WIREDGOV

Young people at risk of being caught up in gang violence, young runaways and also young dads, are among those being helped by funding announced today by the BIG Lottery Fund.

More than £4 million in Lottery good cause money is going into work with marginalised young people, including investment in fresh training and job opportunities.

The grants come from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme which aims to help those most in need and build stronger communities.

Sanjay Dighe, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund’s England Committee, said: “Often our young people are in the headlines for all the wrong reasons but with dedicated support those in need can change their lives for the better. Today’s funding will help strengthen some fantastic organisations providing young people with services that steer them onto a positive route in life or support them with challenges they face.”

Young people in Darlington will have the opportunity to better themselves through training and volunteering as Tees Valley YMCA receives £407,199 for its Options project. Those between the ages of 16-25 affected by issues such as low literacy, substance misuse and mental health or emotional issues will benefit and will have the opportunity to take up one of 24 paid trainee posts as fitness instructors, housing support workers or youth workers. This will involve accredited training up to NVQ level two and on the job training.

Proof that this kind of project can really make a difference, YMCA resident, Dan Carter, said: “I have lived atDarlington YMCA Foyerfor eight months, before that I was unemployed and homeless.In the time I have been at the YMCA,encouraged by my Support Worker I have taken every opportunity to get involved in volunteering for the community and in taking part in Life Skills Training.The support I have received from YMCA has helpedme turn my life around - I will be leaving shortly to move into my own flat and start a new job. I would not have done this so quickly without help. It’s great that theYMCA has now been supported by the BIG Lottery Fund tocontinue to work with people like me who need that extra bit of help!”

In North Devon, a vital new scheme to help vulnerable young dads, aged 14 to 25, and their children, aged five and under, receives over £251,000. North Devon Young Fathers Network will use the funding to provide a confidential outreach support and information service to provide professional mentoring.

The scheme will work to ensure that young fathers across the region will have the skills, resources and confidence needed to father their children successfully.

Jane Kivlin Children's CentreManager said: “Young fathers are some of the most invisible, marginalised and vulnerable parents in the area. Yet most young fathers wish for close involvement with their children, whether or not they are still in a relationship with their child’s mother. It has been shown that even from birth, children who have an involved father are more likely to be emotionally secure, be confident to explore their surroundings, and, as they grow older, have better social connections with their peers. Children with involved fathers are less likely to get in trouble at home, school, or in the community and are more likely to perform better at school.”

Set against the backdrop of rising gang violence, a number of today’s grants will be helping to tackle this often deadly behaviour in places such as Leeds, Halesowen and Dudley, and London.

Hamara Healthy Living Centre in Beeston, Leeds, will use a grant of £252,353 to offer a range of activities and workshops for young people to reduce discord, racial tension and racially motivated incidents between gangs. The project will train community members to deliver conflict resolution workshops to young people aged 14 to 19 identified as either belonging to, or at risk of being influenced by racist gangs.

Meanwhile in the West Midlands, the Phase Trust will use a £223,925 award to address young people in the Halesowen and Dudley areas who are attracted to gang culture. The project will offer an alternative urban culture which will help reduce knife and gun crime as well as raising their aspirations, belief and capacity to be in education, employment or training.

In London, a grant of £182,085 to Youth Empowerment Solutions Ltd (Y.E.S.) for a drop-in centre in Lambeth could literally mean saving young people’s lives. The charity works with young people aged 14 to 25 years old and seeks to offer them a real chance of breaking away from street gang culture and achieving their life goals and ambitions. Their ‘Taking a Chance on Change’ project will offer a range of activities including a drop-in sessions on housing, health, education and drug and alcohol services, training in IT, music making, setting up social enterprises, healthy eating and other courses identified by young people themselves.

Finally, a grant of £288,921 to the Church of England Children's Society will work with children and young people between the ages of 11 and 18 years old who are at risk of or have already run away from home or care in Greenwich, London, and are at risk of sexual exploitation.

The project will be delivered in partnership with Connexions and Social Services and will involve young people, carers, families and the wider community through one to one support, mediation work and community volunteering opportunities. Young people with experience of running away will co deliver workshops in schools and community venues, to raise awareness of this problem and get the whole community involved in tackling it.

View today’s awards involving young people (.xls). 
- 29KB

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone:  0845 6021 659

Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• Under Reaching Communities, the Big Lottery Fund awards grants between £10,000 and £500,000 to projects that offer people better life chances, build stronger communities, develop improved rural and urban environments and improve health and well being.
• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £24 billion has now been raised and more than 330,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment