- Area:
- Scotland
- Programme:
- Young Start
- Release date:
- 11 4 2013
Projects giving young Scots the skills and confidence to embrace the future, today share Young Start grants totalling £142,691.
Run by the Big Lottery Fund Scotland, Young Start awards money from dormant bank and building society accounts that have seen no customer-initiated activity for at least 15 years. The money supports a range of projects that help young people aged eight to 24 reach their full potential.
Big Lottery Fund Scotland Director, Jackie Killeen said: “From drama and discussions to writing for a magazine and befriending the older generation, today’s grants go towards projects that will help young people in many different ways. Young Start funding helps children and young people gain the skills and confidence they need for positive and healthy futures. The diverse projects awarded funding today strike a balance between hard work and good old-fashioned fun."
Days out, drama workshops, play equipment and arts materials are among the fun activities on offer for young people aged 8 to 12 in North Ayrshire. The Bourtreehill Youth Club in Irvine will use its two-year grant of £49,990, managed by Cornerstone Community Care, to meet existing staff costs and give up to 30 young people access to events and new technology, including a TV, DVDs, iPad, Wii and software. The funds also covers the costs of collecting children from fostering services.
Aspiring young journalists in West Dunbartonshire will get the chance to learn on the job, submitting articles for a magazine called The Banter. Today’s grant of £48,800 will fund the project, run by West Dunbartonshire Council for Voluntary Services. Young unemployed people aged 16 to 24 will undergo a 14 week placement, involving completing skills modules and being mentored by their peers, before contributing to the publication.
Young people people can forge new friendships with the older people in their community through the Volunteer Centre East Ayrshire’s programme of games, discussions and activities. The All Sorts project will use today’s grant of £43, 901 to help promote better understanding and foster new intergenerational friendships.
For more details contact Frances Chisholm, Press Team Scotland, 0141 242 1458
BIG advice line: 0300 123 7110 Textphone: 0845 6021 659
For more information about Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/scotland
Follow us on Twitter @BIGSCOTLAND or like us on Facebook Big Lottery Fund Scotland
Notes to Editors
• Dormant accounts are defined in the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008 as those which have seen no customer-initiated activity for at least 15 years.
• In September 2011 the Scottish Government formally issued instructions to the Big Lottery Fund to distribute dormant accounts funding for the benefit of Scotland’s voluntary and community sector.
• The Reclaim Fund Ltd. (RFL), which was established in March 2011 to receive and invest dormant account balances across the UK, transferred the first tranche of monies from dormant bank and building society accounts to BIG on 2 August 2011. Scotland will receive an 8.4% share of the total funds to be distributed.
• The Distribution of Dormant Account Money (Apportionment) Order 2011 prescribes that Scotland will receive 8.4% of the dormant accounts money to be made available for distribution by the Big Lottery Fund under the 2008 Act. The Big Lottery Fund has confirmed a grants budget of £3.7m to 31 March 2012 and an indicative budget of £5.2m for 2012/13. This gives an estimated total grants budget of £8.9m to 31 March 2013. It should be noted that the 2012/13 figure is a median projection and may go down or up.
• The Big Lottery Fund 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 It also uses its expertise in grant-giving to distribute non-Lottery funding. Full details of the BIG funded programmes and grant awards in Scotland are available at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/scotland
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