- Area:
- North East England
- Programme:
- Supporting Change and Impact
- Release date:
- 20 3 2012
Charities across the North East who are struggling with the effects of public funding cuts and increased demand for their services, including an employment support group in South Tyneside and a women’s health group in Northumberland, have been given a Lottery lifeline today.
Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has awarded 19 of its grant-holders in the North East an extra year’s worth of funding to enable them to continue their work through the tough economic environment. Grants of up to £10,000 have also been awarded to a further 51 projects to help them review their work and find ways of becoming more sustainable.
Projects sharing in the funding - totalling over £2.2 million - provide vital services to some of the most vulnerable groups in society. Many face an uncertain future as their Lottery funding comes to an end, compounded by increasing demand from beneficiaries as other services are forced to scale back or close down, and welfare reforms begin to take effect.
South Tyneside Training and Enterprise Network Ltd, which delivers employment and training support to disadvantaged people in South Tyneside, received funding of £150,709. The organisation has seen an increase in the number of well-skilled people losing their jobs and is working to address issues around a lack of confidence in interviews.
Chief Executive Hazel McCallion, said: “It’s fantastic news. I think the whole of Tyneside heard the screams when we found out. We are working at capacity and without this funding we wouldn’t have been able to help more people – sustainability would have also been an issue. This funding will allow us to expand the organisation and the services. We will be recruiting a young person’s advisor for 16-24 year-olds which is the age group that is really suffering and be able to work with schools and colleges and focus on apprenticeships. We’ll also be recruiting a member of staff to engage more with employers, to find out what they are looking for and match them to clients.”
The Women’s Health Advice Centre in Ashingdon received £69,038 to help safeguard its future. The organisation supports disadvantaged women aged over 14 in Wansbeck to address low self esteem, mental health issues, anxiety, depression, bereavement and domestic abuse. Counselling is offered, along with self-help groups, healthy lifestyle sessions, nutrition advice and creative writing courses. The funding will be used to get expert advice on planning for the future and how to develop and expand the project.
Women’s Health Advice Centre Manager Cath Carnaby said: “Funding cuts and the recession has led to an increase in deprivation and we experienced an increase in women using our service last year. We’ll be using the funding to offer outreach services across Northumberland, to make it easier for people to access our services. It also gives us time to put into effect our plans for the organisation. It’s great to get this recognition, which will give us a lever to be able to access further funding.”
The funding is part of a Big Lottery Fund initiative called Supporting Change & Impact, which totals over £70m and is designed to help Lottery-funded good causes cope with the developing impact of public funding cuts. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) estimates that voluntary and community groups will experience a reduction in public funding of up to £3.3 billion by 2015.
James Turner, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the North East said: “The Big Lottery Fund is only too aware of the increasing pressures facing organisations as the full effect of public funding cuts comes to bear across the region. This funding provides a lifeline to our grant-holders as they struggle to provide crucial services to thousands of vulnerable and disadvantaged people.”
As part of the £70m support package, BIG also added over £25m to its two main open grants programme in England, Reaching Communities and Awards for All, to fund an additional 1200 charitable and community projects, and has awarded almost £20 million to partner organisations that distribute or manage funding on its behalf to further support their grant holders. These include MIND, Groundwork, and Age UK, who deliver funding as part of BIG’s Well-being and Changing Spaces grants programmes.
A full list of projects awarded an extra year’s funding
A list of projects receiving up to £10,000 to review and plan for the future
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund
Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of 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 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
- 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 £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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