Community groups in Liverpool city region will benefit to the tune of £480,000 thanks to returns from property investments made by the Chrysalis Fund. Tony McDonough reports
Community groups in Liverpool city region are to benefit from almost half a million pounds thanks to returns from commercial property investments.
Since its launch in 2021, the Chrysalis fund has supported more than £100m of property developments across the city region. These include the £25m Liverpool Life Sciences Accelerator and shipping giant ACL’s headquarters in Duke Street.
Now Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram says returns on those investments means £480,000 in grants is to be handed out to community and voluntary organisations across the city region.
The pot of money – which builds on the success of LCR Cares, which raised and distributed over £2.5m to hundreds of organisations across the region, helping more than 250,000 people during the pandemic – was made possible by a £1.6m return from the Chrysalis Fund.
READ MORE: £30m cash injection for city region property funds
Under the grant scheme, voluntary and community organisations can bid, via a simplified process, for cash to support initiatives meeting key pillars of the region’s recovery plan, Build Back Better. These include mental health and wellbeing, community wealth building and digital inclusion as well as providing support for volunteer management.
The flexible scheme has been shaped by the priorities and needs of the community and voluntary sector. Mr Rotheram said: “Our region’s community and voluntary sector is the envy of the country. And, when the pandemic threatened to wreak havoc on our most vulnerable, they stepped up.
“I’m proud of the way we were able to help them with LCR Cares, a unique crowdfunded campaign that raised more than £2.5m to help support that invaluable work: from mental health counselling and delivering food packages, to providing entertainment for children stuck inside and specialist support for victims of domestic abuse.”
The Community Foundation for Merseyside will manage the £480,000 funding on behalf of VS6, a partnership of 11 support organisations working with the 8,600 voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups operating across the city region.