- Area:
- England
- Programme:
- Reaching Communities
- Release date:
- 14 4 2009
A project providing vocational training and work experience for blind and partially sighted people across three England regions is one of 22 projects receiving over £5 million in Lottery funding.
The grants announced today from the Big Lottery Fund’s (BIG) Reaching Communities programme will help some of the most disadvantaged and socially excluded people in communities across England.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People’s (RNIB) project is awarded £464,895 to help blind and partially sighted people in Birmingham, Leeds and various locations across the North East, to develop their skills and to access work experience. The SEED Project (Social Enterprise and Employment Development) will offer bespoke work experience in areas including catering, finance and marketing. Those taking part will be able to attend one-day taster sessions before going onto two-week work placements that could lead to six-month paid trainee placements.
Sean Owen, National Employment Services Manager for the RNIB, said: "Many blind and partially sighted people would love to find fulfilling and valuable work, but face so many barriers, from the inaccurate preconceptions of employers, to problems accessing supported vocational training.
"The new funding from BIG is a timely boost as it gives us an opportunity to build on our efforts to get people into work placements, training, and ultimately, permanent employment, as well as break down the obstacles employers perceive through awareness and training sessions."
Training in CV and application form writing and advice on interview technique will be provided, to equip people with skills to apply to other jobs and increase their employment potential.
Also awarded funding as part of today’s announcement is a South London project that is bringing a whole community together to tackle local knife crime. The project Action SE17 - Helping our community tackle knife crime together in Walworth, Southwark is awarded £481,433. It is led by Inspire At St. Peters in partnership with local Police, youth services, schools and community projects.
After the death of a pupil at a local secondary school, Inspire brought all parties together to pool their resources and knowledge. Local young people themselves are also heavily involved and have been a driving force in the campaign.
Faith, aged 18, a local young person who runs Freestyle dance sessions at Inspire, said: “Gun and knife crime is a growing problem among young people that we need to address and change as a part of a wider community. Mostly innocent people are dying for no reason at all; this means another family is broken and left without a son or daughter.”
The main actions of the project include the creation of: Safe Zones, public buildings with trained staff where young people can seek help if they feel under threat; ‘Know the names of the kids in your street’, to encourage good neighbour behaviour; Retail Support, asking local shops not to sell knives; and Positive Profiling, celebrating success of young people and letting other young people see the type of positive activities they can get involved in.
Sanjay Dighe, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund’s England Committee, said: “These projects are an excellent example of how the Big Lottery Fund, through the Reaching Communities programme is enabling local organisations to provide huge benefits to local people and to improve the lives of whole communities. Through their invaluable work communities in need across England can look forward to a more positive future.”
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 £22 billion has now been raised and more than 300,500 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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