Lottery support opens doors for Rossendale young homeless

Area:

North West England

Programme:

Young People's Fund Grants to Organisations

Release date:

6 2 2007

Getting a roof over their heads, young homeless people across East Lancashire will soon see new prospects on the horizon with the award today of £135,286 to The Rossendale M3 Project from the Young People’s Fund scheme.

Benefiting age groups between 16 and 25 years old, the three–year project will provide supported lodgings in which committed young volunteers will offer board and accommodation as well as informal support within their own homes to help and prepare young homeless people to live independently. In addition, young people will be able to have a breathing space in their lives where they can reassess their relationships and situation, possibly with a view to them returning back to a family environment.

Alan Dorrington Project Manager said: “For some time, Rossendale M3 Project and other agencies in Rossendale have identified difficulties for young people accessing more permanent move-on accommodation after their stay in temporary accommodation and this generous grant from the Big Lottery Fund will enable us to develop this essential area of work. In partnership with Blackburn YMCA, we have put together an innovative partnership to provide good quality, safe accommodation and support to young people aged 16 to 25 years old. Rossendale M3 Project and Blackburn YMCA will combine expertise and capital to source and support six placements within properties throughout Rossendale.

He continued: “Young people will be involved not only in initial work to set the project up, but in actually running it too. This will be achieved through a peer support group of young people comprising service users and other young people who have moved on to independent living. They will share skills and experience to supplement the support of the project worker.“

Helen Bullough Big Lottery Fund Head of North West Region said: “I am confident that today’s funding for this vital project will make a huge difference to the lives of young people across East Lancashire.  We want projects like Rossendale MP3 to help create a positive change to enable vulnerable young people to gain confidence, achieve independence, and realise their potential within the community.

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

• The Young People’s Fund in England was launched in September 2004. Funding from the Young People’s Fund open grants programme in England can be accessed through three specific strands: £10 million for applications from individuals, £40 million in grants to voluntary organisations/ partnerships, £27.6 million will go to national organisations for large projects.
• The Big Lottery Fund's Board has agreed to allocate a further £100m to the extension of the Young People's Fund programme in England. The money will be allocated in 2006 following a paper to the Big Lottery Fund’s Board that develops the possible options for the extension. These options will be developed to reflect the learning from our current programmes and to compliment the messages of the DfES Youth Green Paper that is to be published soon.
• The Young People’s Fund aims to put young people at the centre of creating, planning and delivering projects to achieve the following:

1. Being healthy: enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle
2. Staying safe: being protected from harm and neglect and growing up able to look after   themselves
3. Enjoying and achieving getting the most out of life and developing the skills for adulthood
4. Making a positive contribution: to the community and society and not offending or behaving anti-socially
5. Economic wellbeing: overcoming disadvantages to achieve their full potential in life.

• The success criteria for this programme include young people’s involvement at every stage of the project from start to finish and the project delivering on at least, two of the five Young People’s Fund programme aims. To be considered applicants will need to demonstrate how they intend to achieve both of these objectives.
• Big Lottery Fund is the joint operating name of the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery Charities Board (which made grants under the name of the Community Fund). The Big Lottery Fund, launched on 1 June 2004, is distributing half of all National Lottery good cause funding across the UK.
• The Big Lottery 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. To date, the two merged Funds have committed more than £6 billion to initiatives with national, regional and local partners from the public, voluntary, charity and private sectors, with a particular focus on disadvantage.

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