Project delivery - August to October 2025

The West Yorkshire Mayor is responsible for developing a Local Transport Plan which sets out the Mayor’s vision for the development of a regional integrated transport network. CNet was involved in the public consultation and engagement element for the Bradford District. We engaged through questionnaires, focus groups and events, using an asset-based community development approach to reach into our diverse communities with a particular focus on people with a disability and women because their views were not adequately represented in the wider consultation.

Contact rachel@cnet.org.uk for more information.
 

The Bradford District Friendship Grants scheme was funded by Bradford Council to help community groups within the Bradford District to support people living with dementia and/or sensory impairment to live independently, build friendships and be engaged with their local community.

CNet has facilitated the grants on behalf of Bradford Council since April 2023. From April 2024 to March 2025 the following funds were awarded:

Grants of £2,000 to £5,000

• £17,710.32 in total
  • Dementia: £14,030.60
  • Sensory Impairment: £3,679.72

Grants of £250 to £2,000

• £23,172.77 in total
  • Dementia: £15,379.91
  • Sensory Impairment: £7,792.86

Total grants awarded: £40,883.09

Projects funded included cook and eat sessions for people with sensory impairments, tai chi sessions for people with dementia, and gentle gym sessions, with age appropriate equipment and activities.

Active Travel Grant Awards

The Active Travel Grants were funded by Bradford Councils Active Travel Social Prescribing Team and included the Community Cycle Training grants and the Active Travel grants. 

Community Cycle Training Grants – Project delivery July 24- December 24

Grants of up to £5000 were available to community groups with the aim of making more people confident cyclists, with the hope of replacing some car journeys with journeys on bike. A total of 8 community groups/organisations were funded £44,247.

Active Travel Grants – Project delivery July 24 – March 25

Grant awards up to £10,000 were available for Active Travel grants with the aim of supporting everyday journeys to improve health and wellbeing through being active in Manningham / Girlington, Bradford Moor / Barkerend and Keighley Central. A total of 12 community groups/organisations were funded £108,582.

The link between travel options and physical activity and wellbeing - Community Consultation in Bradford & District.

In April 2024, Bristol University engaged CNet to conduct a travel survey to ascertain how people linked travel to health and their use of various transport modes including electric scooters and bikes. The survey had already been carried out but there were gaps in responses, particularly from our marginalised and seldom heard communities.  

CNet organised a range of focus groups and one to one interviews to encourage and support people to complete the online questionnaire. We exceeded the targets and successfully engaged the target communities.

Local Community Support (Day Opportunities) Grants

From April 2022 June 2024, CNet administered the Local Community Support Grants (formerly Day Opportunities) as part of the Council's VCSE support and improvement programme. The grants were funded by the Department of Health and Wellbeing, Bradford Council.

Funding was available for VCSE organisations to deliver Council day care in the community primarily for older people / people with learning difficulties / disabilities.

Roma Strategy Development

Bradford District was selected by the Government as one of five national Integration Areas for an ambitious programme of work as part of its Integrated Communities Strategy.

The Roma Strategy was developed in collaboration with cross sector partners, agencies, key stakeholders and the Roma community. The Strategy can be downloaded below.

Roma Strategy Delivery

Between March 2023 and April 2024 CNet worked with the Stronger Communities Partnership to establish an Implementation Steering Group and Advisory Group for delivery of the Strategy.  A key outcome of the project was the cross sector event in Feb 2024, see report below for details.

Active Travel - CRM

Duration: June 2023 to April 2024

This project aimed to gauge levels of community readiness in different areas of Bradford to address the issue of Active Travel within the community. Active Travel was defined as "cycling, walking or wheeling as a means of transport in order to get to a particular destination such as school, work, the shops or to visit friends. Active travel can also include trips made by wheelchair, mobility scooter, adapted cycles and scooters, with cycling including bicycles, tricycles and electric cycles, powered by feet or hands. Active travel may also include the use of public transport as part of an active journey.”

The full final report can be found below.

ASB Grants

The Antisocial Behaviour (ASB) Small Grants scheme was funded by the District Community Safety Partnership to empower communities to tackle antisocial behaviours in our communities.  Small grants were available for grassroots community organisations and groups to run anti-social behaviour initiatives.

