£9 million worth of Commonwealth Games legacy funding has been made available for grassroots projects in communities across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands.

The announcement from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) leaves community groups, charities, not-for-profit organisations, schools, and colleges able to bid for a share of the fund. Grants can then be put towards schemes intended to ‘bring people together, improve health and wellbeing, help the region to grow, and put the region on the map’, as per the WMCA’s listed goals.

The Inclusive Communities Fund is the largest amount of legacy money to be distributed in public grants and has been taken from the £70 million Games underspend following the 2022 tournament.

Local communities will benefit directly from the Games’ excess funding following successful negotiations led by both West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, and the WMCA, who agreed to invest back into the wider region.

Projects will be granted between £500 and £300,000, to ‘ensure the positive and long-lasting legacy from last summer’s Games is felt right across the region.’

 Another £1 million will also be available as part of the Community Environment Fund, intended for ‘green schemes that connect local people to nature and bolster the region’s resilience to climate change.’

‘This fund represents a fantastic opportunity to create positive, lasting change and we look forward to supporting local organisations in their efforts to make a meaningful difference’, explained Tina Costello, chief executive of the Heart of England Community Foundation.

Street himself remarked on a scheme that would see lives changed. 

‘We were clear that the Games must leave a lasting legacy at grassroots level far beyond the summer of sporting spectacle,’ said Street. ‘This money shows we’re delivering on that objective.’

With the success of last year’s Games, the fund hopes to get residents of the West Midlands more physically and mentally active in order to maintain the long-term effects from the summer.

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