The Disability Action is accepting applications
for the Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) COVID-19 Emergency Fund.
The £1.5m National Emergencies Trust (NET)
funding will support grassroots DPOs across the UK, who have found it difficult
to access funding, to respond to the COVID-19 needs of Disabled people. The
funding will be administered and distributed through a partnership of DPOs
across the UK.
The DPO COVID-19
Emergency Fund aims to support DPOs to meet the needs of local disabled people.
They are looking to fund COVID-19 related work in the following broad three
areas:
- Independent
living: covering any COVID-19 related issues affecting disabled people’s
choice and control over their lives for example: COVID-19 changes to the
built environment, streetscape and transport, advice and advocacy support
to help ensure health and social care needs are met, employment advice or
advice to individuals about their rights if they feel they need to
continue to shield
- Isolation:
covering work to tackle isolation for example: providing IT equipment and
support so people can access on-line support or setting up and running
peer support networks
- Income:
covering work to support disabled people to access benefits and
entitlements and manage debt issues
Some examples of work that could be funded:
- A
DPO wanting funding to produce local COVID-19 related information in Easy
Read, British Sign Language and community languages
- A
DPO wanting to expand its information and advice service to deal with
COVID-19 related issues by increasing casework capacity or opening hours
- A
DPO wanting to set up a local group of Disabled residents to try and make
sure the needs of local disabled people are understood and addressed in
local COVID-19 recovery planning
- A
DPO wanting funding to cover the staffing, venue and running costs of
setting up a peer support network or befriending service
The
fund will be able to pay for equipment, running and staffing costs as well as
covering a full cost recovery model.
Funding Information
- The
minimum you can apply for is £1,000 and the maximum is £25,000.
- The
funding period is 8 months from 1 November 2020 to 30 June 2021 – all
grant income and funding activity will be expected to have been spent and
completed by then.
Eligibility Criteria
Any
DPO in the UK can apply if a majority of your governing body (greater than 51%)
or management committee are made up of Disabled people and you have a
constitution (you do not need to be a registered charity).