An Environmental Pride initiative that seeks to engage communities in improving the environment within the Borough of Doncaster, which began in 2022, is already in its 4th funding round, with the latest successful projects to receive funding to be announced next month.
The initiative is led by St Leger Homes and City of Doncaster Council, with active participation from Get Doncaster Moving, Voluntary Action Doncaster, Sport England, DEFRA, Doncaster Chamber, Travis Perkins, EQUANS, Amey, Aalberts IPS and Efficiency North.
The initiative has already awarded £78k to 35 local projects in the first 3 funding bid rounds since the initiative opened for local groups to deliver small scale, community-led projects that aim to make improvements for neighbourhoods and the local environment and bring people together to promote pride in their communities throughout the Borough of Doncaster
Financing for the scheme came originally from £19k Social Value Credits St Leger Homes accumulated through their use of EN:Procure’s frameworks for housing repairs, part of EN’s social value strategy in the previous 3-year business cycle and 3rd generation frameworks designed to help social housing providers to channel cash into the heart of their communities, where it matters most.
A team of 9 from Efficiency North took a day out of the office to volunteer at one of the projects which received funding in the second bid round, Thornham Community Garden in Armthorpe, in July last year. They spread a huge pile of muck, extended the small car park laying plainings, weeded the old potato patch, pruned overgrown hedges and edged the garden area with timber. Led by volunteers, the community garden space is open to all who wish to volunteer, grow food and connect to nature with other like-minded people.
Efficiency North Deputy Chief Executive Jonathan Shaw commented; “We all enjoyed the opportunity to understand the hard work and commitment local people put in to make the community garden work and gain insight into one of many worthy projects supported by the Environmental Pride initiative. It was good to experience the real positive outcomes of EN’s Social Value Strategy in action and get involved ‘on the ground’.
The initiative is an inspirational project. We are delighted to see it flourish and grow in such a short time, gathering support from more organisations and businesses to ensure it will improve the environment for local communities across the Borough of Doncaster for many years to come.”
Find out more about the Doncaster Environmental Pride Initative here https://www.yourlifedoncaster.co.uk/environmental-pride