Fuelling innovative community projects across the borough to address food insecurity

Thanks to funding from Rochdale Borough Council, Action Together has awarded more than £104,000 to 27 community groups and organisations in recent months, supporting their work addressing food insecurity across the Rochdale borough.

Nurturing sustainable and innovative community food solutions across Rochdale

Thanks to funding from Rochdale Borough Council, Action Together offered investment through Food Solutions Grants to help voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups provide emergency and immediate food offers, as well as investing in supporting the longer-term sustainability of Rochdale borough’s food providers.

The grants, totalling over £104,000, are set to be used to provide a range of services, including emergency food parcels and meals, food banks and pantries, community kitchens and cooking classes, food delivery services for vulnerable people, support for people to grow their own food, and much more.

The funding has been awarded to a unique and diverse range of groups, including food banks, community centres, religious organisations, and social enterprises.

The groups, all located across the Rochdale borough, serve a wide range of people, including children, families, older people, and people with disabilities.

The successful funding applications for these projects come at a time when food insecurity is on the rise in Greater Manchester.

A recent study by Rochdale Borough Council reported that 4.7% of households in Rochdale experienced hunger in 2022, and 12.2% of households struggled with food insecurity.

Action Together's grants are making a real difference to those families and individuals in Rochdale who are struggling to afford food. Thanks to the generosity of donors, Action Together can support the work of voluntary and community groups that are providing vital services to people in need and this funding will help to ensure that people across Rochdale borough have access to the food they need to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Here is just a small snapshot of how the grants are being used already:

• Rochdale, Middleton & Heywood Foodbanks are using their grants to ensure the borough’s Emergency Free Food Offer is supported throughout the Winter months.
• Nigeria Community Association, Wonderfully Made Woman and CCC House of Praise are all using their grants to ensure there is access to a culturally appropriate food offer across the borough.
• Rochdale Connections Trust, Deeplish Community Centre and Hebron Church are using their funding to provide free cooking classes and meals to people on low incomes.
• Kirkholt, Smallbridge, Freehold and Back of the Moss Community Centre Pantries are ensuring their community pantry offer provides free, or low-cost, food to vulnerable children and families in Rochdale.
• Petrus is using its grant to provide seeds, tools, and training to people who want to grow their own food.

Food Solutions Network - working together to tackle food crisis

Many of these groups are members of Action Together’s Food Solutions Network, a network comprising more than 30 voluntary organisations, statutory bodies and Action Together, working together to tackle food poverty stigma and shame around food poverty, and ensure access to appropriate food for people, families, and those isolated in Rochdale.

If you, or a member of your organisation, would like to become a member of the Food Solutions Network, please contact Action Together’s Community Development Worker Julie Durrant, julie.durrant@actiontogether.org.uk for more information.

More about the Rochdale Communities Fund

Rochdale Communities Fund is a mutual fund to invest in and strengthen Rochdale Borough’s voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector. It funds groups and projects which directly benefit local people and communities, delivered by VCFSE organisations with roots in the borough.

Thanks to funding from Rochdale Borough Council Public Health team, Action Together offered investment through Food Solutions Grants to help VCFSE groups provide emergency and immediate food offers, as well as investing in supporting the longer-term sustainability of Rochdale borough’s food providers.

To apply for funding, groups needed to ensure the scope of their project fell within one, or more, specific priority including:

• Emergency Free Food - Groups providing short-term, emergency support (for example food banks, community fridges, waste food projects or soup kitchens) which aim to relieve immediate pressure, but also offer additional support so that people don’t need to use the food bank again in the future
• Food Pantries/Food Clubs - Established food pantries who are softening the blow of high living costs and creating conditions for communities to grow and thrive, by bringing people together around food.
• Social Eating Projects - food projects that bring communities together and combine food with addressing root causes of food poverty (e.g. providing benefits help or debt advice)
• Food Growing Projects - initiatives to help residents and community groups to learn how to grow food
• Educational Food Projects - funding to enable community groups to find the time and space for learning and broader development around food i.e. Learn to Cook Programmes or Cooking on a Budget
• Cultural Food Offers - projects that represent the traditions, beliefs, and practices of a geographic region, ethnic group, religious body, or cross-cultural community

Find funding available to your organisation at https://www.actiontogether.org.uk/find-funding

Action Together doesn’t just offer access to, and support with funding, they can also support you to develop your project idea, develop or grow your organisation, recruit volunteers, training, demonstrate the difference you make, and more.

Find out how Action Together can support you by contacting a member of their Community Team at: development@actiontogether.org.uk