Local organisations will be able to bid for money to deliver youth engagement work in the Govanhill area. The fund is open to all organisations working with young people in the local area. The fund offers grants of up to £5,000 for project activity. Capacity building grants for local organisations of up to £500 are also available.

This funding boost comes as Govanhill is named Glasgow’s 10th ‘Thriving Place’. Thriving Places is a Glasgow Community Planning Partnership initiative to bring people together to improve a local area by making stronger links between different community groups, services and organisations.

There are 10 areas across the city of Glasgow which have been given the ‘Thriving Places’ designation. These are areas that are affected by inequality and disadvantage, which would benefit from support to ensure local communities are able to participate in decision making processes.

Each ‘Thriving Place’ has a community anchor organisation with good connections to local people. The role of an anchor organisation is to support connections between communities and organisations. Glasgow City Council has announced that Govanhill Housing Association will lead on this work as the anchor organisation for Govanhill. This work will be undertaken by its subsidiary, Govanhill Community Development Trust.

Annie Macfarlane, chair of Govanhill Housing Association, said: “Govanhill is a spirited and energetic area with great potential and nowhere is that more apparent than in young people, who are the future of the community. It is vital to support them in whatever way we can and using this grant process to help as many diverse youth groups as possible is a great way of doing that.”

Applications for funding are now open and must be received by 10am on October 29.