How community projects help

In 2022, our gambling harm reduction programme secured £300,000 grant funding to support place-based and community-led initiatives across Greater Manchester. This funding was used to set up Communities Addressing Gambling Harms which supported our ambition to support Good Lives for All in Greater Manchester.

Our ongoing aim is for Communities Addressing Gambling Harms to be a catalyst for organisations and partnerships to focus on gambling related harm whilst sharing knowledge and experiences as part of a community of practice.

Our priorities include projects which deliver interventions to prevent and reduce gambling related harm whilst also tackling inequalities, reforming public services, working with community-led activities and sports clubs and engaging children and young people.

In 2022-23, projects we supported included:

Providing support to military veterans and their families with a trained gambling harm ambassador in all 10 GM locations, led by Armed Forces HQ
Two peer support programmes with a specific focus on women and affected others across GM, delivered by organisations who are led by lived experience
Community outreach, including targeted engagement with people of South Asian heritage, comprising development of education materials and film content, training of community volunteers and hosting local events in Oldham, Salford, Tameside and Manchester (Syngesis CIC and JC Foundation Trust)
Creating a bespoke support package for people who are currently unemployed, including access to team-based training and enrichment activities in Wigan (Groundwork) and a focused intervention for victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse in Rochdale (Rochdale Connections Trust)
Building a movement for change across the sport pyramid in GM through the development of gambling charter and training to build capacity and engage young people (Healthy Stadia). This will be complemented by a targeted communications programme for at-risk communities alongside wider mental wellbeing initiatives (Rochdale AFC Community Trust)
Co-production of a drama performance to engage members of the community, professionals and decision-makers in understanding the lived experience of gambling harm in Bury (Mad Theatre Company)
A pilot approach in a local authority to embed gambling awareness within existing health improvement activities, focusing on smoking cessation, alcohol and substance misuse, obesity and mental wellbeing
Delivering an innovative and lived experience-led education and awareness programme for young people aged 14-16 in Trafford, Manchester and Salford (Lancashire Cricket Foundation and Gambling With Lives)
A partnership between Salford University, YGAM and Salford CVS to develop a disruptive online intervention using gamification and behavioural research to increase awareness of the risks of gambling among 16-21yr olds

For more information about the Communities Addressing Gambling Harms initiative, download and read the Funding Prospectus (no further funding is available at this time).