Building Better Opportunities (BBO) is a joint funding initiative from European Social Fund and the Big Lottery. In Greater Manchester BBO will be worth £10 million. £5 million from Big Lottery and £5million from European Social Fund. The first phase will deliver services from 2016 to 2018.
Who will it benefit?
The project is likely to be targeted at people from 25 years old who are unemployed or economically inactive, not in contact with mainstream services and who are experiencing a range of issues at the same time, including people who live in poverty.
This programme will support people with disabilities or health conditions (including learning difficulties, mental/physical health conditions, drug and alcohol dependency), adults under-represented in labour market for example homeless, ex-offenders, LGBT, ethnic minorities or migrant communities and people operating in the informal economy.
What does BBO aim to achieve?
BBO aims to help marginalised people to be more socially included, to help them overcome barriers to finding and sustaining work and to support employers to recruit from these priority groups.
How will it be delivered in Greater Manchester?
In Greater Manchester the intention is to fund one project to deliver the activity across the GM footprint. The project is likely to be delivered by a lead applicant working in partnership with other organisations.
How does my organisation get funded?
The best way for most VCSE organisations to get funded is by joining a partnership.
On the GMCVO website you can express your interest in being part of a partnership bid here: www.gmcvo.org.uk/building-better-opportunities-bbo-what-role-will-you-play and you will find a list of organisations who have expressed an interest in leading a partnership bid here: www.gmcvo.org.uk/bbo-building-partnerships
Timescales
The Big Lottery intend to launch BBO in June 2015. There will be a two stage application process with delivery due to start in Spring 2016.
Keeping up to date
You can sign up to receive updates on the national programme directly from the Big Lottery by going to: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/esf
You can sign up to receive updates from GMCVO by going to: www.gmcvo.org.uk/european-programme-2014-20-greater-manchester
If you have an enquiry, email GMCVO at: [email protected]