BIG £1.8m funding offers support before crisis point across North West

Area:

North West England

Programme:

Reaching Communities

Release date:

17 7 2012

Exclusion from school has been shown to be a highly significant factor in young people becoming involved in anti-social behaviour and offending – but a project receiving Lottery funding today is working to prevent that happening.

Receiving £281,434 from Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the Church of England Children’s Society will provide a range of opportunities for more than 300 young people aged 10-15 to improve their life chances.

Covering Northwich and Winsford County, the project will identify young people who have been assessed as being at risk from school exclusion, current or future involvement in anti-social behaviour or offending. The Society says that in 2010/11, there were almost 1,900 fixed term exclusions in Cheshire West & Chester Council area Winsford, both primary and secondary.

In an evaluation from young people who have already benefited from the C of E Children’s Society project, 64 per cent said it helped keep them out of trouble and 79 per cent made new friends.

With local youth services in the area undergoing staffing cuts, the Cheshire Youth Offending Service has highlighted a lack of targeted sport, leisure and group work provision aimed at young people at risk of offending or anti-social behaviour.

The link with exclusions and offending have been shown in a  University of Edinburgh study which surveyed 4,300 young people over a decade revealed that half of those who had been excluded from school by age 14 (471) had been convicted of at least one offence by age 22 (Professor Lesley McAra, 2009).

Having been referred by agencies such as schools, police, and youth offending teams, they will be visited by project staff at home to discuss their needs. Leisure activities will be offered after school and during school holidays in subjects such as art, drama and sport. Staff will also informally explore and provide support to participants on topics such as family life, aspirations, drug and alcohol misuse, bullying, relationships and community behaviour.

Over the course of nine months, Joe changed from being an angry teenager to a calmer, confident individual since getting involved in the project’s community football programme, of which he has barely missed a session.

Joe’s school pastoral manager said: “When Joe first began attending the football project he had been excluded for bringing a knife into school, was angry and I really felt that we were going to lose him to outside influences.Joe is extremely intelligent with great social skills and when on task, is enthusiastic and capable.His association with older disruptive influences was overshadowing all this. Since attending the football project Joe has become very keen to involve himself with other positive activities. The Children’s Society staff have spent time getting to know Joe as an individual and his self esteem has grown considerably.”

Barbara McDade, Programme Manager, said: “Through our project these young people will be involved in positive activities such as sports, drama or art and through these activities they will learn to be part of a team and to respect both themselves and other people.This in turn will help them to attend and do well at school, give back to their communities and have a much more positive future by going onto employment or further education."

Receiving £278,454, People First Tameside will support around 200 adults with learning disabilities in the Metropolitan borough of Tameside and encourage them to lead confident and independent lives. The expanding project will provide enriching and empowering opportunities to acquire life skills, access advice, form friendships, and volunteer. Training will be provided on money and time management, keeping safe, IT and using transport. Sessions will be delivered through accessible methods including easy-to-read materials and objects of reference, practical exercises and role play sessions.

Present and previous clients will be encouraged to volunteer for the project by contributing to the planning, delivery and evaluation of activities and will get involved in the day-to-day running of the People First Tameside offices, undertaking tasks such as answering the phone, taking minutes and assisting with disability awareness training. They will also be supported to produce publicity and marketing materials and establish a website.

Liz Wright, Programme Manager, said: “Many of our members have told us that they often feel lonely and socially isolated having very few or no friends, people feel that they do not have a valued place in our community. This exciting project will address these issues supporting adults with learning disabilities across Tameside to become more active in their local community by establishing new social networks.”

Home-Start Tameside and Oldham will use its grant of £292,144 to intervene and provide vital support before crisis point to over 330 families across Tameside who have at least one child under the age of five and are experiencing difficulty or stress – such as through post natal depression, multiple births, disability or debt.

In Tameside, there has been a dramatic increase in families affected by substantial debt, who are struggling to provide the very basics such as heating and food and without support would face eviction and homelessness. In addition many families fall outside statutory provision as they fall below specified need levels, but feel isolated, lack confidence and parenting skills, and need intensive support. Volunteers, who attain accredited qualifications from their training, will deliver the support.

A single mum-of-two young children was supported by Home-Start following the breakdown of her relationship with the father. She suffered post-natal depression and grieved for her baby who tragically died due to severe disabilities three years earlier, leaving her reluctant to leave the house or even take her two children to playgroup. Over the course of five months, Homestart: secured funding for a new cooker; arranged a fire-safety assessment as she was using a chip-pan that was broken and unsafe; arranged for her to access a local Food Bank when she could barely afford food; provided Christmas presents donated by a local church when she could not afford to buy gifts for her children; organised nursery places for the children, and provided emotional support for bereavement. She went on to access professional counselling but ended her support from Home-Start as she was feeling much better and more able to cope.

Sarah Petts, Development Manager, said: “Many families are really feeling the effects of the economic downturn and we are supporting an increasing number of families where children are living in poverty.This grant will allow us to provide much needed emotional support to families through our amazing volunteers, and it will help us to help families access specialist help where they need it.”

Today’s funding of over £1,752,200 for seven projects across the region comes from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme, which aims to help those most in need and build stronger communities.

Helen Bullough, Head of Big Lottery Fund’s North West region, said: “Whether it is helping to motivate a young person who is heading in the wrong direction or giving support to a single mother who is struggling on her own, these projects all reach out to offer a positive alternative to crisis point for many communities. We look forward to continuing this ever important investment in the good causes which are working hard to improve the lives of those most in need.”

Other projects in the region receiving funding today are:

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 40% 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 £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

Tags