Big Guys and Little Guys - Transport Grants for Council and Community Group Collaborations

There are the big guys and the little guys: the local authorities who want to promote and enable sustainable transport and active travel… and the community organisations such as charities and social enterprises who want to do the same. By working together we can add much more oomph to our impact.

But how is this done? Here in North Northants our local authority’s Communities team distributes grants to several partnerships made up of Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations who each address different strategic themes.

As a local social enterprise here at Brightwayz we are part of the Transport VCSE partnership which is led by Volunteer Action a community transport charity. Our fellow partners are all providers of community transport such as extra bus services and also a volunteer car scheme providing essential lifts to health appointments and so on for those with no other means to travel. This is especially important in rural communities and for older people unable to drive. The volunteer drivers are the lifeblood of these organisations but the sustenance to organise and manage the schemes and the amazing teams behind them needs to come from somewhere… which is why these grants are so crucial.

We are unique in the partnership in that we don’t drive people around! We have been included because promoting active travel is seen as such a high priority in our county. It addresses health, environmental and social needs, connecting people with work, study, leisure and other opportunities.

So what have we done with our share of the funding over the past year? Here’s a quick review:

Brightwayz is an unusual partner as unlike the other partners we do not provide community transport services. Instead we run events, training, workshops, distribute refurbished bikes and do other initiatives to promote and enable more people to choose active or sustainable travel such as walking, cycling or bus travel.

ENHANCING OUR OFFERING

Many of our active travel initiatives that the grant supports are also part-funded by other sources and this grant has enabled us to enhance our offering, provide more staff or extend our events.

THE BIGGEST IMPACT

The grant has been key to us being able to use our electric van (also part-funded by North Northants Council with a Rural Shared Prosperity Funding grant) as it has covered the cost of insurance from January onwards. This has been the most impactful effect as it has enabled us to expand our service offering and all our community projects. For example we would not have been able to do our ‘cycles for refugees’ project at all if we did not have van insurance.

WIDE RANGE OF BENEFICIARIES

The projects we have done thanks to the grant have reached a wide range of different ages across the county. For example our Halloween Day smoothie bike and e-cargo bike rides event was enjoyed by elderly residents at Priors Hall care home In Corby. Our ‘have a go balance bikes’ were enjoyed by many young children at our Kettering By Sea events.

ENABLING EFFICIENT INNOVATION

Being part of a partnership is important to us and we enjoyed collaborating with fellow social enterprise CommMiniBus to organise a ‘mince pie bus’ - a free shuttle bus to and from the Kettering Christmas markets. This was one of our most effective activities in terms of sparking people’s interest. Having this grant enables us to be innovative and try new things like this and this flexibility is really valuable to us - we can respond to needs quickly and efficiently.

INSPIRING FURTHER ACTIVITIES

It also inspired further shuttle buses - Hanwood Park, a local housing development, funded a shuttle bus to and from Kettfest as a result of the success of the Mince Pie bus. There are now plans for other special event buses emerging.

REFURBISHED BIKES FOR REFUGEES AND OTHERS IN NEED

We love seeing the joy on the faces of people who receive free refurbished bikes from us as part of our Cycle-Re-Cycle programme. We receive referrals of local people most in need of a bike - mainly refugees but also others who are in difficult personal situations and need a free mode of transport such as resettled survivors of domestic abuse. The grant supplements costs and staff time to collect donated bikes and re-distribute them once repaired.

FUTURE PLANS AND LEVERAGING EXTERNAL FUNDING
It is really good that the grant covers a three year period as that enables us to plan ahead with the assurance of this support. The ability to trial projects enables us to develop powerful, robust bids for additional funding to run other active travel projects. It gives other funders confidence in our abilities, attracts great partners to join us and increases our own knowledge, ability and ambition.

THANK YOU

In summary we are very grateful to be recipients of this grant. We are excited about increasing our impact even more in the years ahead.

Here at Brightwayz social enterprise we love to provide information and tips to help you, your colleagues, friends and family travel in safe, active, sustainable ways for everyday journeys.

Our unique range of products is here to help support your active travel campaigns and 100% of profits from sales is ploughed back to support the work we do. Take a look at our range here and find something to help you inspire others to travel in good ways.