The European Social Fund, Norfolk County Council		Acorn Grants
Location	Norfolk
Dates	Deadline for applications: 31st December 2006
Aims	Objective of the funding opportunity: Acorn Grants aim to give funding to small community and voluntary groups to help people who are suffering from disadvantage to increase their prospects of gaining employment. The grant will fund activities that in some way improve employability for those not in full-time employment or education and therefore can be used to increase people's skills, confidence and motivation. The grant can also be used to start up new businesses, provided they are community based and non-profit distributing.
	It aims to help the following client groups:
	Young People Unemployed Entrepreneurs	Economically Inactive The low skilled Those with disabilities
FRESA priorities	The funding opportunity fits with the following FRESA priorities:
	Top priorities: Skills for employability High priorities: Future labour force Under exploited sources of labour	Medium priorities: Access to learning and ICT Enterprise ICT Increasing employment rates
	More information on the FRESA The following labour market factsheets contain evidence to support bids for this funding: Skills for employability
Eligibility	Eligible Organisations: Small and Independent voluntary and community groups
Accreditation	Organisations must have the following accreditation to bid: No accreditation is needed
Amount available	Funding available: £580,00 is available in total. Grants will be available for projects costing between £500 to £10,000
Application	You will need the following documents to apply : An application pack is available from Fay Sheldon at the contact address below
Contact	For further information contact:
	Fay Sheldon Acorn Grants Co-ordinator Charing Cross Centre 17/19 St John Maddermarket Norwich NR2 1DN Telephone: 01603 883837 or mobile 07775695975 Fax: 01603 764109 Email: fay.sheldon@norfolk.gov.uk