The aim was to support projects that tackle behaviours that cause or are likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to any persons not of the same household, particularly:

• Personal antisocial behaviour – when a person targets a specific individual or group
• Nuisance antisocial behaviour – when a person causes trouble, annoyance or suffering to a community

See impact report below.

Suicide Prevention Grants

The Suicide Prevention Small Grants Scheme was funded by Bradford Council Public Health to improve support and positive wellbeing of Bradford citizens. The scheme funded new or emerging areas of work tailored towards adults aged 18 and over. The aim was to support projects that reflect key priorities of the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Suicide Prevention Plan and the Bradford District Suicide Prevention Plan. Applications were invited from projects that addressing the following priorities: 

1: Reduce the risk of suicide in key high-risk groups 

2: Tailor approaches to improve mental health and wellbeing in specific groups 

3: Improve Self Harm support interventions

Community Led Gardening & Food Growing Grants

In December 2021 Bradford Council Public Health Team further commissioned CNet to distribute a small amount of grants for community led gardening and food growing projects. The Community Led Gardening and Food Growing Grants Scheme was to improve the mental health and wellbeing of Bradford citizens. The scheme funded new or existing projects that were working with adults, children and young people or undertook inter-generational work focusing on community led gardening or food growing. 

The aim was to support projects focused on key priorities relating to the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Bradford and Airedale 2018 – 2023 and the draft Good Food Strategy 2022, which encourages community food growing. Fast track grants of up to £2000 and small grants of £2000 to £5000 were available for community groups/organisations as well for schools and youth clubs. From January 2022 till March 2022, 12 grants totalling £37,490 were distributed to groups across the district.

Mental Health & Wellbeing Grants

CNet were commissioned to run a grants programme for Bradford Council Public Health focusing on improving the mental health and overall positive wellbeing of Bradford Citizens. The aim was to fund new or emerging areas of work tailored towards adults aged 18 and over and to support projects reflecting the key mental health priorities of the Bradford Council Plan and Mental Wellbeing in Bradford District & craven Strategy 2016-2021.

The grants programme ran from April 2021 - March 2023 with a number of rounds including fast track grants of up to £2000, small grants of £2000 - £5000 and major grants of £5000 - £12000. 

The grants were open to voluntary and community sector organisations who met the grant criteria.  45 grants totaling £152,516 were awarded to groups and organisations across the district including LGBTQ+ communities, people struggling with addiction to alcohol and substances, people significantly affected by Covid19 and BAME communities. 

WYCA CityConnect

In the late summer of 2021 CNet secured funding from The West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s CityConnect programme, part of its Community Grants scheme. CityConnect offered small grants to third sector and community organisations to support projects encouraging people to cycle and walk more.

CNet’s project involved leading guided walks across Bradford District with five groups of people. The first of these was a group of mums from the Ravenscliffe housing estate in Eccleshill, who meet at the local Gateway Centre, there was a group of pensioners from Idle and Thackley who meet at the local Rockwell Centre, a mixed age group from the three Keighley Wards, a group of parents from All Saints’ Primary School in Little Horton, and a group of pensioners from Manningham.

Most of the walks were around areas local to the groups, but due to either limited mobility or a lack of green spaces the walks with Manningham pensioners and All Saints’ parents were a short (15-30 minutes) public transport journey away.

Each group had four walks, all of which were checked before hand to check their suitability and any potential hazards. During the walks, participants were also given information about the local history of the walk area and the local flora and fauna.

A booklet was then created, Muppett's Rambles, with descriptions of 14 of the 20 walks along with information of the local history including details of buses and trains to and from these walks from Bradford City Centre, Shipley, Bingley, and Keighley, as well as Ilkley and Wharfedale).  A number of recipes, the ingredients for which can be foraged on the walks can also be found in the booklet and finally it also contains links to numerous other walks around the local countryside.

Printed copies of Muppett's Rambles can be requested from CNet - 01274 305045 or alternatively a pdf version can be found in the reports and resources section of this website.

