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Students, residents and local businesses can now apply for a £500 grant from The University of Nottingham to make their community an even better place to live.
Following the re-launch of the Community Chest Fund, the University is again looking to help projects which will contribute to the safety, social harmony and environment of local neighbourhoods, while promoting social responsibility and community engagement among students and residents.
Off campus Student Affairs Manager Melanie Futer explained: “The University of Nottingham and its students have a shared commitment to the well being of local communities. Our students have been living off campus for decades, and the great majority respect their neighbourhoods, behave with consideration, and contribute with real enthusiasm to local life.
“Having a Community Chest Fund enables our students to work with local residents on a series of projects, which only help to increase this community cohesion. This year we are hoping to get more projects off the ground having seen the success of initiatives such as ‘The Dunkirk Tea Party’, ‘Grab a Bag’, ‘The Street Pastor Scheme’ and ‘Improvements to Radford Park’.”
Past recipients
• As a Community Chest Fund recipient, the ‘Dunkirk Tea Party’ has become an annual event at which residents, local organisations and the University work alongside one another to encourage community engagement between residents and students over a cup of tea.
• ‘Grab a Bag’, which has been running for four years has also benefited, helping The Lenton Centre to collect unwanted items from students and offer them to local residents.
• Money has also helped street pastor volunteers to work with police to make the city centre safer and assist those in need to get home on Friday and Saturday nights.
• And students working with a local school and the Muslim Women’s Centre planted 107 shrubs and added 1,500 litres of bark mulch to brighten up the Radford Park for all the community to enjoy.
With the re-launch of the Community Chest Fund projects like these and many more will be able to apply for funding. To find out more and fill out an application form, visit: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/currentstudents/yourcommunity/communitychestfund.aspx
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is also the most popular university in the UK by 2012 application numbers, and ‘the world’s greenest university’. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2011, for its research into global food security.
Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fund-raising campaign, will deliver the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news…