A special Commonwealth Games Small Grants Fund has been launched to mark Commonwealth Day.

Set up by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, the fund is worth £10,000, and not-for-profit voluntary community organisations across the city are being encouraged to bid for bursaries of up to £500 each.

The funding is to be used for delivering activities around Commonwealth sports – with the aim of increasing participation across all age groups and working in partnership with the local community.

Examples could be working with a local school to organise a commonwealth sports fun day, or organising an event to introduce people to sports such as judo and archery.

The criteria for applicants are as follows:

• The grants must be used for new initiatives linked around commonwealth sports
• It must be aimed at engaging with Liverpool residents
• It should target people doing less than 150minutes of activity per week

Anyone interested in applying, needs to fill in an application which can be downloaded from www.liverpool.gov.uk/cwg. Applicants need to describe their projects in no more than 150 words, to explain how it will engage with residents and how it will improve people’s experience of taking part in sport and activity.

The deadline for applications is 5pm Thursday 13 April.

Councillor Tim Moore, Mayoral Lead for Sport, said: “The Mayor has made our Commonwealth Games ambitions very clear over recent months and with our sights set on hosting the event in the future, we want to ensure that our communities really engage with the games and feel like they are playing a part in our bidding process.

“We know Liverpool has many community groups and local clubs who do amazing work in their neighbourhoods, and we want to be able to help support them in staging new activities that not only promotes getting active, but also raises the profile of the Games.

“I hope organisations across the city make the most of this opportunity and I look forward to seeing the activities taking shape over the forthcoming months.”

For further information about the application process, contact Donna Hall on 0151 233 5261 / donna.hall4@liverpool.gov.uk.

Making sport more accessible to people in Liverpool is a key aim of the Liverpool Active City Strategy 2014-21 programme, which is supported by Liverpool City Council and NHS Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group in partnership with strategic stakeholders.