups working together as consortiums made up of multiple organisations, applying for a maximum of £10,000. This could be helpful for smaller or newly established organisations who do not meet the organisation eligibility criteria, meaning that if they partner with an organisation which does meet the criteria, they can apply together in partnership for the funding.
Neighbourhood Fund (NCIL) round 7 application form
Following the application window closure, we will undertake due diligence on each application received to check for eligibility, ensure that each organisation has dedicated Safeguarding and Equality and Diversity policies and is financially stable. Each application will then be sent to the Resident Panel for the first round of scoring; groups will need to meet the 45% approval threshold to ensure that they proceed to the Dragon’s Dens rounds.
The Dragon’s Den rounds will see each organisation present their projects to the Resident Panel who will then vote on whether or not to fund each project. The Cabinet Member for Community Leadership & Engagement and the Director of Policy and Participation will then meet to finalise and confirm the funding decisions made by the panel and each successful group should receive funding within two months.
First round funding
The first round (February 2019 to May 2019) saw the Resident Panel award £112,799 to 13 local community groups across the borough. You can see the breakdown of this funding in our table below:
First round funding Toggle accordion
| Organisation name | Project description | Amount requested | Wards working in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham Youth Dance | Supporting 10 local young people to design, lead and learn from their own youth-led project. | £9,946 | All wards |
| U3A | Advancing education- in particular the education of older people and those who are retired from full time work- and contributing to personal development. | £3,188 | All wards |
| Humdum UK | Delivering a hot and fresh foodbank weekly to vulnerable persons and providing sufficient food and support for individuals to cook. | £9,417 | All wards |
| Mums on a Mission | The Intergenerational Programme is a space for adults to interact with young people, engaging in sessions that explore self-development and topics such as promoting healthy relationships and entrepreneurial skills. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Barking Churches Unite | Offering a weekly drop-in centre for the homeless and those in need of help at Barking Library, providing free meals and support. | £3,000 | Abbey, Gascoigne |
| Community Resources | Offering healthcare support, classes and activities for participants who are isolated and struggling with issues such as poor physical/mental health, domestic abuse, housing, language barriers and poverty. | £9,998 | Parsloes, Becontree, Mayesbrook, Valance |
| Creative B&D | Ensuring that Dagfest- an annual community-led outdoor arts festival in Dagenham Village- can inspire more local people and get neighbours talking and working together. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Ethnic Minorities Partnership | Developing and implementing a community-based cardiovascular disease and diabetes awareness and support programme for 200 adults aged 40 to 70 years resident in River ward. | £9,950 | River |
| Harmony House | Dress for Success will support the neediest families in the borough to provide a new school uniform for their child. The project will be targeted at year 6 pupils who are transitioning to their Secondary School. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Peer2Peer | Helping to reduce the number of young people at risk of becoming involved in knife crime and/or entering into gang culture in Barking & Dagenham. | £9,990 | All wards |
| TKO | TKO Boxing Club provides opportunities for children and young people to engage in boxing in Barking and Dagenham. | £7,500 | Abbey, Gascoigne |
| Triangoals | Kids fitness activities for young people and children such as football, karate, ballet and multi-sports. | £10,000 | Thames, River |
| Young Stars Football | PlayTime Football Club brings children (aged 8-16) together weekly to participate in various football activities regardless of ability, skills or gender. | £9,900 | River |
Second round funding
The second round saw our resident panel fund the below 10 projects for a total of £88,302:
Second round funding Toggle accordion
| Organisation name | Project description | Amount requested | Wards working in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trailnet | The Becontree Cycle Centre offers low-cost refurbished bikes to borough residents and also offer free bike checks, low-cost servicing, and advice on all aspects of local cycling, including training and route planning. The Pedal Power programme provides free cycle mechanic training courses to individuals. | £9,700 | All wards |
| Company Drinks | Wild & Wellbeing is a year long programme for local families and carers with children based at Company Drinks in Barking Park. They will run weekly Gardening and Craft Sessions, with family lunches and organise trips to discover nature across LBBD and east London. | £6,900 | Longbridge and Barking |
