Cast Your Vote Now: Which New Cumbernauld Community Projects Deserve Public Funding?

The knowledge and opinions of the people of Greater Cumbernauld are being called upon once again to help decide which local community projects receive small grant funding, with citizens being asked to take part in a short tick-box online Community Voting Survey made live today.

The Survey, which can be accessed by clicking here, will ascertain which of 45 community and voluntary sector organisations operating in Cumbernauld, Kilsyth, Northern Corridor and surrounding villages receive between £500 and £1,000 to deliver specified community projects to benefit the local area.

This activity forms part of Cumbernauld CAN (Community Anchor Network), a Scottish Government-supported project introduced by Cornerstone House Centre in 2020 which aims to develop the connected capacity of the Greater Cumbernauld community. The project strives to enable Cumbernauld residents and organisations to work together to become better at responding to local needs, built on the theme of community empowerment.   

A key element of the programme involves initiating Participatory Budgeting (PB) opportunities for local groups and citizens. PB is a process where ordinary people are given power to democratically and collectively make key decisions on how public funding is spent.

The Community Voting Survey launched today is to facilitate community-led allocation of Small Grants PB Fund Round 5, a small grants programme which was announced as part of Cumbernauld CAN in October 2022. Mary McNeil, Development Manager at Cornerstone House Centre, commented:

“Those living in Greater Cumbernauld and others with an interest in the wider Cumbernauld community are asked to participate in the online Survey, which will take no longer than 5-10 minutes to complete.

“To ensure that initiatives that receive funding from Small Grants PB Fund Round 5 benefit as many different types of people living in the Greater Cumbernauld area as possible and cover a spectrum of matters that are relevant to local communities, the 45 proposals being presented for consideration have been categorised into five thematic groupings.

“In this respect, respondents are invited to select the two proposals they believe to be most worthy of being funded from each of five different categories (school-focused, children and youth-focused, health and wellbeing-focused, community development-focused and sports and environment-focused). This means that each survey participant is able to vote for 10 proposals that impress them.  

“The proposals that can be voted for have been put forward by 1st Cumbernauld Boys’ Brigade, 2nd Clyde Moodiesburn Scout Group, 3rd Kilsyth Rangers, Airdriehead Community Allotments, Balloch Eastfield Football Club, Broadwood Amateur Boxing Club, Carbrain Boys Club 2009s, Cardowan Community Meadow, Chryston and Muirhead Gala Committee, Chryston Community Council, Croy Community Hub, Cumbernauld Academy Parent Council, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Care, Cumbernauld Community Forum, Cumbernauld Cottage Trust, Cumbernauld Environmental Society, Cumbernauld FM, Cumbernauld Historical Society, Cumbernauld Male Voice Choir, Cumbernauld Netball Club, Cumbernauld Poverty Action, Cumbernauld Primary School Parent Council, Cumbernauld Resilience, Cumbernauld Scrabble Club, Cumbernauld Seniors’ Wednesday Club, Cumbernauld Together, Fool On, Gartcosh Primary School Parent Council, Kilsyth Community Church, Never Alone Depression Support Group, New Adventures, PALS (Play and Learning Support), Promoting Inclusion Through Sport, Scottish Storytelling Forum (SSF), St Andrew’s Primary School Parent Council, St Helen’s Out of School Care, St Lucy’s Youth Zone, St Mungo’s Parish Church Cumbernauld, The Fun Gang (What’ll We Do Today CIC), The Salvation Army Cumbernauld, Tony’s Safe Place, Wednesday Lunch Club, Westfield Senior Citizens Group, Whitelees Primary School Parent Council and Woodlands Primary School Parent Council.

“It is anticipated that funding will be awarded to just over one-third of all proposals (the most-voted-for ones), with the exact number of organisations receiving grants depending on the monetary value of the top ranked proposals in each thematic grouping.”

Through Small Grants PB Fund Round 5, community-led voluntary groups benefiting Greater Cumbernauld were invited to bid for a small grant of between £100 and £1,000 under the PB model. This was open to charities, SCIOs, unincorporated associations and any other not-for-profit group.

The five thematic categories included in the Community Voting Survey were selected based on the types of proposals received and are designed to give all proposals with similar themes an equal opportunity of being awarded funding. Multiple proposals within each category will be awarded funding.

The deadline for submission of the online Community Voting Survey is Friday 6 January 2023 at 12noon. Survey results will be made publicly available shortly after the closing date, with funds to be distributed to successful applicant organisations before the end of January 2023.

If you do not have online access, voting can also be conducted over the telephone, by post or in person at Cornerstone House. For further information on this or if have an enquiry in relation to the Community Voting process or Cumbernauld CAN project, please telephone Cornerstone House Centre on 01236 739220 or email events@cornerstone-house.org.uk. Alternatively, you can drop in and visit us during office hours at Cornerstone House, 1 Esk Walk, Town Centre, Cumbernauld, G67 1BZ.

Earlier this year, more than 1,700 survey votes resulted in awarding of funds to 22 organisations through Small Grants PB Fund Round 4. This funding round enabled activities such as the subsidising of almost 3,000 miles of journeys for cancer patients attending important hospital appointments, establishment of equipment to enable two Scout Groups to take children camping this summer, coordination of a ‘Supporting Offliners’ programme for local people unable to access services due to digital exclusion and supporting the acquisition of the historic Braehead Cottages building as a community asset.

Click Here to Complete the Community Voting Survey for Small Grants PB Fund Round 5

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Why not circulate the Community Voting Survey link (www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CommunityVotingCumbernauld) so friends and family members can complete it? After all, the more people that vote for your favourite proposals, the better the chance they have of being funded. Remember that each individual is only allowed to complete the Survey once.