Adding Life to Years Active Ageing micro-funding to support an Age-friendly Sheffield

You are invited to join us on our mission to pave the way towards an Age-friendly Sheffield through a micro-funding programme.

Through the Adding Life to Years: Active Ageing Micro-fund, we are offering Sheffield based organisations, individuals and groups between £200 and £2,000 to support age-friendly activities and events. It’s a really simple process and we are receiving applications up until 20th October 2021. And are on-hand to talk about any of your ideas and help make this happen for you now. Contact Paul at p.woodhouse@syha.co.uk.

Background information

Age-friendly Cities and Communities is a World Health Organisation (WHO) initiative designed to encourage local cities and communities to foster and support active ageing. The framework is structured through ‘8 domains’ which take into consideration all aspects of community life that are vital to meet the needs of all of us as we age.

Age Better in Sheffield (ABiS) are connecting with individuals and organisations in Sheffield to pave the way towards an Age-friendly Sheffield. After 6 years of partnering with Sheffield organisations to deliver projects that tackle loneliness and social isolation amongst people aged 50 and over we are now in our seventh and final year.

For our final year we are linking our work with The World Health Organisation’s 8 domains and Sheffield City Council’s 8 key priorities for Sheffield which include the development of:

(1) a connected city

(2) one that is fair, inclusive & healthy

(3) with a strong economy

(4) and thriving neighbourhoods

(5) a place that is well designed

(6) a green and attractive city

(7) with a thriving city centre

(8) and which is environmentally sustainable for future generations

(The below image shows how WHO’s domains and the priorities for Sheffield fit together).

 

The Adding Years to Life Active Ageing Micro-fund initiative

Through our active ageing micro-fund offer we are inviting people from across Sheffield’s diverse communities to be part of this journey, helping to drive forward the age friendly agenda for Sheffield.

As part of this work, the Adding Life to Years Micro-fund is an opportunity for you, as an individual, organisation, or group, to organise an activity or event with an active ageing theme, becoming part of a growing network of age friendly advocates.

Through the micro-fund, you can apply for between £200 to £2000 to support an age friendly activity or event, however small or large. You can be as imaginative and creative as you like, the more inventive and community spirited the better!

Our ask is that your event or activity raises awareness around what people can do to promote active ageing and has an age-friendly focus that links to one or more of the outlined key priorities and domains.

Key application criteria – applicants must…

• Be excited about helping Sheffield to be “a great place to grow older”.
• Be situated in one of Sheffield’s wards.
• Ensure that events/activities take place in one of Sheffield’s wards.
• Consider how your activity or event will have a lasting impact and help to create a more age friendly future for Sheffield.
• Be willing to be part of an age-friendly advocates network for Sheffield – flying the flag as a champion of active ageing.
• Ensure that your activity or event links to one of the key priorities and 8 domains, (see the frequently asked questions section for more info).

You don’t have to be over 50 to host or participate, however there must be an age-friendly focus.  It can be a one-off event or a series of activities which takes place before 31^st December 2021.

Frequently asked questions

What is meant by age-friendly?

Age-friendly communities are places where people of all ages can live healthy and active lives. These places make it possible for people to continue to stay in their homes, participate in the activities that they value, and contribute to their communities, for as long as possible. Find out more by visiting: Centre for Ageing Better

What does active ageing mean?

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines active ageing as “the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation, and security, in order to enhance quality of life as people age,” This means creating meaningful activities and social connections that improve people’s health and wellbeing, their capacity to be independent, and live in purposeful and life enhancing ways that enables people to age well.

What sort of activity or event might be considered?

There are no hard and fast rules in terms of what you can do as long as it links with one of the key priorities or domains, however, here are a few ideas to get your creativity flowing:

• An age-friendly street party.
• An intergenerational skill sharing activity (with a gardening, food, arts, or technology focus).
• A sustainable living event or workshop (such as a repair workshop or creating a sustainable living roadmap for Sheffield).
• An age-friendly local business network event.
• A celebrating age event connecting diverse community groups.
• A workshop focusing on what it would mean to become an age-friendly advocate.
• Or something completely off the wall that means something to you!

How can I link my activity/event to the priorities and domains?

• By creating an activity or event that will enhance your local neighbourhood, bring community groups together, or encourage different age groups to connect and support each other.
• Something that actively encourages accessibility to the well-loved green spaces of Sheffield, or helps to improve them in the long term.
• An event that focuses on the future of Sheffield’s city centre as a place that anyone can thrive in whatever their age, e.g. awareness raising around the “grey to green” project or through an urban creative vibe, such as music, theatre and other creative arts.
• By thinking about how to encourage people to move in, around and across the city using different modes of transport – making suggestions for age friendly improvements.
• An activity that focuses on the “streets that you live” and promotes the skills and strengths within your local community and what that offers to Sheffield as a whole.
• You might organise a Think Tank or arrange a competition to focus on what’s needed – building better ways of being a fairer, more inclusive, connected, and compassionate city – or what do we do well and how can we shout about this more?

How do I apply and what’s the procedure?

Simply drop us an email or letter explaining your idea in around 400 words; or make a short video or audio explaining your idea. If you would like to chat through your idea or have any queries don’t hesitate to give our supportive and friendly team a call. Paul or Edyta are on hand to answer your questions and guide you through.

All contact information is at the end of this article.

When applying make sure you tell us…

• What your idea is and who your event or activity is aimed at.
• When you expect your activity/event to take place and where.
• How it links to the 8 domains and 8 priorities for Sheffield.
• How it will create long term impact and support Sheffield as an age friendly city – a great place to grow older.
• How you intend for your activity/event to generate lasting impact.
• The amount of funding that you need and how that will be spent (Please note funding will not be given to you directly – we will pay all expenses/invoices on your behalf. It must be between £200 and £2000).
• Your telephone number and email address so we can contact you with our decision or ask any questions we might have.
• Which information workshop you would like to attend if successful (see below).

Timelines for applying

You can submit your application from Wednesday 25^th August, the final deadline for applications is Wednesday 20^th October.

There will be two funding panel reviews, the first on Friday 24^th September and the second on Thursday 21^st October.  Please ensure you get your idea to us in good time so that any questions can be answered, and your application submitted. To have the best chance of securing funds, the sooner you can apply the better.

What happens next?

Your application will be reviewed by our micro-fund panel.  One of the panel members will contact you with any questions and we will let you know if your application has been successful soon after the panel review dates. (See above).

Once your application has been successful you will be asked to attend one, 2-hour workshop to tell you more about our active ageing approach to creating an Age-friendly Sheffield, what it means to be an age friendly advocate, and how we will help you to measure the lasting impact of your activity or event. Depending on when you apply you can pick from the following dates:

Workshop 1            Wednesday 6^th October 12-2pm

Workshop 2            Tuesday 26^th October 5:30 – 7:30pm

Workshop 3            Thursday 18^th November 2-4pm

Workshop 4            Monday 13^th December 10-12noon

 

Contact Information

Contact Paul on 07947238290 or email p.woodhouse@syha.co.uk

Contact Edyta on 07517216574 or email e.bancer@syha.co.uk

Write to us at the Age Better in Sheffield Active Ageing Micro-fund

C/O South Yorkshire Housing Association, 152 Rockingham Street

Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 4EB