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The Sirius Minerals Foundation, the charitable body supported by Anglo American’s Woodsmith Project being built near Whitby and on Teesside, has launched the second part of its Covid 19 recovery fund, worth a total of £400,000.

Grants of between £500 and £5000 are being made available for small voluntary and community organisations in Scarborough Borough, the North York Moors National Park and Redcar and

Cleveland to support more local people to get out and about, reconnect with old friends or make new friends, and rebuild their confidence after the huge impacts of the pandemic on their lives.

Leah Swain, Chief Executive of the Sirius Minerals Foundation said:

“The aim of this grants round is to fund projects and activities that are focussed on helping people in our communities to regain their confidence and restart their lives, as the country begins to come out of lockdown,” 

“So that could mean helping people who have been shielding to go out shopping and visit friends, or running activity classes to reduce social isolation, or helping people who have lost their jobs in the pandemic to gain new skills.”

This round of grants is aimed at small, local organisations who have not previously been supported by the Foundation, and those organisations who may not have experience in applying for grants and may need help to do so. Such groups are encouraged to contact the Foundation to have an informal chat about the grants on offer and the application process.

Leah said:

“We know that many local voluntary and community organisations have had to substantially change the way they carry out their work because of the pandemic, which has impacted them greatly,” 

“We want to ensure they can continue to deliver services in our communities and respond to local need.”

This is the second round of grants for the Foundation’s Covid-19 recovery fund, following the award of £350,000 to 33 local charities in November, and brings the total amount dispensed by the organisation to nearly £1.8m since 2017.

Anglo American is funding the Foundation with £1m a year while the mine is under construction. Longer term, it will be funded by percentage of mine revenue, which could amount to more than £5 million pounds per year.

Full details of the scheme can be found on the Sirius Minerals Foundation website.

Applications are open until 16th June.