CNet developed a list of consultants with experience working with the VCS, locally.

The matrix of associates helped people to identify their skills, specialist knowledge and expertise, previous experience and contact details.

Project YouTurn - Never too late

Project YouTurn was an anti-drugs programme for the BD7 area of Bradford, covering Lidget Green and Scholemoor. The project was funded by the Local Trust through the Big Local initiative.

What was the project about?

• Creating awareness on the dangers of drug misuse and dealing drugs
• Supporting people with loved ones affected by drugs
• Promoting important information in various languages to help people understand the effects of drugs
• Developing and funding diversionary activities for young people
• Promoting existing drug and alcohol services that can provide support
• Engaging and communicating with the local communities to better understand the support required

What did we do?

Project YouTurn is worked with key organisations such as the councils’ Alcohol Drug Education Prevention Team (ADEPT), The Bridge Project, West Yorkshire Police, local schools, the Youth Service along with community groups and local community centres. We took a co-ordinated and partnership approach to help improve the situation in the BD7 area. The idea is to work together to provide more activities for young people to deter them from crime, increase drug education within the communities and most importantly guide people affected by drugs to relevant support services that are currently available.

Engaging People Project

Duration: April 2017 - March 2022

Engaging People was a project funded by the NHS to support more people and communities to get involved and have a say in the future development of healthcare services across the Bradford and Craven District.

The aims:

• To include and involve larger numbers of people in the development of future healthcare services, particularly those who are underrepresented
• To gather better information from people about what they think of current healthcare services, listen to their personal experiences and find out what’s important to them
• To use this information in longer-term plans and decisions about the future of healthcare services across the Bradford District

By involving people in decisions about their healthcare we hoped to improve the overall health and wellbeing of our communities.

We used a variety of methods to engage with communities e.g. one to one questionnaires, focus groups, events, training and peer mentoring, to support groups and individuals in sharing their voices and helping shape future health provision. 

Women's Health Network

The Women's Health Network provided a space for exploration, networking and discussion to improve the health and wellbeing of women and their communities.

We held regular meetings with a varied range of health partners, voluntary community sector organisations and individuals, organise events including IWD, consultations and workshops, with a focus on addressing barriers to women accessing services and also reaching seldom heard groups.

Bradford District & Craven Maternity Voices Partnership

For the main Bradford District and Craven Maternity Voices Partnership website please click.

For further information on any of the above, please call 01274 305045.

Worked in partnership with BYDP to work with Secondary schools within Manningham, Heaton and Toller areas to identify young people aged 14-19 who participant in completing a Level 2 Award in Progression training course. The young people created key health messages from the training course they attended and shared these messages with other young people across the identified areas.

We are also ran health focused youth groups for 14-16 year old's to work on key health messaging and issues related to young people.

This project was delivered between January 2022 and July 2022.

The Bradford District Assembly (BDA) was established in 2009 and CNet were commissioned by Bradford council to co-ordinate and facilitate the Assembly, and to support its members and representatives.  

The Assembly 

• Enabled collaboration and communication between the VCS and strategic partnerships via elected representatives, themed meetings, events and consultations.
• Promoted the role of the VCS in the development of  local policy, strategy and delivery of services.
• Ensured the voices of communities, particularly seldom heard groups equally considered at all levels of discussion and decision making.

This was done through a number of forums open to people and organisations involved in voluntary and community groups within the Bradford district via the following forums:

• Equalities Forum
• Safer Communities Forum
• Community Economic Forum
• Bradford Environment Forum
• Health & Care Forum

The Bradford District Assembly was independently managed by the Assembly Steering Group, which met regularly and had representatives from each of the forums as well as other voluntary and community sector partners.  Their roles were to channel views, issues and information from the forums through to decision-making bodies.

As of 1st April 2022 CNet no longer deliver the Bradford District Assembly contract, however for ways to get involved in current arrangements please visit the Community Action Bradford website.** 

Bradford District was selected by the Government as one of five national Integration Areas for an ambitious programme of work as part of its Integrated Communities Strategy.    

