Connectors UK Programme launched in Wales

Thanks to National Lottery players, Locality (England), DTA Wales, Development Trusts Association Scotland and Development Trusts Northern Ireland have together received almost £1.9 million over three years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK.

DTA Wales is delighted to be part of one of the first projects being supported by the National Lottery Community Fund’s new UK Fund. At a time when people can feel increasingly isolated, the fund aims to support organisations “to help communities come together and help make us a better-connected society”.

The project focuses on crucial local community organisations. It aims to ensure they can continue to support their communities as well as scaling up what they do to connect people. It brings together the national membership networks for local community organisations across the UK: Locality (lead partner), Development Trusts Association Scotland, Development Trusts Association Wales and Development Trusts Northern Ireland.

“We believe that across our memberships we have perhaps the most finely tuned vehicles for building community connection.” – Locality

The project – Connectors-UK – is shaped around two, interlinked strands which strengthen and support each other.

The first strand is about building stronger foundations for communities to connect. The core aim of this strand is to sustain and develop our member support, with a particular focus on peer learning opportunities, so community leaders can learn in real time from each other what’s working and share emerging best practice.

The second strand will dive deep into the connection potential we know exists across our memberships, providing practical support to unlock barriers, test ideas and incubate new models.

We’ll be sharing more information soon about what to expect from Connectors-UK over the next three years. We’re grateful for the support from the National Lottery Community Fund, to enable us to work together to support community organisations’ huge connection potential across the UK.