| NFCB | The two projects are Carpet Bowls and Nimble Fingers & Board Games (Knit & Natter). Bringing together residents who live on their own or feel isolated. The Carpet Bowls activities help residents keep fit and make new friends. The Nimble Fingers group make items such as premature knitted hats and cardigans, knitted hats for the homeless and knitted poppies and knitted baby items for a local Trust | £2,765.12 | Chadwell Heath and Whalebone |
| Al Madina | The Hive is a Women’s Hub offering a range of services for women in Barking and Dagenham delivered by the women of the community for the women. Its overall aim is to encourage, enable and empower women to have the skills and confidence to achieve what they want in life. The Hive is there for ALL women and is set in the grounds of Al Madina Mosque in Barking, the space is warm and welcoming. | £10,000 | Abbey |
| UKON Carers | UKON offer all the schools (and PRUs) within the Borough the opportunity to participate in arts & culture workshops designed to inform pupils of employment opportunities in various cultural industries. The plan is to grow the social media presence by developing the website to better inform people and organisations across the Borough of the services. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Box Up Crime | Is a drop-in youth centre in the heart of Barking, which provides mentoring, counselling, for young people as well as creative and teaching spaces focusing on enterprise and business free of charge for young people to use - improving wellbeing and fostering local talent. | £10,000 | Abbey |
| Nia | Nia Huggett Women’s Centre is a beautiful, safe, community space for women in Barking and Dagenham of all ages and ethnicities. The space includes computers on which women research information, activities and services, prepare CVs and job applications, make contact with friends and families (UK and overseas). The funding goes towards staff to support the volunteers and increase the availability and use of the drop-in service. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Youth League UK | Led by young people, local community members will refurbish and equip the ATTIK community centre, make it more secure and attractive to more users and introduce new activities for under 13-year olds. They will paint and re-carpeting, install CCTV, purchase music production equipment, publicise centre activities and recruit new members | £9,950.42 | Village |
| Ultimate Counselling Therapy Service | Flourishing & Fervent Families project will empower 125 people from 25 Black, African and Minority Ethnic (BAME) families who live in the Borough and that have a child/children involved with social care services or/and have at least one family member experiencing mental health problems. Services provided will include provision of support with access to employment, education or training, parent/child art therapy groups, integrative parenting training workshops plus counselling and psychotherapy. | £9,987.50 | All wards |
| Independent Living agency | Promote and delivers a healthy lifestyle project which will meet the needs of residents with various disabilities. The main focus for the project is to reduce social exclusion and isolation. There will be a weekly peer support forum which will look at a healthy living program with a 'come dine with me' at the end of every session, where everybody has the chance to bring some healthy food in and share in a small group, enabling social interaction and showing a way of living healthily. | £9,000 | All wards |
Third round funding
The third round saw our resident panel award fund the below 13 projects for a total of £129,405:
Third round funding Toggle accordion
| Organisation name | Project description | Amount requested | Wards working in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shpresa Programme | Supplementary school at Gascoigne Community School every Saturday. Targeted particularly at the Albanian-speaking community (though open to all) and it comprises of regular activities. | £10,000 | Gascoigne |
| Barking and Dagenham Youth Dance | Expansion of ‘Youth Dance Instructor Training’ course and will offer support to 12 young people aged 16-19 the chance to learn the foundation of becoming a dance instructor in an out of school youth offer. | £9,920 | Abbey |
| bMoney Wize Ltd | Hear Your Book Project: local people will be invited to write and publish their writing in an audible format to sell it online. | £9,998 | River, Village |
| Make a Difference at Sandies | Free talking therapy to residents of Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Havering residents. The therapy is for residents suffering from mental ill health, depression, domestic violence, age and medical concerns. | £10,000 | Becontree, Alibon, Chadwell Heath, Heathway, Mayesbrook, Whalebone |
| The Source - run by Barking Churches | Drop-in centre for people needing support with unemployment, housing, homelessness, loneliness, mental health issues etc. They will broaden their service to guest by facilitating mental health and well-being projects. | £10,000 | Central Barking |
| Kingsley Hall | The Eden Community Supermarket will offer healthy food including donated produces from Crisis Fare-share and local suppliers and fresh produce grown in their urban micro allotments. | £9,600 | All Wards |
