Covid-19 Action Fund launches second round of grants

Our Covid-19 Action Fund is offering grants of up to £10,000 for Fellows’ projects that will promote the UK’s social and economic recovery, reconstruction or future prevention. Applications must be received online by 5pm on 29 September.

Action Fund Manager Derek Bardowell (CF 2014) says: “Covid-19 is the worst public health crisis in recent memory and it has exacerbated existing social, economic and racial disparities. So we are seeking proposals with the most potential to radically improve our public services, address structural inequality in the UK, or rethink and reimagine our society after the pandemic."

“It was clear from the applications we received in the first round of the Covid-19 Action Fund that many of our Fellows are thinking forward. As we enter a new phase of this public health crisis, the second round of this Fund will support bold ideas and activities that aim to change our systems, behaviours, relationships, practices and policies - to improve and enrich the lives of people across the UK.”

We are particularly interested in proposals that:

• Are responding to the unmet needs of high-risk or vulnerable groups.
• Are led by Fellows who have been directly impacted by the issues they are addressing.
• Are addressing issues of inclusion, especially around racial or disability injustice.

The first round of the Action Fund opened in April 2020, focusing on emergency response. At the height of the crisis, it awarded grants totalling £155,000 to 21 Fellows’ projects across the country. These addressed issues ranging from mental health to minoritised racial groups, domestic abuse to food poverty, education and more. For example:

• Nurse consultant Ruth Oshikanlu received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to aid the work she is doing to support the mental health of health and social care workers from minoritised racial groups. Ruth has been using this funding to develop a programme to provide frontline health and social care from staff minoritised racial groups with culturally and spiritually sensitive psychological support during and post-pandemic.
• Social enterprise director Matt Little was awarded a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to support his work to engage disadvantaged young people in social action within their community. Matt used this funding to launch a new scheme offering 10 young people the opportunity to problem-solve and develop ideas and projects in response to the current crisis and needs of their community.
• Community Manager Arfah Farooq received a Covid-19 Action Fund grant to assist her work to encourage and support Muslims into the tech sector. Arfah has used this funding to create and develop a summer mentoring programme for Muslim and students from minoritised racial groups to replace internships that have been cancelled due to the pandemic.

The deadline for applications for the second round of grant applications is 5pm on Tuesday 29 September 2020. Later applications will not be considered.

To be eligible, Fellows must have completed part or all of their Fellowship travels. We are prioritising proposals that relate to Fellows’ original Fellowship topic, but this is not exclusive and unrelated ideas that are relevant and powerful will be considered too.