New £100,000 fund launched to address food poverty in Neath Port Talbot

A grant fund worth more than £100,000 has been awarded to Neath Port Talbot Council to support community organisations helping to tackle food poverty.

Known as the Food Poverty Grant, charities and voluntary organisations can apply for capital and revenue funding to address issues concerning food poverty or help to address the cause of food poverty.

Capital funding can be used to support organisations to access, store and distribute food supplies including food surplus and storing fresh food. For example, the purchasing of fridges, freezers, cooking equipment or IT equipment that helps to deal with referrals from customers.

Revenue funding can be used in a number of ways including the development of projects such as social supermarkets, community cafes, lunch clubs and community cookery classes. Plus it could be used to support projects that focus on outreach work and training volunteers to tackle food poverty.

The closing date for applications is Friday, 29th October 2021. There is no limit on the amount organisations can apply for through the fund.

Councillor Doreen Jones, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Equality, said: “As a council, we are committed to tackling food poverty in Neath Port Talbot and recognise the importance of working alongside community organisations to do so.

“The funding will help organisations to assist more who don’t have enough money to buy a sufficient amount of food and support projects aimed at addressing the root cause of food poverty.”

Funding for the grant was received from Welsh Government as part of their bid to help local authorities and third sector organisations to tackle food poverty.

For more information and to complete an application form online, go to www.npt.gov.uk/foodpovertygrant.