Community Integration Awards
Overview
Who can apply?
Nominations across all of the categories are open to individuals, community groups, small charities, social enterprises and local initiatives or projects with an annual gross income of under £500,000.
The Community Integration Awards invites nominations from any kind of group or organisation with an annual gross income of less that £500,000.
What are the prizes?
Winners will be awarded £1,000 cash, the chance to make a short promotional film about their work and a bespoke package of support to take their work to new heights.
Award Categories
Connecting Communities: The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated existing issues around isolation, loneliness and exclusion for those at the margins of our society. Given this, they are interested in projects that have strengthened social connections between different groups in their community. This could include any work that brings together communities in new and innovative ways while social distancing is in place. For example, work connecting different parts of the community (employers, faith-based groups or volunteers); work that builds friendships or that reassures those who are feeling anxious; arts-based projects that encourage connectedness or work that connects people via digital means. This is not an exhaustive list.
Safety for all: The crisis has impacted people differently. It has left some groups in society, such as those from minority ethnic groups or families on low incomes, more exposed to the impacts of Covid-19 than others. As such, they are interested in work that supports safety and wellbeing for people in the community in an inclusive way. This could include efforts to improve access to key health and social services; work to reduce health inequalities; projects that support wellbeing, mental health, or initiatives that focus on food security or access to medicine or personal protective equipment. This is not an exhaustive list.
Equality, Access and Rights: In recent years, many people have seen their right to equality, justice and opportunity eroded in a number of different areas, including housing, welfare support, immigration, detention, employment and criminal justice. The pandemic has exacerbated this situation by widening inequalities and hindering routes to redress these. It has also impacted people’s ability to access to support and the willingness of many vulnerable groups to come forward and seek advice. Given this, they invite nominations from any project or initiative that works to improve equality of opportunity or provide better access to justice or rights-based support/ advocacy. This could include campaigning or advocacy work to raise awareness of inequality and injustice; data collection to identify or target unmet needs; or any direct action to target specific issues, such as digital poverty. Again, this is not an exhaustive list.
Criteria
- In order to be eligible for an award, projects and initiatives must:
- Bring together diverse communities, at least one of which must be a migrant or refugee community.
- Have emerged or adapted in response to COVID-19 in order to meet a clear need in the community.
- Actively promote social integration through stronger, more resilient communities
- Give others hope
- Have been active in the UK in the past 12 months (can be ongoing).