Community First Panels

What is Community First?

Community First is an England-wide programme, funded by the Office for Civil Society, on behalf of the Government. It will run for four years, until March 2015. Two funds of money, worth £80m, have been created to help communities come together, become more resilient, and make their local area a better place to live.

Neighbourhood Match Fund: A £30m fund to encourage people to give time an expertise to local projects. The funds will be distributed to 600 areas across England, which have been selected by the Community Development Foundation according to several criteria.

Community First Panels: Each of the 600 areas will have their own panel, comprised of local people to represent their community. They will be involved in creating a plan for the local area, raising awareness of the funds and planning how they will match and spend the money.

What does this mean for you?

Out of the 600 areas to receive Community First funding, Waltham Forest has been identified as having 5 wards which are eligible for a proportion of the £80m.

Community First Panels have been set up in these areas, made up of local people.

Can I apply for funding?

Funding is available for projects that meet the priorities which have been agreed, through consultation with local people, for each of the areas.

Details of the priorities for the areas can be found on their respective websites below.

Where can I find more information?

The four community first panels have websites, most of them provided by Voluntary Action Waltham Forest:

• Hoe Street First

• Grove Green CFP

• Leyton Community First

• Leabridge First

• Wood Street Community first

You can find out more information about the Community First programme on the Community Development Foundation website:

Community First Website