NESTA Neighbourhood Challenge

Wednesday, November 03rd, 2010 | Posted in : |

The Neighbourhood Challenge is a new programme from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), working with the Big Lottery Fund, to support community-led innovation.
It aims to show how community organisations can galvanise people to work together to create innovative responses to local priorities, particularly in neighbourhoods with low levels of social capital.

Community organisations across England are invited to apply for the 18-month programme. NESTA will select ten organisations and provide them with funding to trial an approach to community organising that reflects their own visions for what will work best in their areas. NESTA will provide the practical tools and high-quality training needed for participating organisations to help people in their communities create local campaigns, innovative community projects and new social enterprises that address their passions and priorities. It will also provide micro-finance to support the development of local projects and establish local challenge prizes to incentivise community-led innovation.

To register an interest visit their website . The deadline for submitting expressions of interest is 12 noon on Monday 22 November. A panel convened by NESTA will invite around 30 organisations to workshops in order to develop their ideas and shape the programme. Ten community organisations will then be selected to take part in the programme.

The precise level of support will depend on the approach taken, but as a guide NESTA expects to provide each area with at least £150,000 worth of support.

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