Kirkstall Valley Grants is back and is on the hunt for enthusiastic individuals to join as interns and help deliver our amazing micro-grants scheme, and you are warmly invited to apply!

Kirkstall Valley Grants (KVG) is a micro-grants scheme from Open Source Arts focused on providing individuals and small organisations in the Kirkstall Valley with up to £250 to enact their own creative and imaginative projects which improve the environment and quality of life for people living and working in the Kirkstall Valley. 

Launched in 2019 out of a recognition that we are living in a climate emergency, an understanding that change to our climate and environment is already guaranteed. That same year Leeds City Council declared their own Climate Emergency and committing to zero carbon emissions by the 2030s. KVG will help put the Kirkstall Valley at the forefront of the change that our city and beyond drastically needs.

KVG is here to help the people of Kirkstall set an example of how we can take action as communities and start living more sustainable, low impact lives that will protect our natural environment and the wellbeing of people globally.

The pandemic hampered our efforts throwing a spanner in the works and has meant that there haven’t been any grants awarded for a while. BUT we are back with a renewed sense of excitement, optimism, hope and enthusiasm!

Our initial focus is to start building a team, so we’re back with an exciting internship opportunity!

Kirkstall Valley Grants Internship

Overview

This internship will be all about helping get the grant scheme up and running again, with a focus on community outreach and raising awareness of the grant!

The role will also be flexible affording everyone the opportunity to focus on the area of work that interest them most. However, there are a variety of core tasks which include:

• Community outreach to promote the grants programme
• Social media communications
• Supporting potential applicants to develop their ideas and apply
• Communicating with previous, current and potential grant holders
• Helping organise and deliver events
• Communicating and liaising with local businesses
• Website communications

Who are we looking for? 

We are welcoming applications from people of all ages, backgrounds, views and abilities, and want this role to be open to people from across the city and beyond.

The internship will suit you if you:

• are thinking of working in the third sector
• want to gain experience in or have the opportunity to develop your skills in:
  • event planning and management
  • community and business outreach
  • communications and marketing
• enjoy meeting people from diverse backgrounds and experiences
• enjoy thinking creatively and coming up with new ideas
• want to support people making a difference in their local community
• care about the environment and sustainability 
• have direct experience of climate justice and the impacts of the climate crisis and community level action either directly or because of being in close relationship with people impacted

We are also committed to reflecting the diversity of our fabulous city and recognise that young, disabled and D/deaf folk, people of African, Caribbean, South Asian and Asian heritage, people from lower income communities, people from Indigenous community and members of the Gypsy and Traveller communities are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis as well as being underrepresented in our staff team and the wider climate movement.

Moreover, we recognise that work to encourage community-based climate action to tackle the climate crisis and climate injustices cannot be done without the presence of the knowledge, opinions, insights and wisdom of these groups.

For these reasons, we are actively inviting and encouraging people with knowledge, insight, opinion and wisdom of and relating to climate injustice, the climate crisis’ impacts and the impact of community level action on these communities because of being of that community or being in close relationship with them to apply.

As part of this process, we would like to ensure that anyone applying feels comfortable to do so and knows that they will be respected. Therefore, we are inviting any folk thinking of applying to contact us for a conversation about what our approach to inviting those underrepresented and disproportionately impacted might mean for them and how we can ensure they feel respected in applying and working with us.

How to get involved?

If you’re interested and would like to apply check out our webpage or application pack for more details and information on how to apply!

We would also like to highlight that you do not need to be an intern to engage with this project. Open Source Arts and Kirkstall Valley Grants welcome all people with direct experience of climate injustice, the climate crisis’ impacts and the historic inequalities of the environmental movement to talk with us. Let’s start to build relationships.

You can find Kirkstall Valley Grants and keep up to date in multiple ways:

• Follow us on Twitter at @ValleyGrants
• Like us on Facebook at @KirkstallValleyGrants
• Follow us on Instagram at @kirkstall_valley_grants
• Visit out website
• Sign up to our mailing list

Kirkstall Valley Grants

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