Big Lottery Fund
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Big Lottery Fund gives Inverclyde one million reasons to celebrate
Two Inverclyde groups are celebrating £1,016,280 of life changing Lottery cash, thanks to the latest grants from the Big Lottery Fund announced yesterday (27 AUGUST).
From their base in Greenock, Stepwell Consultancy will use their award of £780,901 to run an employability scheme for over 70 young people throughout the region who have additional support needs. Local employers will act as mentors providing a wide range of invaluable support and advice from one to one meetings through to workshops and training on site.
Chief Executive, Steve Watson, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been successful in securing funding to expand our Whole Life Employability support to vulnerable young people aged 16 to 24 in Inverclyde. For many of them we know their life circumstances up to that point have been extremely difficult, their educational path disrupted and their sense of hope for the future very low. This programme will provide one to one support, industry specific training, and personal development, mentoring from business leaders and work placements as well as the opportunity to gain employment in our growing suite of businesses. I look forward to working with the Big Lottery Fund and our other partners to ensure that young people in Inverclyde are given the help they need to move into sustained work.”
An award of £280,379 to Home Start UK means they will be able to set up a satellite project for families throughout Inverclyde. Working in partnership with Home Start Renfrewshire they will be able to reach out to people who need help and offer a package of tailor made support through regular home visits.
Esther Wildsmith, Head of Network Services, said: “We are delighted to receive this award from the Big Lottery Fund which will enable us to provide support to families in Inverclyde, Greenock and Port Glasgow. The nearby Home-Start Renfrewshire scheme will be reaching out its service to take in this new area, offering support and practical help to families with young children. By utilising the skills and experience of parent volunteers we hope to improve the lives of young children, the confidence and self-esteem of their parents whilst providing training and practical experience to our volunteers. We are really looking forward to reaching out to more families experiencing difficulties with the help of this award.”
Announcing yesterday’s wider package of funding, worth £4,172,654 to nine Scottish projects, Maureen McGinn, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, said, “Our aim is to support people and communities in greatest need; and now, in Inverclyde, two more projects can do just that. One project provides a friendly face to support families in times of need, and the other will provide young people with confidence building and valuable on the job training opportunities. These projects are excellent examples of how our funding is helping to change the lives of hundreds of people across the region.”
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 0141 242 1451
Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Twitter: @BIGScotland #biglottery
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFundScotland
Notes to Editors:
- The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery for good causes and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes.
- Since June 2004 we have awarded over £8 billion to projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £33 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.