Northern is making £100,000 available to community groups across the North of England with ideas of ways to support social mobility in deprived areas on its network.

The Customer and Community Improvement Fund is now open for applications and is offering grants ranging from £2,500 to £20,000.

Schemes which focus on early careers, education outreach and inclusive employment – factors known to improve social mobility – are particularly welcome.

The money available this year is double that available in 2023, when £50,000 was split between 12 projects that sought to tackle the issue of social isolation.

Carolyn Watson, director of stakeholder and community engagement at Northern, said: “We know social mobility is a major issue for some of the communities across our network. The Customer and Community Improvement Fund is a way we can support local people to deliver initiatives and projects that they know will help improve the situation on the ground in those locations.

“This is an important part of our mission to ensure that Northern has a positive impact on the North.”

Applications must be submitted by Friday 7 June 2024.

For more information and to submit an application, visit the Northern website.

Read about projects made possible by previous rounds of the fund here.