WIREDGOV

Projects to rejuvenate communities and tackle anti-social behaviour and initiatives to tackle substance abuse and violence against women are among the range of grassroots community projects throughout Wales sharing in over £350,000 awarded from the Big Lottery Fund today.

A total of 90 community-based projects across Wales are sharing in the £351,632 awarded under the latest round of the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All small grants programme (Full project descriptions available).

Thanks to their award of £5,000, the Pinkspiration organisation will increase the skills and creativity of around 20 young people in the city of Newport by training them to take part in the renovation of empty shops and properties in the Pill area of the city and transform them into new and vibrant spaces. The properties are owned by Newport City Council and Newport Homes.

The ‘Transforming Spaces-Empty Shops Project’ will target young people in need of additional skills including young carers, young offenders, care leavers and those not in education, employment or training (NEET) - all of whom often suffer from low aspirations and a lack of confidence. The project will give them a chance to learn new skills and increase their employability and self confidence.

The volunteers will help with planning and designing the new spaces and will be given construction training in areas such as plastering and carpentry to enable them to take part in the build phase of the project. This will give them new skills and valauble hands on work experience. The grant will be used to deliver on-site training for 11 days and will buy all the materials required for the project.

And through a project called ‘INSPIRE’, the R.A.S.C.A.L. (Regeneration Association Somerton Community At Large) organisation in Newport will spend £3,245 on delivering diversionary activities, including health and well being, to young people attending the RASCAL Hope Centre on the Somerton housing estate.

The Hope Centre opened in 2008 and, due to the success of the building and the wide range of community activities on offer, engagement levels in the community have dramatically increased. There has also been a reduction in anti-social behaviour on the Somerton estate since the centre opened.

The centre is run by volunteers who devote their time and energy to ensure the centre continues to be a success. The ‘Casual Coaches’ as they are called are local young people who are encouraged to participate in any training opportunities on offer to up-skill in their chosen fields. This enables each individual to achieve their goal of becoming casual coaches and peer mentors or role models to other young people and the wider community. The project will support casual coaching staff to deliver sports and diversionary activities to over 100 young people. The activities will include football, dodge-ball, rugby, cricket, table tennis, pool, darts, bowls, dance, indoor activities and arts and crafts.

A project to promote substance misuse interventions in West Wales and a project to end violence against women also secure funding under the latest round. With their award of £4,159, Chooselife Cymru in Llanelli will purchase additional resources to allow them to publicise their substance misuse intervention services at events around Wales whilst Welsh Women's Aid will use their award of £5,000 on staging a two day conference in Cardiff on October 2014 aimed at developing a network of community activists who can effect change in their local community to end violence against women.

In Conwy, North Wales, projects which encourage people to grow their own food and look after the environment will take root thanks to the funding. With their award of £4,980 the Botanical Gardens Enterprises will establish composting wormeries, composting boxes and tumblers at their depot and in four local schools. And the Gwledd Conwy Feast Community Interest Company will spend £5,000 on establishing a series of 'edible' spaces around Conwy where the local community can bring disused spaces back to life by growing edible flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables. The produce will be freely available to the local community and will be promoted at the group's annual food festival in October 2013.

Gareth Williams, Awards for All Programme Manager for the Big Lottery Fund in Wales, said: “Awards for All is having a positive impact throughout Wales. Money is helping to establish groups, societies and clubs, promoting learning, increasing volunteering opportunities and helping to build stronger communities.”

Available in English and Welsh, application forms are available to download from www.awardsforall.org.uk or by phone on 0845 4 10 20 30.

Further Information

Oswyn Hughes - Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 02920 678 207
Out of Hours Contact: 07760 171 431
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030                           Textphone:  0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/biglotterywales
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/biglotteryfundwales 

Notes to editors

• In Wales, the Big Lottery Fund is rolling out close to £100,000 a day in National Lottery good cause money, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across Wales most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was 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 £30 billion has now been raised and more than 400,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.