Community centres in County Durham, which are helping their local area to recover from Covid, are set to receive hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding.
Venues around the county, which offer vital activities and services, will be invited by us to apply for grants which will support them to open safely in the wake of the pandemic.
Hundreds of sites will be approached by our Partnerships and Community Engagement Team and encouraged to register for a one-off payment from the Covid Outbreak Management Fund.
A total of £734,000 will be available through the fund, which is part of the Government's wider Contain Outbreak Management Fund, to enable valued centres to open safely and provide essential services to support their local communities.
Following countywide consultation with our 14 Area Action Partnerships, a total of 190 community facilities have been identified as eligible to claim funding, including buildings for which the council is landlord and those which are community owned and managed.
An additional 44 centres provided by social housing providers will also be invited to apply for grants, to support the costs of reopening communal rooms and encouraging the community to return to use them.
Faith centres which provide non-religious community activities will receive a £75,000 share of the funding and will be contacted directly by North East Churches Acting Together, which will process applications which meet the criteria.
Further information about the Covid Outbreak Management Fund is available at: Helping community centres to recover from Covid-19
