To ask how to help DS start a community project

[PurpleStripes]

Shamelessly posting for traffic..sorry 🤷🏻‍♀️

DS (8) has been out litter picking the local area once a week/fortnight for a couple of months, all his own idea. He's now decided he wants to start a group/community project encouraging other to join in.

He's come up with a name, logo and wants wristbands, fliers (all environmentally friendly) and a website.

Any ideas on where to start?
Are there ways of getting small grants to pay for supplies? I'm happy to fork out if not of course.

This is not a stealth boast even though I'm immensely proud of him. David Attenborough has a lot to do with this, as does an organisation called 4ocean.

Thanks 👌🏼

In our area you can borrow equipment from the local council if you are organising a litter pick. They provide bin bags, the litter pick sticks, high viz jackets. Once you've collected your litter they'll come and collect the full up bin bags and take back their equipment. I'd suggest he checks to see if your council offer anything like that.

What supplies are needed? There are certainly ways of getting small grants but you normally need to be up and running first, to demonstrate that you're having a positive impact. All the big supermarkets give out community grants because they have to re-distribute their plastic bag income to local communities. Local councils can also sometimes help with small grants, or point you to other charities that can help.

I'd think about what he really needs... a Facebook page might be better than a website, unless you'll be paying for traffic to the website too. Flyers might be controversial, he's potentially adding more waste even if he uses environmentally friendly materials... wristbands are a cute idea; I'm not sure how easy it would be to get branded ones that aren't plastic.

It's a lovely initiative, he's done a great job! It's just worth considering what next steps make the most sense.

Our local council has litter picking equipment that it lends out to community groups, so that might be a direction to look in. I'd also suggest, at least to start with, a Facebook group rather than a website.

Contact Keep Britain Tidy for advice & resources They also run RiverCare and BeachCare of you're near any water.

www.keepbritaintidy.org

If there's going to be any form of organising, you will need to think about risk assessments & insurance. That's where folks like KBT can really help.

To raise interest I would join one of the local Facebook groups for your area and post there on his behalf. There have been a lot of litter picks popping up on ours recently.

Are you in an area where there is a local trust funded by the National Lottery, often called Big Local? Our local community has taken over the local outdoor sports area, is expanding the sports hall, has taken over the library, got a community building, built a community garden, there are classes, fitness and walking groups. There are grants available for community projects also, some targeted to encourage junior projects.

There should be some community funding locally, often funded by the supermarket.

our local council waste team would be where I'd start. they'd be able to advise.

Thanks for all of the pointers and links!! DS has read all of the replies and keeps saying 'I can't believe all of these people want to help'. Thank you!!

We will definitely be looking into every suggestion made in the morning.