Community participation

Update: We recently invited voluntary and community groups to Worthing Town Hall for an open discussion about their concerns on planned changes to infrastructure support for 2025-2028. We have now adapted the tender specification as a direct result of the feedback from groups, with all changes clearly highlighted. Please scroll to the "What's new" section of this page to read the updated document.

Supporting and enabling inclusive and resilient community participation

We have learnt a lot about where we need to focus future resources to support and enable inclusive and resilient community participation thanks to the great involvement of local people and community groups in November's survey:

Working for positive change in your community

More than 90 people took part in the survey - sharing nearly 150 personal stories about including and involving others and overcoming challenges, and 200 wishes for the future. In addition, we carried out 15 hours of interviews, observation with community leaders and support organisations to gather further insight.

In December, we shared the early findings from the survey over two sessions at The Shoreham Centre. Survey participants, grassroots community leaders and support organisations came together to make sense of the data and identify key areas for future focus together with our councillors.

Over the two sessions we identified four principles to guide the future focus of our support for community participation and enterprise:

root future support in people and places
relationships are the engine of change
experiment with practical action using a 'test and learn' approach
protect and strengthen volunteering, community spaces and support

You can read all of the insights from this discovery work with community participants here:

Community participation discovery research (February 2025) (6,993KB)

What's new?

To respond to the needs and wishes set out in the discovery report we are now commissioning a new model of infrastructure support for 2025 to 2028.

The focus of the new infrastructure will be on:

involving and including more diverse groups of people in neighbourhood action and community participation
developing the use of digital tools to unlock connection, collaboration and sharing of resources in the neighbourhood and beyond
developing healthy democratic spaces where residents and communities can work with elected representatives for positive change at the neighbourhood, local and regional levels

To see how community participation has influenced the design of new infrastructure support, see:

Community Catalyst - Tender Specification (updated March 2025) (1,429KB)

For detailed information on updates to the tender specification following an open discussion with voluntary and community groups, see:

Community Catalyst - explanation of amendments to tender specification (136KB)

To express an interest in bidding for this contract please go to the:

Government's Contract Finder - on the GOV.UK website

What's next?

Update on Community Catalyst

Earlier this year, we tried to commission a provider to run the Community Catalyst programme. While the preferred bidder looked strong on paper, we weren't confident they could deliver the programme in practice. Rather than risk funding a contract that might not succeed, we decided not to go ahead.

The good news is the funding is still here - and we remain committed to investing it in our local voluntary and community groups.

We want to take a different approach this time: using a grant fund that is easier to run, more flexible, and better suited to the kind of community work we want to support.

What we're doing now

We will now run a process in collaboration with local organisations and community groups, through a grant programme that will build on the work of Thriving Together (PDF), Kitchen Table and the insights from research with local groups (PDF) and which will:

Make funding easier and quicker to access.
Support different groups.
Balance delivery on the ground with helping groups build skills and resilience.
Focus first on neighbourhoods with the greatest need and where there are opportunities to
work with community spaces

The grants will support:

Community action - groups working with our teams on cost of living and community cohesion.
Capacity building - that could include areas such as volunteering, community action and use of community spaces.

This connects to our wider programme of engagement which will include monthly Thriving Together sessions, a new residents' email newsletter, citizens panels, and dedicated community facilitators. This works alongside other grants that we provide such as the CIL Neighbourhood Fund. We will also connect this work to that of other organisations in the local area supporting work on the above areas.

We will work with local groups and organisations to work out the best options - funding projects to tackle issues on the ground (i.e. cost of living) or a mix of work on the ground & capacity building. In parallel, we will also train up our staff internally to strengthen their skills to work with communities.

Join us for a workshop on 24th October 2025 to:

Share your experiences of what makes funding easy or difficult to access.
Shape how this new grant fund should work - from priorities to the practical details.
Explore ideas for how the fund could support both local projects and capacity building.
Connect with others who are strengthening their communities in Adur and Worthing.
Sign up for the workshop here!

Timeline:

90 minute workshop with community groups & organisations: 24th October 2025, 1:30pm to 3pm
Launch applications: 13th November 2025
Applications close: 19th December 2026
Decisions: mid-January 2026
Grants awarded: February 2026