£4000 available for Dragon’s Den entrepreneurs to help build kinder and safer communities

A new group has been launched to build safer and kinder communities in a UK town - with £4000 already on offer for budding entrepreneurs

ROC WSM aims to build safer and kinder communities in Weston-super-Mare and Worle, Somerset over the years to come.

Now they already have £4,000 from the North Somerset Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) fund to use for new initiatives that will help tackle, prevent and reduce the harmful impact of violence in our communities.

They will operate the project on a theme similar to the BBC TV programme Dragon’s Den, where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a team of people. Somerset’s inspirational Deborah Meaden, pictured front left, is one of the experts on the popular TV show.

ROC Leaders Dave and Penny Hynds said: “In these extraordinary times we are eager to build upon the huge community response seen during lockdown, to harness the creativity and entrepreneurship of individuals and groups to help build safer and kinder communities in Weston-super-Mare.

“The funding is to seed small projects that may go on to become self-sustaining and carry on for years, to provide the impetus to make a difference.”
Organisations, groups and individuals can apply up to the 15 October 2020.

A Dragon’s Den style panel will judge the entries and funding upwards of £500 could be granted to successful applications.

In North Somerset, a VRU was setup to principally focus on the areas of Weston-super-Mare and Worle which account for two thirds of all crime and disorder recorded by police in the area.

The VRU priorities include reducing youth violence, alcohol related violence, domestic violence, vulnerabilities to exploitation, knife crime and awareness of the harms, and improve the safety of the local area.

A spokesperson said: “We are asking local people to come forward with proposals that will help the prevention and early intervention of violent crime, align with the VRU priorities and meet a local need as outlined in the report we wrote after the ROC conversation in February 2020.

“As noted by PCC Sue Mountstevens, through the VRUs we are ‘working together to make a change’.”
It is important that applicants outline how the funding will be used and show how the initiative is not duplicating and will dovetail with any current work.

The scheme has previously run successfully in Keighley and Bradford East, West Yorkshire in partnership with ROC.
For video applications of no longer than five minutes email to daveandpennyroc@gmail.com

Make an application here: https://forms.gle/JAUb4Gt5Bukfmg7F6