Final Call For Community Voting: Have Your Say On Which Cumbernauld Proposals Receive Funding

There is just over two weeks left to participate in an online Community Voting Survey which will determine which of a range of community proposals in the Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Northern Corridor area receive public funding.

Local citizens have been responding in their droves in recent weeks, with more than 1,500 people casting votes so far to help decide which of 45 community and voluntary sector organisations operating in Greater Cumbernauld receive between £500 and £1,000 to deliver specified community projects to benefit the area.

The voting in many categories is too close to call as the closing date draws near, so your vote could make all the difference in deciding which proposals get funded and which ones miss out.

The Survey, which can be accessed by clicking here, closes on Friday 6 January 2023 at 12noon, and your contribution could make all the difference as the voting is currently very close between several of the proposals as the race enters its final lap. Indeed, your vote could be the key factor on whether a proposal ultimately receives funding or whether one misses out.

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. Respondents are invited to select the 10 proposals they believe to be most worthy of being funded.

The organisations which have submitted proposals for voting are (in alphabetical order) 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 around 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.

This Participatory Budgeting (PB) 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. Over a three-year period, the project is striving to enable Cumbernauld residents and organisations to work together to become better at responding to local needs, built on the theme of community empowerment.   

The funds being distributed are from Small Grants PB Fund Round 5, a small grants programme which was announced as part of Cumbernauld CAN in October 2022. Through Small Grants PB Fund Round 5, community-led voluntary groups benefiting the local area 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.

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 during the 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.

This took the sum distributed to Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Northern Corridor community groups through the project to a total of £63,912 since 2020, with 61 community groups benefiting altogether.

If your organisation operates within Greater Cumbernauld but has missed out an applying for funding through Small Grants PB Fund Round 5, the good news is that plans are afoot for Cornerstone House Centre to release a further round of PB funding later in the year.

If you would like further information or 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.

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.  

Be fast however, as Survey votes cannot be submitted after 12noon on Friday 6 January 2023. Final Survey results and details of which proposals have been awarded funding will be published next month.