The aim of the Roma Strategy project was to improve engagement between statutory public services and the Roma community.  CNet delivered the project between January 2020 and March 2021, the key aims were as follows:

• Map existing provision being provided for the Roma community and identify gaps
• Carry out a robust and thorough asset based engagement process with the Roma Community and agencies
• Enable and support a District strategic approach to Roma integration in Bradford District through the development of a strategy that addresses the local priorities and needs of the Roma community primarily working with Health, CCGs, Fire & Rescue Service, Police and Council
• Increase Roma participation and improve access to local services 
• Ensure Bradford District has a strong united voice in influencing policy and practice affecting Roma at national and local levels. 

The Roma Strategy was developed in collaboration with cross sector partners, agencies, key stakeholders and the Roma community. 

Bradford District was selected by the Government as one of five national Integration Areas for an ambitious programme of work as part of its Integrated Communities Strategy.  

The aim was to create the conditions for more integration between our increasingly diverse communities. The vision was to develop ‘a place where everyone feels that they belong, are understood, feel safe and are able to fully participate in the opportunities the District offers.’

CNet began the Community Conversations project in January 2020. It was paused in March 2020 due to the Covid Pandemic and restarted in September 2020. The project completed in June 2021.

• The project intended to bring local residents of different backgrounds, religion, gender, age (from 18 years) sexuality, together to discuss their views, perceptions and concerns.  
• targeted in 10 areas, 2 in each constituency, identified by Area Coordinators and local Ward Officers, for the widest reach and most impact, with particular attention to communities experiencing low levels of ‘community readiness’ to engage in a facilitated programme of conversations.  
• explored how the group could raise aspirations for how they can live together within the District. The project created a space where views could be aired without blame or judgement and are heard.  

It was hoped that these conversations and exchanges would help to dispel some of the myths and rumours that can be a root cause of tension in communities resulting in:

• More people getting along with other people who are different from them;
• Increased confidence to mix with others;
• Improved perception of others;
• Increased critical thinking;
• Increased resilience in managing conflicts or tensions and;
• Sustainable bonds with others from different backgrounds.  
• Increased participation in decision making and consultation
• Increased volunteering  

The project engaged approximately 300 residents across the district who developed a better understanding of the communities they live amongst and helped breakdown the barriers preventing them from living in harmony. 

Bradford Central CLLD’s purpose was to support business to become entrepreneurial, prosperous, and sustainable whilst also engaging with local residents helping them to become more economically active. We were working on making the Bradford CLLD area clean, green & safe, well-connected, fair and inclusive for people to enjoy meaningful employment. The area covered Manningham, City and Great Horton.

The Local Development Strategy was developed by the Bradford Central CLLD Local Action Group (LAG). Bradford Central CLLD was a consortia of three delivery partners supported by  Bradford Council: Action for Business Ltd (ABL T/A Carlisle Business Centre), CNet and CABAD.

More information about the project can be found: https://bradfordcentralclld.org.uk/

Duration: December 2020 - March 2021

The Diversity Insight Project was funded by Give Bradford. The key objective was to understand VCS organisations in terms of how their staff, board and volunteers are reflective of the communities they serve. To this end, a survey was designed via Survey Monkey (download below).

The survey was widely marketed to VCS organisations who were encouraged to participate by illustrating the following benefits:

• Understanding how our organisations are reflective or otherwise helps us to focus future recruitment to communities we need to better represent
• Better represented communities lead to better insight
• A more representative membership gives a stronger mandate when campaigning on key issues
• Mapping the issues and development needs of organisations helps infrastructure organisations to source, resource and target future support and training needs where it is needed. It will also give data intelligence to wider work being carried out by public sector partners
• Quite simply better insight leads to better decisions for all of us

In total we received 100 returns which given the constraints and effects of Covid 19 we are impressed with.  Services are under a great deal of pressure with increased demands, funding uncertainties, staff problems, volunteer illness etc., so we appreciate all the people who took the time to share information with us.

Finally, we carried out an analysis of the data, a summary of the key findings can be downloaded below.

From the analysis we are able to determine which communities are most/least represented as well as priorities for future training and development needs.

