Volunteer community projects win extra University support

Community projects run by staff volunteers across the region have won more support from the University of Reading’s Community Fund initiative.

A total of 18 community projects have been granted more than £67,000, an increase on previous years, following the success of the scheme.

Earlier this year, University staff were invited to apply for funding to support community projects they are involved with either as part of their job, or in a voluntary capacity.

Examples of some of the projects that have received funding include:

• Supporting Whitley Amateur Boxing Club to put on a local competition for young boxers
• Enabling the Reading Street Pastors to provide a Safe Hub for their service users
• Improving the nutritional and physical wellbeing of young children with Special Educational Needs
• A project designed to tackle mould in households in Whitley, Reading
• Supporting Kidical Mass bike rides to enhance cycling skills for young and new riders in Reading and Wokingham
• A community music project between the University and local group Vocal Networking.

Professor Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading, said: “The Community Fund initiative has been able to support a number of very worthwhile projects over the last three years. We are pleased to be able to offer funding to even more projects this year, which will benefit local people and community groups in a wide range of ways.

“At a time when life is challenging for many, it is fantastic to see so many of our colleagues giving their time and effort to help their communities to thrive.”

Now in its third year, the Community Fund, which previously supported projects just within Reading, has been expanded to benefit communities across the Thames Valley region, defined as within the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire.

The Community Fund provides one-off, small awards, in the region of £1,000 per year, as well as larger awards – up to a maximum of £10,000 per year – on a one-off or multi-year basis. The scheme forms part of the University's commitment to working with and supporting the local community and being “a University for Reading”. 

The projects have been selected to further at least one of the University’s charitable objectives of advancing education, learning and research.