What is the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF)?
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a central pillar of the UK government’s ambitious Levelling Up agenda and a significant component of its support for places across the UK. To read more > UK Shared Prosperity Fund: prospectus – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Projects fall within one or more of the following categories:
- Community and Place
- Supporting Local Business
- People and Skills
View Local Case Studies
Hartpury TALK
We support you and your business by providing business coaching and guidance, a platform for knowledge sharing and a wide range of training.
iConnect – Digital Inclusion Project
“Our volunteers are the unique selling point of our project! We couldn’t achieve what we do without them and we are so grateful for their time and passion for the project…..”
Be Community – Community Development Team
Be Community offers a tailored training program aimed at empowering grassroots community groups to thrive sustainably.
Wye Valley River festival 2024
It’s here! WVRF celebrates its 10th anniversary this year!!! Please come and celebrate with us!
Y Prentis – Trainee Property Surveyors
The project will target unemployed, those in FT education seeking employment and persons seeking a career change from low or unskilled work in Monmouthshire.
Spring Food Fair
The Fair showcased local businesses and producers to put visitors back in touch with sustainable food production in our special landscape.
Shared Prosperity Fund projects in Monmouthshire
Be Community
Communities and Place
Be Community provides opportunities to volunteers within Monmouthshire to assist them with their volunteer roles. Providing a variety of courses aimed at volunteers including; food hygiene, first aid, wellbeing, safeguarding and many other courses that can help volunteers overcome any barriers they may face. Bespoke courses are also developed based on specific needs.
Destination For All – MonLife
Communities and Place
“A Destination for all”: This project aims to improve the accessibility of the destination for everyone in Monmouthshire, whether they’re here for a day, a week, or a lifetime. It includes capital and revenue funded activity. The capital funding will be used to provide grants for physical adaptations at local cultural and heritage sites to improve accessibility and counter the effects of isolation, particularly for older and disabled people.
Gwent Green Grid – MonLife
Communities and Place
The Gwent Green Grid is a collaborative partnership of the 5 Gwent Local Authorities and NRW, supported by a wide range of stakeholders and NGOs delivering a consistent approach to Green Infrastructure management across Gwent. The partnership and its programme of work acts as a key delivery mechanism that enables strategic planning, ecosystem service assessment and planning, eco-connectivity and mechanisms that create healthier citizens, stimulates business opportunities, and provides community benefits. The project will help deliver a range of outputs supporting resilient ecological networks and nature-based solutions, nature, and climate actions, manage our tree and woodland resource, support health and wellbeing opportunities and support green skills training.
colettebosley@monmouthshire.gov.uk
monlife.co.uk/outdoor/green-infrastructure/gwent-green-grid-partnership/
Together WORKS
Communities and Place
Together WORKS is a multi-faceted community hub based in Caldicot, South Monmouthshire jointly ran by MCC and GAVO. It is home to 12+ community groups who use and interact with the space on a weekly basis, as well as a community fridge, Makers Space, Benthic (Library of things) and various wellbeing and digital inclusion services. It is also a home for collaboration and partnership working with our community colleagues from MHA, Poll and Citizens Advice to name a few. TogetherWORKS has plugged a huge resource gap in Caldicot and is doing a fantastic job at improving the lives of the people who use it.
Business Monmouthshire
Supporting Local Business
The Business Monmouthshire SPF Project will enhance capacity within Monmouthshire County Council’s Economy, Employment and Skills team to engage with and connect businesses to wider support.
jameswoodcock@monmouthshire.gov.uk
Business Monmouthshire – Monmouthshire Employment and Skills (mccemployskills.co.uk)
Regional Tourism – MonLife
Supporting Local Business
Cardiff, capital of Wales collaborative marketing project. This revenue project will help fund a regional marketing plan targeting overseas, group travel / travel trade and business events markets. The project will build on the success of previous Southern Wales Partnership campaigns to help recover and sustainably grow the region’s visitor economy following the pandemic.
CELT (Connect, Engage, Listen Transform)
People and Skills
The CELT projects supporting those furthest from the labour market with wellbeing and counselling and those in work with individually training needs, providing a wraparound to our Welsh Government funded programme Communities for Work+. Providing a weekly timetable of work-related courses in Abergavenny and Caldicot.
MCC Economy, Employment and Skills
Multiply
Monmouthshire Multiply is an adult numeracy programme designed to improve functional numeracy skills through free personal tutoring, digital training, and flexible courses. The focus will be family learning through primary schools. Care Leavers focus on managing finances and engagement work to offer non-accredited workshops/courses and support participants wanting to achieve additional numeracy courses.
