Lottery dials up disability awareness

Area:

Yorkshire and the Humber

Programme:

Reaching Communities

Release date:

20 2 2007

Dial Doncaster, will use its grant to run disability awareness sessions for five years, reaching out to hundreds of children in South Yorkshire and promoting understanding and tolerance on issues of disabilities and equalities.

Local schools, scout clubs and youth organisations will all be visited. Children will experience blindness by wearing simulation spectacles, find out how to communicate using sign language and will discover what it’s like to use a wheelchair.  A project manager will run the sessions assisted by eight volunteers with a range of disabilities.

Pamela Arrand, General Manager, said: “The training is both fun and interactive but gives a very clear message about disability issues and prejudice. It is hoped that contacting children at an early age will enable them to be less likely to discriminate in later life. The aim is to reach as many children as possible, especially in deprived areas, and also involve both able bodied and disabled children in the same events.

“We are thrilled to hear the Big Lottery Fund has awarded us a five year grant. We had lottery funding before and this project proved so popular we have been inundated from schools wanting to do it, there has been such good feedback.

In Sheffield, a run-down playground in a disadvantaged area will be transformed thanks to a grant to the City Council of £59,592.

Joanne Buck, Assistant Community Partnerships Officer, said: “The money will provide the community of Wincobank with a new playground which will include facilities for children of all ages and abilities, an area for families and a shelter for young people to sit and meet one another.

“When this project started Wincobank had only one playground and this was equipped with a single item of outdated play equipment.  The area has suffered from increasing problems with children and young people who have nowhere to play close to home and who consequently spend a lot of time congregating on the streets.  The project has really brought the community of Wincobank together.”

South Yorks families will also benefit. In the Dearne Valley a support project for families receives £331,683. KITES will deliver home visits and guidance around coping with the pressures of family life and signposting to other relevant agencies.

Amanda Goulding, Chief Executive Officer said: “This is fantastic news.  It will enable Kites to deliver a much needed and long awaited service. We will provide packages of support to meet individual families’ needs to help them achieve positive outcomes for both the children and their parents.

“The grant will allow Kites to support a minimum of 180 families living in and around the Dearne Valley area over the next two years.”

Elsewhere in the region, in Sheffield, El-Nisah gets £194,349 for training and advocacy work. Across in Rotherham, the local crèche in Brampton Bierlow will use £66,828 to extend provision and support volunteers who are interested in the first step towards a career in childcare. Finally in the region, the Reading Assistance Teaching Scheme, gets £292,701 to set up a mentoring system for young people in Bridlington, Goole and Grimsby to support them in the move from primary to secondary school.

Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for Yorkshire and the Humber Vanessa White said: "It's great to see that so many children and young people across the region will benefit from the latest round of grants. All of these projects will work towards building a better future for their communities."

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 08456 021 659
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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