In collaboration with the Community Buildings Network, TDC are delighted to have been awarded a grant from the Council’s Communities Fund to help future-proof community buildings across the City.
The Community Buildings Network brings together people who manage community buildings across the city. TDC have been working with the Community Buildings Network for the past couple of years and they support over 150 community groups to find funding and run smoothly.
Future-proofing our Community Buildings
The Network has identified the need for investment in community buildings. Members are struggling with
- increased business rate levels,
- reduced rental income from public sector teams hiring office space,
- a desire to be greener,
- increased need for community hire to bring in income,
- local communities that have less income themselves,
- increased competition for grant programmes to raise funding
- greater expectation to work in partnerships to access funding.
We know it’s getting harder to fundraise and this changing economic environment requires community buildings to adapt to thrive.
What support is available to those who manage Community Buildings?
- Do you manage a community building in Brighton and Hove?
- Would like some support in setting priorities
- Do you want some advice about how to meet your aims?
We’re offering supportive health checks for Network members to review strengths and weaknesses, identify priorities and develop a mini-action plan. There are a limited number of checks available so get in touch if you’re interested.
And in the Autumn, we’ll be running a series of events with expert advice and joint working to solve common issues. These will finish with a celebration event in February drawing all the learning from the health checks, the events as well as from three demonstration projects that are running alongside this work.
You might be interested in fundraising, how to organise urgent maintenance, making sure your building complies with health and safety standards, tackling heating repairs, publicising and marketing to increase bookings, writing a business plan, budget planning, or improving web presence and setting up on-line bookings. Just let us know what’s most important to you.
The next Community Buildings Network meeting will take place on August 14th at 2.30pm at Cornerstone Community Centre. Contact us to register your interest in this ir any more of our informative events, let us know what you would like covered and we will send you a programme with more details.
At the end of the project, community buildings will be more sustainable, better used and a stronger community resource for everyone.
If you’re interested in any of the above, email [email protected]
And to find out more about the Community Buildings Network and to join for free go to https://www.bhcbn.org.uk/ or call the chair, Ann Tizzard on 01273 414483 or email pat.[email protected]