EMCCA launches Mayor’s Community Development Fund

The East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) has set up the Mayor’s Community Development Fund.

Community groups in 10 priority areas across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are being encouraged to bid for a slice of a new £3 million fund to tackle deprivation and improve lives.

The Mayor’s Community Development Fund was launched on 4 September by Mayor of the East Midlands Claire Ward and English devolution minister Jim McMahon.

The 10 priority areas chosen to benefit include Arboretum and Normanton in Derby. EMCCA is looking for organisations and community groups to work together to submit one application per area. 

The fund, which will run over the next three years, is aimed at boosting community resilience, increasing local skills, and enabling people to take control of shaping their own neighbourhoods.    

The primary focus will be for areas within the EMCCA region that face the dual challenge of deprivation and lack of community and voluntary organisations with the capacity to take ownership of solutions and ‘help themselves’. This has been exacerbated by a reduction over time in the available resources and infrastructure to set up and support groups in those communities. 

Organisations that can build capacity and resilience within communities will be encouraged to apply for the fund using a grant application process demonstrating how they meet the criteria and how they can deliver activity. 

The deadline for applications is Monday 24 November 2025 (5pm)

Find out more about the fund on the EMCCA website

Community Action's CEO appointed as VCSE sector rep for East Midlands

Did you know that our CEO Kim Harper was recently appointed as the Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Representative for the East Midlands region by Mayor Claire Ward?

You can read about that here!