YPrentis
People and Skills
The project will target unemployed, those in FT education seeking employment and person seeking a career change from low or unskilled work in Monmouthshire. The trainees complete a 6-month fast-tracked accredited Building Surveying qualification, NET Zero, decarbonisation and the retrofit courses. Participants will be register will RICS as an associate and the chance to progress to full chartered status. Subsequent employment will be secured on completion of the programme, where participants can progress onto a higher apprenticeship and/or a degree in university.
Darryl Williams darryl.williams@yprentis.co.uk
Creative Futures – MonLife
Communities and Place
Creative Futures allows time and space to develop creative work and creative practice with young people. It is a collaborative programme that supports local arts activity and importantly gives young people a voice in its development. The programme consists of Bespoke Youth Arts sessions/Interventions and the establishment of a Monmouthshire Youth Theatre.
davebaxter@monmouthshire.gov.uk
katherinemcdermidsmith@monmouthshire.gov.uk
https://boroughtheatreabergavenny.co.uk/creative-futures-monmouthshire/
Flowing Through Communities – Wye Valley River Festival
Communities and Place
The Wye Valley River Festival CIC is an arts organisation, led by artists and communities creating work with the environment at its heart. Bringing local people, environmentalists, and talented artists together for a creative exploration of what is possible. Every other year those explorations lead to the biennial Wye Valley River Festival, hosted up and down the Wye Valley.
iConnect – Monmouthshire Housing Association
Communities and Place
iConnect offers all-round digital support ranging from getting online, to accessing services, seeking health and well-being advice, keeping in touch with loved ones, applying for jobs, as well as sourcing devices and affordable wi-fi.
iConnect are committed to pushing back the many barriers that people have exploring the digital world and in doing so helping them find new interests, new connections, and new opportunities.
sarahjones@monmouthshirehousingassociation.co.uk
monmouthshirehousing.co.uk/news/digital-inclusion-at-your-fingertips/
Today’s Heritage Tomorrow – MonLife
Communities and Place
This project will enhance ten of the county’s Heritage sites through the implementation of the Heritage Strategy Action Plan. Activities include the creation of visitor experience plans for each of sites, development of new training and induction plans for site teams, enhanced stakeholder engagement and new play and exhibition programmes.
Elevate – Alacrity Foundation
Supporting Local Business
Combining programmes and expertise between two established organisations operating nationally in the entrepreneurship space, namely the alacrity Foundation and Townsquare, the aim of Elevate Monmouthshire is to create a new ecosystem that promotes entrepreneurship, stimulates growth in new businesses and supports firms with ambitions for growth. Elevate will deliver practical commercialisation programmes and events that will offer help, advice, training, and mentoring to start-up entrepreneurs and existing enterprises across the Monmouthshire area.
https://alacrityfoundation.co.uk/
Food Resilience Programme
Supporting Local Business
Food Resilience Programme is a project to support Monmouthshire food and drink businesses. Linking producers with customers, promoting career opportunities, improving local supply chains, and flying the flag for Monmouthshire food and farming. Another strand of work is to host and grow the Monmouthshire Food Partnership as a forum for cross-sector collaboration on strengthening the local food system, farm to fork.
TaLK – Hartpury College
Supporting Local Business
The Technology and Local Knowledge (TaLK) project, will explore and support the plans and decisions for improved productivity and sustainability through digital systems, tools and skills for Monmouthshire farming businesses.
Inspire – MCC Economy, Employment and Skills
People and Skills
Inspire aims to work with young people aged 14-19 who are at risk of becoming or who are NEET (Not engaged in Education, Employment or Training). The programme operates in each secondary school in Monmouthshire with a designated worker per school and has the addition of an outreach worker to support young people with less than 50% attendance across Monmouthshire. Inspire will focus on four key indicators – Wellbeing, attendance, attainment, and behaviour and will work towards achieving a qualification and life skills with our young people.
Caru Cymru
Community & Place,
The SPF funded Caru Cymru project builds on an existing partnership with Keep Wales Tidy involving all the major Welsh local authorities. At its heart, it is about working with communities to create a cleaner, safer environment and make a positive difference. Key areas of focus are around reducing the impact of dog fouling, litter and fly tipping through targeted interventions.
MCC SPF contacts
These projects are [funded/part-funded] by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.