Since June 2017 the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings has awarded £112,000 to community groups and non-profit organisations in South Yorkshire from his community grant scheme.

Altogether, the Commissioner has made awards to 30 groups of many kinds from across Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

Grants are given to those who can successfully demonstrate that they provide help and support to people within the South Yorkshire area in ways that are aligned to the Commissioner’s priorities of protecting vulnerable people and tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

The majority of the funding has been awarded to groups that provide diversionary activities to young people, providing them with additional activities to keep them away from crime and anti-social behaviour and those supporting vulnerable victims – raising awareness and providing help in reporting crime.

Organisations such as Aden Steelers Football Club in Sheffield, Rotherham United Community Sports Trust, Micky’s Amateur Boxing Club in Mexborough and Sheffield United, who run Kicks sessions at Fir Vale School, have been successful in providing sporting activities.

Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner said: “The grant funding element of my work is a key part of what I do. It enables groups within the community to put forward projects that help the police in keeping South Yorkshire safe.

“Applications have been received from all over South Yorkshire from people who work extremely hard to provide additional opportunities for young people, to protect vulnerable people and to help prevent crime.

“I would like to congratulate all of the successful applicants and look forward to meeting them over the coming months.”

Organisations can still apply for grant funding as the scheme has been developed to accept bids all year round. Successful organisations cannot re-apply in one financial year but repeat applications can now be made for the year beginning April 2018.

The funding can be carried over in to the following financial year.  Organisation have 12 months to spend the grant and carry out their activities.

If you would like more information on how to apply for a grant or see a list of the successful applications, it can be found on the website in the grants section.

Unfortunately not all applications are successful, but each bid is read through and discussed by a number of panel members who meet monthly.  The panel assess each application for its merit and make recommendations to the Commissioner.

Sheffield and Rotherham have again received the majority of the funding, so organisations from Barnsley and Doncaster are especially encouraged to apply