August 10, 2020

We are delighted to have been awarded a further £50,000 of National Lottery funding from Sport  England’s Tackling Inequalities Fund, which aims to tackle inequalities in activity levels through working with its partners to reach those most in need as a result of the impact of COVID-19.

This is the second round of funding that we have been awarded to provide support to community groups and organisations that are supporting those disproportionately affected by COVID -19.  

As our remit as part of Cumbria County Council’s Public Health team we have allocated the initial £50,000 to fifteen different organisations working with target communities to increase activity levels during the current coronavirus crisis. Projects have been designed to reach out to those from lower socio-economic groups, Black, Asian Minority Ethnic communities, people living with a disability, and those with long-term health conditions, to enable them to continue to exist and engage with their communities with a view to keeping them active during both the lockdown and early recovery stages.

With a second round of funding, we can expand our reach and support more organisations. The funding is designed to reduce the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on activity levels in under-represented groups, ensuring gaps between those who are active and those who are not does not widen during this period.

Richard Johnston, Senior Manager (Operations) at Active Cumbria said:

“This is great news for us as a County. We’ve already allocated the initial funding of £50,000, supporting 15 organisations including disability, BAME and women’s organisations, with this additional funding we can support even more.  We have had interest in the fund from such a wide range of organisations it has been difficult to choose which ones to support, but we have looked for projects ready to go and organisations that really understand their audience.

We were successful in our application alongside national organisations such as Sporting Equals and England Boxing, so this is a great news for us as a partnership”.

Jason Gooding, Chair of Active Cumbria Advisory Board said:

"I am really pleased Active Cumbria have received a second round of the Tackling Inequalities Funding to help reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 and the widening of the inequalities in sport and physical activity.

It's equally pleasing that Sport England recognise the local significance of Active Cumbria. It is not the usual route for funding, and is testament to the teams understanding of local issues and local connectivity." 

Tim Hollingsworth, Sport England’s Chief Executive, said: 

“We are proud to be able to provide funding and support to Active Cumbria in this difficult period. This funding will help support our valuable community infrastructure that is so important in keeping the nation active and will also provide important connections and reconnections for people whose lives have been affected by COVID-19 and for whom remaining active is so important for their physical, mental and social wellbeing. We know from our research and data that there are existing inequalities between groups when it comes to activity levels and COVID-19 has re-inforced these. 

“Thanks to the support of the National Lottery and its players, the Tackling Inequalities Fund will be both crucial and central to ensuring no-one is left behind when it comes to having the opportunity to be active during this period. This builds off the back of our £35m Community Emergency Fund that has already reached and supported over 7,500 community clubs and groups across England.”