New £300k Engage for Ukraine grant scheme for community groups launched

The Engage for Ukraine Community Grants Scheme – funded by Birmingham City Council and administered by Birmingham Voluntary Services Council (BVSC) – aims to support groups helping the city’s growing Ukrainian community establish new lives in Birmingham.

It is open to community, voluntary and social enterprise organisations to help Ukrainians resettling in the city to navigate their way through the system of support available to them.

Birmingham is a City of Sanctuary which has a long history of welcoming asylum seekers, refugees and migrants fleeing persecution and war in their homelands.

This scheme aims to support and meet the immediate needs of those arriving from Ukraine to get the help they need to settle in to their new lives here by providing practical information, advice and support to access essential services.

The funding will be split into two phases: the first will see £280,000 awarded to organisations with strong links to the Ukrainian community, who can apply for grants of up to £20,000.

A second phase will see the remaining £20,000 awarded to micro-organisations, with grants of up to £2,000 being awarded for events and activities to help Ukrainians in Birmingham.

These grants also aim to support sponsors and family members who are opening their homes to refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Cllr John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Justice, Community Safety and Equalities, said: “Birmingham is well known for its warm welcome and we are proud, as a City of Sanctuary, to have opened our arms to those arriving from Ukraine and starting new lives here. The Engage for Ukraine Community Grants Scheme will help community and voluntary groups to further support those refugees to get on their feet and establish themselves in our city.”

Jasbir Rai, Deputy Chief Executive of Birmingham Voluntary Services Council, said: “BVSC have been working in partnership with Birmingham City Council and are pleased to launch Community Grants for voluntary and community organisations supporting Ukraine citizens arriving in Birmingham, we hope to target this resource to make a real difference to their experience of settling in our city.”

Applications for the first wave of grants can made through the BVSC website until Friday 16 September 2022. Dates for the second phase of smaller grants will be announced in due course.

More information of services and support available to Ukrainian refugees, can be found on the council’s website.