GovWire

The Community Engagement Fund (CEF) is a 150,000 grant fund to support grassroots and community groups to engage communities and raise awareness of priority Home Office policy areas and the support available. The fund is offered by the Home Office.

This fund is best suited to supporting short and easy-to-deliver projects, rather than a programme of work, as all allocated funds need to be spent within the financial year.

The priority area identified for financial year 2023 to 2024 focuses on continuing to support communities from the Windrush generation.

Background

Some nationality groups, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana and India, despite possibly having been impacted, are not coming forward for compensation to the Windrush Compensation Scheme.

There also remains a significant difference between the number of people granted through the Windrush Scheme (Documentation) and applications made under the Windrush Compensation Scheme.

Aim

The purpose of the Community Engagement Fund 2023 to 2024 is to:

• raise awareness of, and address any misinformation about, the Windrush Compensation Scheme and Windrush Scheme (Documentation). With a focus on non-Caribbean communities and encouraging them to apply to these schemes
• build on the insights and learning taken from our existing work on Windrush (for example the Windrush Community Fund and Windrush national communications campaigns) to understand:
  • why individuals are not applying for the Windrush Compensation Scheme and the Windrush Scheme (Documentation)
  • how to encourage eligible individuals to apply to these schemes

Apply

The Community Engagement Fund 2023 to 2024 is now open for applications.

To apply, you need to register an interest in the fund using the Find a grant portal or by email.

All applications must be received by 4pm on 30 August 2023. Please send your completed application form and any relevant documents by email to: CommunityEngagementFundCompetition@homeoffice.gov.uk

Find out more

Information sessions will be held for community and grassroots organisations who are interested to learn more about the fund and how to submit an application. These virtual sessions will be held on Tuesday 8 August from 2pm to 3:30pm and Thursday 10 August from 11am to 12:30pm. The presentation will be available to all applicants after each session.

Anyone interested in joining a session should email:

CommunityEngagementFundCompetition@homeoffice.gov.uk

including their name and the organisation they represent and confirming which session they wish to attend. A maximum of 2 people from each organisation can join the sessions.