We’ve awarded £233,312 to 12 amazing Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations to support this work.

Working together with Wakefield Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority, we’ve distributed these important grants through the Third Sector Framework - a fair, open and transparent way of distributing funding to VCSE organisations across Wakefield District.

Funding of between £5,000 and £50,000 was available for projects that prioritised:

• Local, clean, and flexible energy solutions
• Healthy, affordable and efficient community buildings
• Walking, cycling and public transport
• Green and climate-ready nature solutions

We’re pleased to tell you about some of the amazing projects taking place using WYCA Community Grants for Climate Activity:

• Local, clean, and flexible energy solutions - Portobello Community Centre have made sustainable energy improvements, with solar panels and battery storage installed.
• Healthy affordable and efficient community buildings – Red Roof Centre have switched over to LED lighting.
• Walking, cycling and public transport – Castleford Heritage Trust are partnering with Wakefield District Cycle Forum to provide better facilities for cyclists and encourage people to engage in cycle maintenance training.
• Green and climate-ready nature solutions – Open Country will be running tree planting and wildflower growing taster days with their Nature Force groups.

Sarah Cutts, Manager of Portobello Community Centre, said: “The installation of the solar panels and battery storage only took a morning and has been working successfully since. The whole project has a been a great success. We’re really pleased with the results.”

“It has been a smooth and straightforward application process, and it will save us money on our energy bills which is really important to us."

We know that disadvantaged communities face more barriers to participating in climate-related activities. So all funded projects benefit at least one disadvantaged community, defined in this instance as the top 10% most deprived in the Index of Multiple Deprivation, or relating to protected characteristics.

We look forward to sharing more updates about this brilliant fund!