| Excel women’s Association | Wellness café for women and families in the borough. Will provide community to access basic ICT support for the resident that are otherwise digitally excluded due to language and cultural barriers. | £10,000 | All Wards |
| Bluebird Pictures | International film in Barking and Dagenham celebrating culture and community. Film makers at all levels invited to submit a short film out of which a winner is selected and prized with everything they need to get started in the film industry. | £10,000 | Abbey |
| Reede Road Allotments | Enriching the lives of disabled, low mobility and isolated person allowing them to grow fruit and Vegetables within a community environment. Over next few years is to improve one allotment sites at Reede Road. | £10,000 | Alibon |
| Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex & London | Supporting undocumented children who have the right to British citizenship or status but cannot assert that right due to a lack of legal representation. | £10,000 | All Wards |
| HumDum UK | Providing hot and fresh items to vulnerable persons in the borough, the service is extended to providing cooked and raw take away meal, health, hygiene, sanitation and clothing support. | £10,000 | All Wards |
| St Chad’s Church Chadwell Heath | Improving access and mobility issues in a small landscape are via repurposing an unused concreted area and part of the pre-school garden. | £10,000 | Chadwell Heath, Whalebone |
| Green Shoes Arts CIC | A month-long Festival of programmed activity specifically for and by artists, performers, directors, musicians, dancers and participants who have live experiences of mental health. | £9,887 | Chadwell Heath, Whalebone Heath |
Fourth round funding
In the fourth round of NCIL our resident panel awarded £112,355 to 12 local community groups across the borough. The table below contains a breakdown of this funding:
Fourth round funding Toggle accordion
| Organisation name | Project description | Amount requested | Wards working in |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Hug Support Group | Running parent support group, family activities and services such as: domestic abuse and violence support. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Barking Muslim Association CIO | Preparing a Sensory Room to help children with special needs to overcome barriers to service provision. | £10,000 | All wards and out of borough |
| Sycamore Trust UK | Their project is to prepare autistic young people in Barking and Dagenham for work, work experience and voluntary opportunities. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Wellgate Community Farms | Their volunteering projects helps residents into/closer to employment: the farm provides hands-on experience and skills for those interested in working with animals. | £10,000 | Chadwell Heath, Marks Gate and borough and beyond |
| Ultimate Counselling Training Support services CIC | Sunflower Immigrant Project will empower asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants including unaccompanied asylum seeking minor who reside in LBBD. | £9,995 | All wards |
| Robert Clack Development Trust and Alumni | Delivering activities to former student and current such as: career workshop leading inspirational assemblies, mentoring and motivating student’s success, study workshop and university open day visit. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Gale Street Organics | Their project is to create educational space for children and adults where they will learn about food, how to grow, nutrition as well as wildlife and the importance of maintaining wild space. | £8,960 | Becontree and Eastbrook |
| Company Drinks CIC | The Good Food Collective (GFC) goals is to grow into permanent and inclusive network of local growers, cooks and producers. Aim is to create business opportunities for local food specialist. | £7,600 | All wards |
| Street Space CIC | The Barking Bridge project (TBBP) is to transform two footbridges connecting Essex Road and to improve daily lives of people who use them. | £10,000 | Abbey, Gascoigne, Longbridge |
| London Riverside Church | Running various social action project to help people who are in need in the community. These actions include providing emergency food bank, kids fun packs etc and running life skill course. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Whiting Avenue Tenants & Resident Association | Will make improvement to the play facilities on their estate. This is their main play area, locally known as The Court or Football Court. This will enable to raise profile of the estate as well as bring families together to enjoy the facilities and feel part of the community. | £5,000 | Abbey |
| Barking Reach Resident Association | Barking Food Forest is a resident-run project to develop a community garden. Their project will deliver sustainable community garden which will be resident-owned asset to develop accordingly to environmentally friendly principles. | £10,000 | Thames |
Fifth round funding
In the fifth round of NCIL resident panel members awarded £99,952.63 to 12 local community groups. The table below contains details of the funding groups:
Fifth round funding Toggle accordion
