NATIONAL CHARITY SEEKS LOCAL PEOPLE AND PROJECTS BUILDING COMMUNITY IN DERRY~LONDONDERRY AND STRABAN

Applications open today for The Multiplier, a national programme for community leaders. Change-makers from Derry~Londonderry and Strabane are encouraged to apply.

 

The Multiplier, run by The Cares Family, brings together a diverse group of change-makers from across the UK to take part in a nine-month journey designed to increase their confidence and capability in building more socially connected communities.

 

The programme is based on the global Obama Fellowship. Successful applicants will join a national movement of changemakers, each creating social connection in their own communities in their own ways.

 

For over a decade, The Cares Family has been working to bring people together across backgrounds, generations and experiences in rapidly changing communities across the UK. Based on that experience, the charity has learned that it’s local leaders who are best placed to respond to the challenges in their communities, not top-down policymakers.

 

The Multiplier 2023 will support 14 community leaders to develop their skills in fundraising, storytelling, coalition-building and more through specially designed workshops, peer support, mentoring and an unrestricted grant to support their work.

 

The Cares Family’s Founder and inaugural Obama Fellow, Alex Smith said:

 

Despite the backdrop of a global pandemic and a national cost of living crisis over the last three years, The Cares Family has supported 22 of the UK’s most promising changemakers to grow their projects bringing people from different backgrounds and experiences together to make an even deeper impact in their communities.

 

We are so proud of their work and are inspired that in 2022 100% of Multipliers agreed that they felt better connected to other leaders, less isolated in their journeys, more confident in their organisations’ futures and better able to think about how they can make systemic change because of their participation in the programme.

 

In 2023, once again, we will support civic leaders bringing people together in communities across the UK and forging connection in disconnecting times. Through The Multiplier 2023, local leaders will join a community of leaders who care passionately about building relationships. In return, we will support them with grants, nine learning workshops, mentoring and the connections and platforms to help them to meet their individual and collective goals.

 

Applications for the 2023 cohort of Multipliers opened on 9th January 2023, and will close on 5th February 2023 11.59 pm. The organisation is looking for local community leaders in Derry~Londonderry and Strabane who have a project and/or organisation that:

· Is at least six months old, and needs support to deepen and grow its impact;

· Connects people across generations, backgrounds and/or experiences; and

· Has potential to make bigger systemic and cultural change in society.

 

Applicants may be working in the community to improve cross-cultural relations or using creative ways to provide spaces for people to connect from different walks of life. Some may be running their own intergenerational projects or have other ideas to build connections in their communities.

 

Over the course of nine-months, Multipliers will have the opportunity to:

· Join monthly workshops specially tailored to support local leaders to progress their ideas;

· Receive an unrestricted £4000 grant towards project or living costs;

· Receive ongoing support from The Cares Family team;

· Receive structured support from a mentor;

· Have access to a community of other leaders; and

· Be a part of an alumni network of Multipliers at the end of the programme; where peer support, knowledge building and sharing is continued;

Apply here: 2023 applications are open | The Cares Famil