Community participation

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 know it is important to fund not only visible community projects, but also the practical things that help them happen - organising volunteers, sharing equipment, running local spaces, or helping people learn new skills. In other words, investing in the people and relationships that make community action possible, not just the projects themselves.

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

This will be a first round of funding that we'll test and learn from. What we discover this winter will shape the next round.

We want to work with local groups and organisations to work out the best options in funding this work:

What is the balance of funding between supporting projects on the ground and essential support/capability building needed?
How do we enable learning across different groups and organisations in the local area?
How do we make it easy for groups to access and apply for this funding?

What are the kinds of things we are thinking about?

For example, we could offer smaller grants from about £5,000 to help people test out new ideas, and larger ones of up to £30,000 to help develop and grow projects that are already working well. And that can be both for capability building activity and delivery on the ground.

We want to make applying as easy as possible in a way that helps groups bring to life what they want to achieve with the funding - that could be via video or web form, but those are just examples.

We are keen to have diverse ways to assess the applications, building on lessons from the cross-sector panel we had for our Kitchen Table programme or the Citizens Panel we had of underrepresented groups.

In parallel, we will also train up our staff internally to strengthen their skills to work with communities.

But ... these are just ideas, so ...

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

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 and organisations: 24th October 2025, 1:30pm to 3pm
Launch applications: 13th November 2025
Drop-in sessions: Every week from the application launch to its close
Applications close: 19th December 2025
Decisions: mid-January 2026
Grants awarded: February 2026

Wider related work

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.

Via funding from West Sussex County Council, Community Works provide bespoke, ongoing one-to-one support for community organisations on governance, fundraising, staffing, and policy, delivered over 21 hours weekly. Additionally, we offer weekly volunteer support including recruitment and outreach, and help groups connect with each other and emerging NHS structures through newsletters and email networks.