Lottery cash gives voice to Coventry learning disabled

Area:

West Midlands

Programme:

Reaching Communities

Release date:

30 1 2007

The Reaching Communities programme awards grants of up to £500,000 over five years for projects that offer people better chances in life, build strong communities, improve urban and rural environments and promote healthy activities.

Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire’s Un-Cover project will train people with learning disabilities to speak out on behalf of others on issues that affect them, through advocacy and media work.

Big Lottery Fund Head of West Midlands John Taylor said: “Grapevine’s innovative project will reach out to people with learning disabilities, who are among the most disadvantaged in our community. I am tremendously excited by the opportunities in life it will offer many, which is a key aim of BIG’s Reaching Communities programme.”

Clare Wightman, Director of Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire, said: “People with learning disabilities have few opportunities to express themselves and take control of their lives. The statistics about their disadvantage are alarming – they have significantly poorer health, with higher levels of obesity than other people. Less than one in ten have a job and nine out of ten have experienced bullying. We will be training them to do something about this.

“Up to 70 people will be trained over three years to be health advocates or media officers working on a press campaign. They will share their experiences of the obstacles they face, while gaining the skills, experience and self-confidence to increase their chances of finding work.

“People with learning disabilities will be involved in all levels of the project, which will be run by and for people with learning disabilities. Two people with learning disabilities will be hired as project workers.”

The media campaign will be run from a press office and a pilot radio station staffed by people with learning disabilities. The campaign will aim to increase public recognition of the economic, social and cultural capacities of people with learning disabilities. Meanwhile, advocates will raise awareness of the health and social needs of people with learning disabilities. They will work for people who are have unmet needs or are having problems getting access to care by linking them to help, expertise and services in their communities.

Claudette Briscoe, a young woman with a learning disability who uses Grapevine services, said: “It's absolutely brilliant cause it'll give us an opportunity to do different things and new things. It'll give people a chance to be more independent through work and to try new challenges with support.”

Grapevine’s project is among six in the West Midlands receiving almost £2 million from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme.

An £491,064 grant will help the Birmingham & Solihull Women’s Aid to set up a family support service for women and children in Solihull who have been affected by domestic violence. Also, more volunteers will lend a hand to Newcastle-under-Lyme families stressed by illness or disability, thanks to a £254,850 grant to Home-Start Newcastle Borough. The All Saints Community Development Company in Birmingham has been granted £191,559 to extend its services for young people to include parents, and to help refurbish its base in the All Saints Parish Church. In Smethwick, the Bangladeshi Islamic Centre will provide advocacy and mentoring for young people in a project awarded £376,614 over five years. In North Solihull and East Birmingham, Children entering school for the first time and their parents, will benefit from an early intervention project by the Family Welfare Association granted £212,063.

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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