Deadlines for applying for council grant schemes have been extended
As measures have ramped up in relation to Covid-19, the ingenuity of people has soared.
We are in unprecedented times but all around us we are seeing people coming together in creative ways to do what is right in the interests of one another – putting the interests of the collective above the interests of the individual. History is full of such occurrences, where we call on each other to look out for and after one another.
Recent days and weeks have shown a serious re-evaluation of priorities, where the importance of life outstrips any of its constructs – we can live without the economy; the economy cannot live without us.
It is at this stage difficult to know when we will be on the other side of all this, but what we do know is close to home - it is people and place that frame our experience of existence and by understanding this we will always remain on course for achieving a better, collective, quality of life.
As noted on many occasions in this column, the County of Cork has a treasure trove of wonderful community groups and organisations all striving and planning for the betterment of their local area and Cork County Council operates many grant schemes each year so that such groups can secure some seed funding in allowing their projects and undertakings to grow and come to full fruition. With this in mind, and given all that is happening at the moment around Covid-19, Cork County Council has extended a number of its grant schemes until later into the month of April, to afford groups the additional time needed.
The grant schemes presently open are the County Cork Commemorations Grant 2020; the Creative Ireland County Cork Grant Scheme 2020 and the Cork County Age-Friendly Programme 2020.
The Cork County Age Friendly programme aims to support the development of a network of Age Friendly towns across County Cork, providing financial assistance to groups seeking to designate their town as Age Friendly.
Examples of age friendly initiatives implemented in participating towns include accessible public seating, promotion of Age Friendly businesses, social inclusion events and public realm enhancements. The closing date for applications has been extended to 4pm on Thursday April 30th 2020.
The Creative Ireland County Cork Grant Scheme, initially scheduled to close on March 26th, has now been extended up until 12 noon on Thursday 23rd April. Now in its fourth year, this Grant Scheme has seen terrific successes all around the County, indeed, in the first 3 years of the scheme, 135 different projects, initiatives, events and undertakings have been supported to an amount of over €170,000, not to mention the investment this has seen in kind, both monetary and voluntary.
The involvement of groups in the Creative Ireland Programme and their working towards many of the actions in the County Cork Culture and Creativity Strategy has increased significantly over the years, evidenced by the success of groups in the Grant Scheme. In 2017, 35 projects were offered support; 42 in 2018 and an increase to 63 in 2019. In 2020 it is anticipated that over €50,000 will be put towards the scheme to take account of this growing involvement in culture and creativity at the local level.
The third grant scheme mentioned is the County Cork Commemorations Grant Scheme 2020, which will now close for applications on Thursday, 23rd April, 2020.
We commemorate to remind ourselves of who we are today and to remind ourselves of those strides made by people in our past so that we can shape our collective destiny today. The Covid-19 Pandemic is history in the present, it is a world event that will be commemorated for many more years to come.
With past events, people think back and try to appreciate what life must have been like at the time, if everyone made their very own effort for the collective good. We should look to our lives today, and the measures we undertake both for and on behalf of one another during this Corona crisis, as these accounts and memories will be the stuff of history in the future. In our undertakings we should never lose sight of the bigger picture.
While there will be much reflection ahead on the impact that Covid-19 has had on society, as our society re-adapts, it is important that groups will have the opportunity to remember all historic events, and not least the County of Cork and its role in the War of Independence one hundred years ago.