KERRY County Council is inviting applications from community and voluntary organisations across the county for a fund of €750,000 for local community-based projects and initiatives.
The 2018 Community Support Fund was launched on Thursday evening at the Tralee Bay Wetlands Centre by the Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Cllr John Sheahan and Council Chief Executive, Moira Murrell.
The fund, which is now in its fourth year, has supported over 1,000 projects since 2015 to the value of €2.25million.
As occurred in 2017, some of the Community Support Fund will be used again this coming year to target strategic projects in the four municipal districts and to co-fund projects which are in receipt of grants from other sources.
In 2017, almost €1million was leveraged from other grant sources such as Town and Village Renewal and the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Fund as a result of the strategic allocation of resources under the Community Support Fund.
For 2018, the fund has been refocussed to target funding under five categories of support:
· Growing and Sustaining Communities
· Community Tidy Towns Initiatives and Amenity Projects
· Community Sport and Physical Activity Programmes
· Community Economic Innovation
· Community Based Tourism, Festivals and Events
Cathaoirleach, Cllr John Sheahan, said: “Since the Community Support Fund was established in 2015, millions of euro have been invested by Kerry County Council in community projects and initiatives around the county. This is indicative of the council’s support for the work being done by community and voluntary organisations all over the county to build vibrant, sustainable communities and the value of that work in Kerry.”
Chief Executive, Moira Murrell, said: “The Community Support Fund has targeted funding towards a very wide range of community-based projects and has provided support to community councils, chamber alliances, tidy towns groups and other organisations in a very progressive and structured way. Furthermore, the retention of part of the fund to help to leverage funding from other sources and to co-fund projects with other funding streams has proven to be an enormous success in recent years.”
The new minimum grant payable in 2018 is €500. The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Monday, 22 January 2018 and application forms may be downloaded from the council’s website. Further information is available for Kerry County Council’s Community Department at 066 7183680.