| Organisation name | Project description | Amount requested | Wards working in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barking & Dagenham Youth Zone | Cooking workshop for children aged 8-12, senior members aged 13-19. Through the workshop children and young people will gain basic kitchen skills, benefits of eating healthy and cooking on budget. | £9,262.63 | All wards |
Maidie Create LTD | 6-week creative mental health & well-being programme ‘Unbox your wellness – De stress & sleep well kit’ for vulnerable women in the refuge who are survivor of domestic violence. | £5,700 | Within LBBD |
| High Voltage Performing Arts | Musical programmes to improve people’s mental health and unite the community, through education and participation to benefit the whole community. | £4,500 | Chadwell Heath |
Dagenham (Police & Community) Boxing Club | Upgrading essential equipment for the gym, which will enable them to continue providing amateur boxing sessions for the community also provide service to underrepresented local groups. | £8,250 | Village |
Triangoals Community Interest Company | Wellbeing activities for children living in Thames ward, aged between 4-16 years. Activities include: football, martial arts, ballet, yoga etc. | £10,000 | Gascoigne |
| Right Development Foundation | One to one mentoring and small group mentoring. Support service users with activities such as goal setting, career pathways, attain level 1 and 2 activator qualification and work experience. | £9,250 | Goresbrook/Mayesbrook |
| Independent Living Agency | Support residents with learning disabilities to come out of COVId-19. On to one support with activities such as: walk in the park, shopping safely, using public transport and ensuring service users are eating healthy. | £8,500 | All wards |
| Early Years Cocoon | Produce second parenting booklet by collaborating with families. Bringing people together and strengthen their communication skills, contributing to sense of belonging. | £7,970 | All wards |
| Youth League UK | Education support programmes for disadvantage people aged 11-15 years from diverse background, to help them to catch up with their learning that was disturbed by the pandemic. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Chadwell Heath Community Centre | Arts and craft programme for children aged between 5-12 years old. Employability programme for young people over the age of 16 years old. | £6,520 | Chadwell Heath |
| Age UK RBH | Befriending and on-line groups workshops for elderly people who are isolated and with no contact with family or friends. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Barking Muslim Association Trust | Upgrading and replacing essential gym equipment to continue service provision and expand the service. | £10,000 | Abbey |
Sixth round funding
In the sixth round of NCIL resident panel members awarded £113,764 to 14 local community groups. The table below contains details of the funding groups:
Sixth round funding Toggle accordion
| Organisation name | Project description | Amount requested | Wards working in |
|---|---|---|---|
| DABD | DABD will launch a new Education and Skills & Employment division to provide residents with help with starting a career, returning to work, volunteering, returning to education, gaining a qualification or work placement/volunteering experience. | £10,000 | All wards |
Barking and Dagenham Youth Dance | BDYD will deliver a project called ‘Bar-Ham Leaders in Conversation’ (BHLC). To build on their youth social action programme called Bar-Ham Leaders and deliver training in the art of conversation using local young people’s lived experience to drive change to have a stronger influence in society, | £9,984 | Abbey Ward |
| Green Shoes Art | Green Shoes Arts (GSA) will create a new weekly youth theatre group for young people aged 12-18 in Barking & Dagenham. The sessions will be run by a professional whose life experience reflects that of the local community. Participants will learn life skills including writing and presentation. This programme will specifically target hard to reach groups in the community, and through this funding it will make it free to access for those who cannot afford to pay. | £10,000 | Chadwell Heath, Marks Gate & Becontree |
HumDum UK | Digitalising the food network to co-ordinate and minimise food waste | £10,000 | All wards |
Hatfield Community Hall | To create a sensory garden to be used by the community | £7,000 | Goresbrook & Becontree |
| Wood Lane Baptist Church | To host 2 sessions of theatre style production over the festive season. This is aimed at fostering community integration and social cohesion among residents. It is also an opportunity for families who would not normally be able to afford such events to participate and so contribute to the quality of their festive period in particular, but their life in general. | £2,200 | All wards |
| MIND | To provide a free to access, person centred counselling service for 40 individuals who are experiencing bereavement or a deterioration in their mental wellbeing as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Provide initial assessment and up to 6 weekly sessions with a fully trained and experienced Counsellor. Counselling will be delivered using a blended mix of online, telephone and in person sessions, dependent on the requirements of the individuals. | £10,000 | All wards |
