Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council (ABC): Social Supermarket Grant

Overview

Background

• The Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council (ABC Council) is committed to supporting and developing the ‘food and beyond’ support structure of the Social Supermarket Infrastructure.
• The Social Supermarket and Wraparound Service Model suggests a pathway through the financial distress journey by offering personal dignity, development and progression, addressing food insecurity and causes and greater access to sustainability of nutritional food and wraparound support services.
• Council will seek to allocate a minimum of one award per Food Provision Social Supermarket Partner.

Grow to Give Pilot Project Grant 2023 The Social Supermarket and Wraparound Service Grow to Give Pilot Project Grant 2023 (G2G 2023) is designed to promote co-design and collaborative support of the community led approved environmental food supply chain network; by the growing/producing of products/available stock to be given into an established Food Provision Social Supermarket Partner being; 1. Armagh Foodbank, 2.The Storehouse Banbridge, 3. Craigavon Foodbank, 4.Via Wings Dromore, 5. ABC Food Hub, 6. St Vincent de Paul and 7. The Salvation Army. The Grow to Give Project is a flexible and responsive food intervention supply, to those most vulnerable in the Borough, through a maximum fund of £5000 to a minimum of 10 suitably qualified ABC Community Organisations who have obtained collaboration from the established Food Provision Social Supermarket Partner to co-create a food supply chain project and become a food producer partner. The project encourages and is reflective of community ‘creative and adaptable’ food support alignments and other additional benefits with the established Food Provision Social Supermarket Partner.

Eligibility

To be a Food Producer Partner:

Suitable ABC Community Organisations must evidence:

· Be a constituted organisation.

· Have written collaboration from an eligible Food Provision Social Supermarket Partner. Be able to run the community project to encourage food production, sustainability, nutritional & wellbeing awareness, skills and structured collaboration supply networks for the benefit of their community group and the Food Provision Social Supermarket Partner end client, based on a co-design project

· To meet the needs of the ABC residents through preferred Projects such as, possibly on site or close to site, small vegetable patch, Micro Greens, Herbs, Fruit Trees/Bushes, Hydroponics (for limited outdoor space), Vertical Gardens, Apiaries (Bee Hives) and eco fuel (pine cones due to their beneficial energy use are permitted).

· Comply with Environmental Health Regulations to be able to offer a stock supply. Please see Appendix 1 Guidance Note - Advice on Supplying into a Food Bank.

· Have the capacity to offer up to 50% of stock to the aligned Food Provision Social Supermarket Partner under the necessary standards of Food and Environmental Health Legislation.

· Have Training in place. (please refer to the training section).

· Monitor and report on the value and outputs of the project funded by the grant. A final report will be required which includes:

o Case Study,

o Numbers of ABC residents supported through your project.

o Number who benefited within your community organisation.

o Number of products supplied and who benefited from them.

o Sustainability and Development Outcomes achieved.

Funding /Budget

Minimum of 10 suitably qualified ABC Community Organisations to receive a maximum fund of £5000 available grant per eligible organisation to support and build on the ABC existing Food Provision Social Supermarket structure in place.

· Materials and equipment, to support the development of an outside space and/or alternative space for the production of goods to supply to the Food Provision Social Supermarket Partner (See Appendix 2 for suggested project equipment) which can be purchased from the maximum Grant Fund of £5000 per eligible organisation.

· For guidance on the purchasing of materials and equipment please refer to the procurement information below.

Not In Scope

· The funding is not available to provide direct payments to vulnerable people or labour costs.

Procurement Procedure

The available grant is up to £5000 funding per eligible community organisation successful submitted project which includes an indicative budget. Value for money must be evidenced with 3 quotes and up to 2 cost comparisons relevant to indicative budget containing;

· The specification of goods required

· Company name & Address

· Organisational name & and Address

· Quantity

· Price

· Date

· Please note council reserves the right to extend the funding period due to changing circumstances and/or the availability of additional funding. Council also reserves the right to not proceed with the Funding Grant.

· One of the purposes of this Expression of Interest (EoI) process is to gather market intelligence regarding the likely budget requirement. Respondents should therefore include an indicative budget, with full breakdown of cost, within the Expression of Interest Response Template.

· To fulfil due diligence, responsibilities on behalf of the funders and programme partners, we must ensure that grant funding is being invested directly.

· A cost comparison (minimum of two comparative prices) for items under £1500 and three quotes per item over £1500.

Project Awareness and Health and Safety Training Requirement:

· Groups must participate in mandatory training (that can be provided by Council) or show evidence in the form of contracted training and certificates of leaders having a successful outcome in the following training;

i. First Aid Training

ii. Manual Handling Training

iii. Risk Assessment Training

iv. Safe Guarding

Please note that attendance at this training is mandatory by two members of your group if the organisation cannot provide evidence of this required standard being in place. The Training will be offered by council and must take place before the project can begin.

See Guidance for further details.