Wesport have been appointed by Healthier Together and the Green Social Prescribing Project Board to manage this grants process within the Green Social Prescribing (GSP) project across Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG).

The focus of the GSP, funded for 2 years, is to establish health and nature as a golden thread across the BNSSG health and care offer. As we seek to address health inequalities, there is a focus on our residents with the poorest access to nature, who also have the poorest mental health outcomes.

Through a system-wide approach, strongly supported by NHS leadership and a diverse range of organisations, including the West of England Nature Partnership, we will significantly increase the range of support available to make a real difference in helping people recover and maintain mental wellbeing. 

The focus of this programme of work is to support those population groups experiencing the poorest mental health outcomes across BNSSG including:
 - Culturally diverse communities
 - Disabled people
 - People with long term health conditions
 - Those on low incomes

We are accepting applications up to a maximum of £25,000. Please keep in mind that multiple organisations will be applying for funding so only apply for what you truly need. If there are large numbers of organisations with approval, you may be asked to reduce your requested amount.

All projects will need to demonstrate they are directly linked into the locality they are delivering in and have an existing relationship with the priority community.

The desire is for projects to be co-designed with the local community they will be supporting and you will need to demonstrate a strong insight into their needs and interest/ownership of the suggested intervention.

Successful applicants will show an awareness for the barriers to participation and put forward a realistic approach for overcoming these barriers.

Funding might support new activity, increased capacity in existing programmes or work that increases access to local green and blue opportunities.

Applications will need to ensure their proposal meets the objectives and principles of GSP answering yes to all the statements below: 
a. Can you demonstrate genuine codesign with local partners and the community?
b. Is there a realistic plan to gain strong participation in the proposed intervention?
c. Does the idea you are proposing have evidence to support that it can improve mental health? This might be national evidence or evidence you have collected locally from similar activity.
d. Do you have a clear referral route in place from a health service (eg with Social Prescribing link workers?)

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* 1. Lead applicant organisational name

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* 2. Main contact person

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* 3. Status of organisation

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* 4. Companies house / Charity Commission No (if applicable)

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* 5. Organisation address

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* 6. Organisation website and or social media account info

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* 7. Select the local authority area your project will be focused in:

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* 8. Select the priority community group your project will predominately be targeting

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* 9. Please provide a brief outline of your current work / track record with this target geographical / priority community group to demonstrate your reach.
Approx. 250 words

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* 10. Are you working with partner organisations in planning or delivering the project, if so, which ones? Partnership working can help maximise the use of resources.
Approx. 200 words

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* 11. What referral links do you currently have to the local health system and partners within? Approx. 200 words

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* 12. Please share an outline of your project including: Approx. 500 words
i) what approach you are planning to take to connect people to nature
ii) what you intend to use the funding for
iii) evidence base that indicates your approach will improve mental health outcomes

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* 13. Please outline how you have co-designed this project with local partners and/or the community.
Approx. 300 words

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* 14. Please share your insight on what the current barriers are to accessing green/blue spaces and give reasons why you are confident this project will overcome these identified barriers?
Approx. 300 words

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* 15. Please offer some insight about any adverse effects COVID-19 has had on your community and/or target audience which has resulted in the need for this application. Approx. 200 words

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* 16. How many people are you anticipating will benefit from this project and to what level (i.e. one off, or regular engagement)? Please explain how you came to this number, balancing breadth with depth and providing any evidence to support this estimate:

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* 17. How do you anticipate this work being sustained once this grant has been spent? Either sustaining the new activity or continuing the engagement of the priority community group.
Approx. 200 words

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* 18. How much funding in total are you requesting from the GSP fund?
The total amount available is £25k per area. Grants can be requested for any amount

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* 19. Please provide a breakdown of your funding request, include cost per hour of any items where relevant.

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* 20. When will the project aim to start and finish?
(all projects to be finished by Feb 2023 at the latest)

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* 21. There are data capture and evaluation requirements for monitoring purposes which you will be required to capture for all attendees and submit within 4 weeks of the project finishing. We will supply the data set as and when a grant is awarded. If you will also be capturing other data for your own use, please state here:

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* 22.  - By working in collaboration, Wesport and BNSSG CCG have a data sharing agreement and therefore will both have access to the content shared within your application and additional documentation.

- Your application may be deemed appropriate to be suited with other funding opportunities such as the Sport England Together Fund. If this is case you will be contacted to discuss your application and will be shared with Wesport’s partner organisation, Voscur.

- We also may contact you if the GSP panel consider any details or information might be useful to be shared in local mapping exercises or creating partnerships.

- This is to ensure we can jointly support your organisation and project ambitions.

- If approved, please note the earliest you will be able to receive funding is from 1st April but the actual date of receiving funds may be later.

Please sign to confirm you understand and agree with the statements above:

If successful with a grant award, we will require the following documentation to be submitted. If you foresee any issues with this, please notify us at application stage:

· If you are an unregistered group, a copy of your constitution
· A copy of your latest bank statement, clearly showing your account number and organisation name
· A copy of your safeguarding policy and procedures
· A copy of your organisations insurance with cover to deliver the stated activities

Please send this information to info@wesport.org.uk

The deadline for returning your completed application form is: 9am Monday 28th February 2022.

Both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be informed by Mon 21st March 2022 at the latest. Further discussion or feedback will not be possible for unsuccessful bids but future bids are possible.

Any queries of difficulties, please contact info@wesport.org.uk or call 0117 328 6250

Thank you very much for taking the trouble to apply, GSP team

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Appendix A- Scoring matrix

Appendix A- Scoring matrix
Thank you for your application. The data we collect will be utilised and stored under GDPR guidelines. Our privacy policy can be found here.

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