| Pennu Charity | To create and run “Ready, steady, Art”. It will be held once a week and aims to bring together the elderly from different race, religion, social orientation and ethnicity to socialize in order to combat loneliness and isolation. | £5,000 | Eastbrook |
| Barking Churches Unite | 'The Source Warehouse' People moving from emergency accommodation or homelessness often need support with supplies of vital goods eg beds,fridges etc to help them settle into their new homes. This nearly always comes at a cost out of reach of many. The Source warehouse is a place where people who need furniture ,white goods ,household equipment and furnishings and can't afford new ,can be given good quality second hand items free of charge. | £10,000 | All wards |
Becontree Horticultural and Allotment Association | To improve the facilities at Manning Road, for schoosl and young disable groups, by converting an unused hut into a shelter/tea/lunch room with a small kitchen with electricity for a kettle along with a sink, seating and lighting by putting in armoured cable electricity to shop/office and adjoining hut, allowing the groups to attend the site when the weather is unpredictable. To also improve the toilet facilities on site by putting in hot water. | £10,000 | Village |
Peer2Peer Education CIC | To train 5 young people from B&D with no previous experience, to become Peer Educators (PE’s)/facilitators. To work with them to build on their soft skills, classroom management and complete child protection training. This will enable them to deliver Mental Wellbeing Workshops as well as navigate a fulfilling career and make a positive contribution to their communities. The PE’s will deliver 40 workshops to schools within B&D, engaging students in activities around self-confidence, managing anxiety, communication, conflict resolution and also signposting to external support. | £9,966 | All wards |
Humourisk CIC | The aim of project is to build a community-led space (shed) for isolated and vulnerable men and young volunteers to connect, create and learn. Shed Life has gone from strength to strength and provides activities and peer support for marginalised, economically inactive men and young people not in education and training (NEET). | £10,000 | Thames |
Sycamore Trust UK | Project is designed to support B&D parents whilst awaiting diagnosis of Autism and post diagnosis for their child Waiting times are presently 18 months or more and this can prove to be an enormous distress to a family that is hoping to get help for their child and is unable to access SEN facilities. | £9,784 | All wards |
| Arc Theatre | Arc Theatre aims to prevent the carrying and using of knives and weapons by delivering ‘Boy X Interactive’ – our hard-hitting participative performance programme for students aged 11+ in schools/PRUs, their teachers, parents and the wider local community. | £9,800 | All Wards |
Testimonials
Barking & Dagenham Youth Dance Toggle accordion
“NCIL funding has had a huge impact on BDYD. It has allowed us to increase our youth offer by engaging with more local young people in a leadership project that will see local teenagers organising and creating their very own community event. BDYD received the funding after presenting to a panel of local residents so it’s very rewarding to know we were chosen by local people, not only ensuring they are given a voice in how the money is being distributed, but also they will be able to enjoy the Community event due to take place in 2020.
BDYD worked with London Youth, M&C Saatchi and Parliament on a youth leadership project called Goodvibes. A group of BDYDers worked together to create a community social with the aim to bring local people together, which took place at the Broadway theatre on 23 June - this has now been followed by an advertising campaign led by M&C Saatchi. Look out for BDYD members Kayden and Artenisa all over billboards in B&D now!”
Georgina Alexiou, Founder & Project Manager, B&D Youth Dance
Community Resources Toggle accordion
“We were excited to get through to the second round and thrilled to receive a grant of almost £10,000 which has so far enabled us to buy equipment for our pilates class and for drop-ins run by our volunteer pharmacist and also to start a bi-weekly Let’s Get Moving class, run by Whole Body Therapy, to improve the mobility of some of our older participants. In September we are starting a Zumba class and are also looking to begin ballroom dancing and carpet bowls in the near future.
This funding is proving to be invaluable in helping us to support local residents to improve their fitness and make friends at the same time.”
Sally Dixon, Open Doors Project Co-ordinator, Community Resources.
The Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) is a fee that we charge developers who are building new housing developments in the borough, which is set aside to fund local neighbourhood schemes such as community initiatives, health projects or environmental improvements. By encouraging residents to award funding to local community projects, we can link residents to the opportunities that regenerate the borough, create and support the priority of No One Left Behind.
Please see our NCIL application for funding guidance information (PDF, 190KB)
If you have any questions, please contact the Participation and Engagement Team direct by emailing community@lbbd.gov.uk.