On Monday 22nd April 2024, thirteen projects came along to a participatory grant-making event at the Swarthmore Centre in Leeds hosted by Together for Peace (representing Climate Action Leeds) and Leeds Community Foundation. All thirteen projects gave presentations making their case for a share of £46,000 in climate action funding.
There were a true variety of projects ranging from a creative community group called Karma Dance CIC who have a mental health focus that were looking for funding to run workshops enabling members to design and create their own costumes from reused and repurposed materials with an aim to reduce waste and social isolation; to a community-led group called Armley Action Team who wanted money to develop their community food pantry service ‘Yum’, with a focus on testing whether the Community Fridge concept can reduce food waste, reduce food miles, and increase people's access to fresh fruit and vegetables.
Following presentations, all event participants, including the project members themselves, voted on who they thought most needed the funding, based on where they thought the funding gaps were in Leeds currently. Of the thirteen projects, ten received the funding they had bid for, including 'Connecting Crossgates', Radio Rangoli CIC, Armley Action Team, Karma Dance, Guiseley Theatre CIC, ‘We are Halton,’ Leeds DEC, Involve Leeds, Tangram Housing Co-op, and Roadblock CIC.
The event was a vibrant celebration of our diverse communities in Leeds and the amazing work that is going on all across the city with some really creative ways of addressing issues of climate change and climate justice.
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