Let’s Talk about Brexit - Community Foundation opens new Brexit Fund

The fund which will remain open until Friday 1st September will offer grants of up to £10,000 to organisations which are working to ensure that Brexit does not exclude vulnerable communities further. The fund is also open to voluntary and community organisations considering how Brexit will affect their own future.

Speaking about the Brexit Fund, Andrew McCracken Chief Executive of the Community Foundation said: “The Community Foundation has a fantastic track record of responding to immediate need. Last year we launched a fund aimed at supporting organisations working with refugees and asylum seekers. In recent months communities have been telling us that their current concern and the biggest potential threat facing them is Brexit.

“We have been supporting social change and assisting with the issues facing communities since 1979, those issues have changed over the years but we aim to continue to provide an agile response to community need. We felt that we needed to take a lead and inject some much needed support into the community sector to help those struggling with how best to plan for and tackle the issues likely to be exacerbated by Brexit.”

Andrew continued: “No-one can really predict what the fall-out of Brexit will be on communities, but what people are telling us is that there needs to be some form of support for forward-planning, for those conversations and contingencies to begin happening now. Based on what we hear we aim to help communities advocate both publicly and privately on issues of concern and to help them identify what potential opportunities there may be due to Brexit.

“We are looking forward to hearing from groups who would like to find out more about the fund. It’s also a fantastic opportunity for us to not only support organisations and communities who are exploring the consequences of Brexit, but for us to facilitate further discussion in the sector, so enhancing community capacity,” said Andrew.

To find out more about the Brexit Fund or to apply, go to www.communityfoundationni.org