Lottery gives hope a helping hand for Bassetlaw homeless

Area:

East Midlands

Programme:

Reaching Communities

Release date:

30 1 2007

HOPE will use the five-year grant to help homeless people get back on their feet by providing sessions on social responsibility, emotions, anger management and mentoring. Users of the centre will also have access to professional counselling and advice on issues such as housing, employment, education, and drug and alcohol problems.

Sandy Smith, Manager of HOPE, said: “At a time when small charities are having to compete with national organisations for funding, the Big Lottery Fund recognises the good work small independent organisations like ours is doing. We are particularly pleased that this award has secured the future of our day service to allow us to continue and improve the work we are doing with the most vulnerable excluded people in the Bassetlaw District.

“The Big Lottery Fund have given HOPE a much needed boost, not only by agreeing the funding but also by wanting to be part of something creative that will have positive impacts not just for the client group but also the wider community.”

Mick McGrath, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the East Midlands, said: “The Big Lottery Fund is all about bringing improvements to communities and the lives of those most in need. And this award from our Reaching Communities programme will do just that. By providing homeless people in Bassetlaw with a place to go where they can access a range of vital services, HOPE is giving them the resources to improve many aspects of their lives. As a result of this funding some of the region’s most vulnerable people will be helped to turn their lives around and can look forward to a brighter future.”

The grant awarded to HOPE is one of four Reaching Communities awards, totalling almost £1.2 million, announced across the East Midlands today. Other awards will help people keep healthy in Kettering, provide services to help young people involved with drugs in Gainsborough, and build a new community centre in Skillington near Grantham.

Focusing on older people, young parents and children, Kettering Borough Council will use a £498,793 award for a wide range of services and activities to keep local people fit through its Keep Healthy @ Kettering project. The scheme provides a range of individual projects that look to improve people’s health and welfare by tackling obstacles that prevent people from leading a healthier lifestyle.

In Gainsborough, Rainer Lincolnshire, has been awarded £145,375 for its Gainsborough Life Skills and Support for Drug Users Project. The three-year grant will help provide support services to rehabilitate young people who have become involved with drugs and crime.

Finally, for the people of Skillington, a £50,000 grant means a 10-year wait for a new community centre is almost over. The grant will be used to help build a new youth and community centre, replacing the previous village hall, which closed a decade earlier.

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 845 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

• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK 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.
• On 1 December 2006 the Big Lottery Fund was officially established by Parliament and at the same time assumed the residual responsibilities of the dissolved National Lottery Charities Board (Community Fund) the New Opportunities Fund, and the Millennium Commission. The Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.
• Reaching Communities is part of the Big Lottery Fund’s portfolio of new programmes. Following an intense and comprehensive process of consultation with stakeholders and the general public over the last year, the Fund has undertaken to distribute 60-70% of its funding to the third sector.  At least one-third of BIG funding will be demand-led and lightly prescribed.  In England, this will amount to at least £600 million over the period 2005-2009. This commitment will be met from a variety of funding streams, including, Reaching Communities, Awards for All, part of the Young People’s Fund, Community Buildings, Advice Services and the People’s Millions.
• UK-wide, the Big Lottery Fund will distribute through its new programmes and allocations funding worth over £2.6bn between now and April 2009. Regularly updated information on the Big Lottery Fund’s new programmes is available at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/publications.htm

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