- Area:
- Northern Ireland
- Programme:
- Reaching Out Empowering Young People
- Release date:
- 23 8 2012
A project to boost the education and job opportunities of young people in Northern Ireland who are blind or partially sighted has been awarded a major grant by the Big Lottery Fund.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People is one of seven Northern Ireland organisations that have been awarded grants totalling nearly £3,200,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Out: Empowering Young People programme, which supports young people most at risk in Northern Ireland, including those who have been disengaged from education, involved in crime or in care. (See link to table below for full list of NI grants awarded).
The organisation has been awarded £493,465 to run support services for blind and partially sighted young people aged eight to 20 including courses in confidence building and assertiveness, support with job searches and application forms and training in using assistive technology such as computer software that writes what a person says.
“There are about 1,000 blind and partially sighted young people in Northern Ireland,” said communications officer Thomas Quigley. “The changes that all young people face - moving from primary to secondary school, choosing a career path, and moving to further/higher education and the job market - can be challenging. But for blind and partially sighted young people these changes can be bewildering, frightening, and isolating. This project will give them the skills and confidence they need to tackle their fears and achieve their goals.”
Jordan Gilmore, 21, from Dundonald, is a student at the University of Derby and is registered blind. “I went to Jordanstown School and moving from a specialist school to Belfast Metropolitan College was a big change. The RNIB helped me build up the confidence to prepare for it,” he said. “Without the RNIB’s support I would not have had the confidence to go to college and if I had not done that I would never have gone to university.”
Headway Belfast has also been awarded £495,559 to run a project providing specialist support services for young people living with acquired brain injury (ABI) in the Belfast, Lisburn and Newtownards areas.
As well as regular meetings with a clinical psychologist, the young people will take part in activities and training including sports, physiotherapy, IT training and communications skills. “Young people living with a brain injury face multiple challenges. Brain injury can lead to anger issues, feelings of depression and loneliness, and it can also cause young people to make poor decisions,” explained Fiona McCabe, CEO of Headway Belfast.
“This specialist programme will give them the specialist psychological support they need and also provide them with practical life skills so they can make the right choices as they grow up.”
Jeff Swain, 29, from Belfast, sustained a brain injury in a car accident when he was 18.“It was a really scary time for me,” he said. “Although the services provided by Headway Belfast were great, the group was very mixed in terms of age and it would have been nice to have an age specific service. Young people are going through the same difficulties and can understand each other much better. I think this will be an important project.”
Frank Hewitt, Big Lottery Fund NI Chair, said: “We are already seeing the positive impact that the Empowering Young People programme is having on the lives of our most vulnerable young people during this harsh period of recession in Northern Ireland.
“The programme is supporting a range of vital projects that are transforming the lives of isolated young people in our communities who are at risk of crime or have dropped out of school, are not in education or employment, or are living with disabilities or the impact of violence. Our funding is supporting those young people who need our help the most.”
To find out more about the Reaching Out programmes visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Full list of grants announced today - word doc 40KB
Further Information
Andrew Kennedy Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 02890 551 426
Out of hours contact: 07788 640 791
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 (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. 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 £26 billion has now been raised and more than 330,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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