Greenmoor Big Local

CNet were the Local Trusted Organisation (LTO) for Greenmoor Big Local from 2013 till 2019. Over the 6 years we helped develop a strong partnership board consisting of local residents from various backgrounds. CNet services to the board went beyond administration duties to include guidance with developing and delivering projects, organising events and building confidence within individual board members.

The success of the project can be seen through the creation of the Greenmoor CIO who are now the LTO for the main part of the Greenmoor Big Local Programme. CNet will continue to work with the board by delivering the new anti-drugs programme for the Greenmoor area called Project YouTurn. CNet will remain the LTO for this project.

CNet were commissioned to deliver the JU:MP Awards Programme in August 2019. The primary focus for the awards programme was on improving the health and wellbeing of children aged 5 – 14 and their families, through physical activity in North Bradford. JU:MP supported local communities and organisations to increase opportunities for children to be active.

The JU:MP Awards Programme was a lottery funded programme with Sport England and had research embedded throughout; testing innovative approaches in order to learn more about what works, sharing its discoveries widely and its approaches to physical activity.

The awarded projects included a vast variety of physical activities including play, dance, sports, martial arts, games, walking, cycling and exploring the outdoors.

A total of £75,000 was awarded to 22 projects from August 2019 till December 2020.

Duration: 2018 - 2019

The overall aim of the project was to discover how best the communities themselves and public services could help to prevent unplanned teenage pregnancies, and provide better information and support services to CEE/Roma young people, to enable them to make informed choices about their relationships and lives. 
 

Click below to read the full report.

Duration: September 2018 - September 2019

The Healthy Lifestyle Project was funded by Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group and had a focus on the Living Well and Tackling Childhood Obesity Programme. Bradford & District Community Empowerment Network Ltd (CNet) were commissioned to deliver the project which included an initial piece of research as well as pilot interventions in the community.

Reports for both the Phase One Research and Phase Two Pilot Interventions can be found below.

Duration: December 2018 - March 2019

The aim of the “Our Neighbourhoods” project in Holme Wood was to encourage and enable communities and stakeholders to work together to bring about positive long term change and opportunities for residents.  We brought together residents, local businesses, statutory and non statutory agencies working in areas such as health, schools, police, council and housing to ensure that all voices had a say in shaping decisions and making plans for the future. Our approach was asset based community development, i.e. utilising local resources to achieve long term sustainable outcomes. Although this was a short term project, it built the foundation for a strong network that will strengthen the community, build resilience and make Holme Wood a better place to live, work and play.

The full report is available to download and read below. 

Duration: July 2017 - August 2018

Groups and organisations working in the Toller ward eligible for the Well Bradford Small Grants Programme were invited to apply for funding to support initiatives that align to one or more of the Well Bradford action plan projects.

These included:

• Families with children
• Getting the right treatment
• Healthy environment
• Involving everyone
• Promoting sustainable enterprise
• Creating a Girlington Health Campus
  Applications are invited from local voluntary and community organisations based in or operating in the Toller ward for projects that address the following priorities:

• Activities promoting self-care and wellbeing
• Activities that connect communities together
• Activities which have a positive impact on local people
• Activities which can be a seed for local enterprise
• Activities that develop the skills and confidence of local residents

Duration: April 2018 - March 2018

Together We Are Bradford was a project run by CNet in partnership with West Bowling Centre and funded by the Home Office "Building A Stronger Britain Together" programme. The aim was to encourage dialogue and cooperation between communities in Bradford East, West and South to promote community cohesion by creating a Together We Are Bradford Community Network with representatives from different communities. The Network aims were to:

• Nurture a common vision and sense of belonging
• Appreciate, respect and value the differences between people of different cultures
• Make strong and positive relationships between people of different ethnicities
• Work together to promote equal opportunities for all in the community
• Aim to make Bradford a better place to work, live and play

The project enabled community representatives opportunities to discuss, explore and share information and knowledge about their own communities in order to increase understanding and awareness enabling  communities to work together on issues of common concern, whilst accepting and respecting  each other's cultural identity

Representatives were also invited to participate in and contribute to existing strategic district forums via the Bradford District Assembly e.g. the Equalities Forum, Health and Wellbeing Forum and Community Economic Forum.