Bringing Joy to County Durham: £95,000 in Grants to Support Wellbeing

The Happiness Hubs grant has relaunched, with £95,000 available to help support the health and wellbeing of locals across County Durham.

Kelly Spence, Mental Health Co-ordinator at PCP, said: “The Happiness Hubs fund aims to provide grants of money to local organisations, groups and projects who wish to provide safe spaces for people to meet, make friends, talk and feel supported.

“With this round of funding, we are hoping to reach those who have not previously benefitted from the fund, so if you have not applied before, we would love to hear from you.”

Previous rounds of funding have already made a hugely positive impact within our local communities. One particular project, ‘Recycld’, used their funding from the Happiness Hubs grant to create a group where local people could come along to restore and upcycle furniture and signs.

One attendee said: “If it wasn’t for Recycld, I would just be stuck inside doing nothing at all, and my mental health would be getting worse, but by getting out to sessions it helps my mental health quite a lot.

“When I’m at Sacriston my thoughts are at the back of my mind, I can get on with my day I’ll be happy, and if I am sad, I can talk to someone there about how I’m feeling.”

County Durham organisations will be able to apply for grants ranging between £500 to £10,000 to help them kickstart their own Happiness Hubs projects. Applications are now open, and will close on Sunday 20 July 2025. Projects or groups must last a minimum of 12 months to qualify for a grant.

The Happiness Hubs fund is brought to you by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board and health and wellbeing charity, Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP).

For more information, or to request an application pack, please contact the team on happiness.hubs@pcp.uk.net or on 07715204462.

Alternatively, you can visit our webpage: www.pcp.uk.net/happiness-hubs