Disadvantaged groups in Greater Manchester supported with £100,000

£100,000 has been allocated to support people experiencing extreme disadvantage in Greater Manchester through the coronavirus pandemic.

The £100,000 donation has come from the Lankelly Chase Foundation and will go to disabled people’s organisations and community organisations supporting those at risk of domestic abuse.

The money will support those who are usually overlooked due to poverty, isolation and lack of access to services, with £50,000 being split between 15 disabled people’s organisations and £50,000 split between 11 organisations supporting those at risk of domestic abuse.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) portfolio lead for Communities and Co-operatives, Councillor Allen Brett, said: “This funding is vitally important to help some of the most disadvantaged people in our society through these difficult times.

“We all need to come together across our communities to look support and look out for one another and I hope this funding will contribute towards that.

“I would like to thank Lankelly Chase for this donation and everyone at the organisations that are going to benefit for their efforts in response to the coronavirus outbreak.”

Julian Corner, CEO of Lankelly Chase said: “Too often, national funders with little insight or knowledge drop money into communities and then wonder why it wasn’t effective. Lankelly Chase wanted emergency grants to reach people most affected by Covid-19 in Greater Manchester, but knew there were people much better placed than us to make the decisions. Local people with lived experience and a deep solidarity with other excluded communities.

“By shifting decision-making to the team running the Elephants Trail project, our money has reached people in communities we could never have reached ourselves. Sometimes it takes a crisis to make changes that have long been needed. We hope this is a model from which others can learn as well.”

Lankelly Chase has provided the money as part of its work as a charitable foundation focussing on changing systems that perpetuate severe and multiple disadvantage.

The funding has been overseen by the Elephants Trail project, which is jointly funded by GMCA and Lankelly Chase. The Elephants Trail project consists of a network of community organisations working with local people with experience of severe and multiple disadvantage.