Grants of up to £10,000 are being made available for community projects which help disadvantaged and vulnerable people in Coalville and Leicestershire.

Leicestershire County Council has launched its SHIRE Community Grants Scheme, with a budget of £600,000, to support projects run by community groups, charities, not-for-profit enterprises and town and parish councils.

The SHIRE Community Grants programme aims to fund projects that help elderly and frail people, those with disabilities, special educational needs or mental health conditions as well as carers and those experiencing financial hardship, social isolation and poor access to services.

Small grants of up to £3,000 or larger sums of up to £10,000 are available to help with costs including staffing, buying equipment and room hire.

In the past council SHIRE Community Grants have been used for projects including:

• Mental health counselling sessions for homeless young people
• A rehabilitative programme for people who have developed severe physical disabilities following accident or injury
• Schemes which support individuals with budgeting, benefits, debt advice, and cost saving ideas
• Support with English language and ICT skills to help people from BAME communities to gain employment
• Vehicles such as a wheelchair accessible minibus and a mobile foodbank delivery service

Councillor Pam Posnett, the council's cabinet lead member for communities said: "We are really pleased to be able to open up the SHIRE Community Grants programme again.

"As a council, we have set aside extra funding to try to get money to projects that are helping to transform the lives of people who find themselves facing challenging circumstances.

"We know there are many great organisations doing fantastic work to support their communities, often with limited resources.

"The cost of living crisis is really biting and that means more and more people are turning to community groups for help.

"That's why we offering extra support going into the summer now and with more funding to be handed out in the autumn.

"We want to be able to support a range of projects so I urge groups to apply."

Applications for the current round of grants are being accepted until June 8, 2022, but further grants will be available in September and November.

Applying groups must be based in Leicestershire.

More information can be found on the Leicestershire Communities website .