Charities and community groups in the South and South West of England are invited to apply for a share of £75,000 funding for employment and skills projects.

Sovereign Housing Association, working with not-for-profit digital fundraising platform The Good Exchange, says it has grants available for community projects that focus on supporting people to upskill, access training, find work or better work, or self-employment opportunities.

Projects need to be based within three miles of a Sovereign home and could be anything from community learning programmes and job clubs to homework clubs and vocational programmes.

Applications for up to £5,000 funding need to be submitted on Sovereign’s page on The Good Exchange by Friday, December 10.

Erica Watts, head of employment and training at Sovereign, said: “Recent analysis shows that the pandemic has supercharged UK entrepreneurship, with the Office for National Statistics reporting that there were over 1.1 million UK job vacancies between July and September. It really is a job-seeker and entrepreneur’s market at the moment.

“That’s why we want to support projects that help people find the job they want, get the skills they need, or launch the business of their dreams.”

Julian May, head of collaborative funding for The Good Exchange and Greenham Trust, added: “We encourage all community organisations that deliver employment and training services in areas where Sovereign has homes to apply for this new Employment and Training Fund via The Good Exchange online fundraising platform.

“In addition, if you represent a local funding organisation or business that would like to contribute to the fund and so enable even more people to benefit, please do get in touch via julian.may@thegoodexchange.com.”

Sovereign Housing Association' says its core mission "is to be a leading landlord, providing great service to our residents and customers".

It adds: "But as well as quality housing services, our work doesn’t stop at the front door. We offer a range of services, investing in communities, to help people and their neighbourhoods be the best they can be.

"We don’t just deliver one of the largest new affordable housing programmes in the country, we make great places too. Whether it’s new build, conversions or regeneration schemes, we focus on design, quality and sustainability to make places people want to live today and tomorrow."