Join us: The Micklegate Project
We are looking for seven residents of the Micklegate ward in York to join us in a collaborative decision-making process.
The aim of this project is to spend £20,000 in order to benefit the people of the Micklegate area. Those that participate get to choose how funding is spent.
Get involved:
Anjelica is our Development Lead.
You can emaill her to get involved, or use the buttons below to read more.
Anjelica's email address is: anjelica@yorktogether.org
We’re real people, not robots.
Your email doesn't need to be formal, or find the perfect words and you don't need to worry about getting it right.
Simply tell us who you are and why you'd like to get involved and we'll be there to support.
Email Anjelica to get involved, or use the buttons below to read more.
Anjelica's email address is: anjelica@yorktogether.org
What is The Micklegate Project?
Our aim is to bring together a small group of people together to decide how to spend £20,000 to benefit Micklegate ward. The money distributed by the group has to benefit the Micklegate community. The only restriction on how the money is spent is that it cannot be for private benefit. |  |
Who we are looking for?
Those who join us must:
be a resident of Micklegate
be happy to be part of a group where there may be people who think differently to you.
enjoy thinking creatively and outside the box.
be curious about doing funding differently
We want a diverse and wide range of voices in the room - especially those people who maybe would think that this project isn’t for them.
Time commitment
This project will run from November 2026 - October 2027. Initially (between November and January), there will b 2 meetings per month for 2 hours per time. After this, we will then decide as a group how often we will meet. Every time we gather together, there will be a meal (vegan and gluten free). |  |
Enabling participation
We know that sometimes people can't be involved in projects like this because they cannot afford the time. We will therefore pay participants £25/hour to be involved.
If you have any questions around this we can chat about it how would work for you.
We have an access fund to help people to attend the meetings.
This can be used for example to cover the costs of childcare, care for an adult, travel costs for a taxi if public transport is inaccessible, BSL interpreters, language interpreters and so on.
How and where will the group meet?
Initially, meetings will be at The Hub at 2 Wellington Row, in York.
Although the group might decide to change this, we will always meet in a space that has step free access and has an accessible toilet.
York Together will support the group to:
agree how they want to work together
work as a team
think through what they want to achieve together
arrange and coordinate meeting times.
do any necessary research in between meetings
York Together wants to ensure that when the group meets it feels supportive, relaxed, and creative. We will provide all the materials (pens, papers etc) the group needs and each member will receive a pack at the start.
What members of the group will get.
Participants in this project will get an opportunity to:
decide how £20,000 is spent in the Micklegate community.
improve their local area.
learn from people about different ways to make decisions, and the process of distributing funding.
They'll also receive:
support from York Together to develop their decision making skills.
payment of £25/hour. We will discuss with each person how this will work for them.
access to extra funding if needed. If anyone needs childcare, care for a relative, support with travel, BSL interepreter, language interpreter etc, we will provide it.
references for job applications.
Why Micklegate?
We believe that the people of Micklegate Ward are best placed to make decisions about what their local area needs. We will be calling on them to make choices which could improve the lives of those living nearby.
Although it might not be immediately obvious, Micklegate ward is the fourth most deprived area in York, with wealth inequality and food poverty being the biggest issue for local people.
Unfortunately, the poverty in the area is often invisible. The ward presents itself as affluent, with many people spending time in areas of extreme wealth such as Micklegate itself, Bishopthorpe Road, The Mount and the Racecourse. However, these places all sit alongside small clusters of social housing, and there are still many families existing in extreme poverty close by.
Through this project, we want to show what the community can do when they are trusted to make decisions and given the resources to make change.
Where has the money come from?
Funding has come from Local Trust to deliver this project as part of it’s legacy work. |  |
Local Trust ran a 15 year project called the Big Local Programme and this ended in March 2026. Through the programme, 150 neighbourhoods across England were each given £1m, along with the complete freedom to choose how it should be spent.
The people who lived in those places would set the priorities, make the decisions and lead the work themselves.
Local Trust is now closing and to ensure that the legacy of this work continues, they've funded 7 organisations (including York Together), to pilot their own resident-led grantmaking process.
The majority of funding is coming from Local Trust and York Together is adding £10,500 of its own funds.
What the first meeting will look like?
Group members arrive
Two facilitators from York Together will be there to welcome each person as they come, chatting and helping people to feel welcome, making sure they have a soft drink.
Each person is given a small strip of paper with some conversation starters to help them chat to people as the group eats.
Food is already laid out and people are invited to get stuck into food and to chat to one another.
Introductions
Facilitators will give each member a project pack which will include things like paper, pens, info on the project.
Each member of the group will be invited to say their name and ask them how they are feeling about coming together, if there is something they are feeling nervous about and what they think they might get out of being part of the group.
Facilitators will help talk through any questions that come up.
Working together
Facilitators will then help the group to decide how they want to work together - this includes how they think group members should talk to one another, how to work through difficult conversations or disagreement and so on.
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