Dundee youth projects get the BIG thumbs up

Area:

Scotland

Programme:

Young People's Fund Scotland

Release date:

9 3 2007

St. Andrew's Parish Church Family Support Project today picks up £29,800 to support young single parents under the age of 21 into further education. The project will provide weekly group meetings where parents can attend with their children and explore options for returning to education.

Kathryn Sidey, Project Leader, St. Andrew's Parish Church Family Support Project, said: “We are delighted with this award from the Young People’s Fund. It is fantastic news for the young people that we support. It means that we can now be proactive in developing the project to meet the demand by single young parents who want to learn new skills.”

Also picking up funding today is Partners in Advocacy. With an award of £52,955 the project will enable young people with learning disabilities or others who face major challenges to come together to develop assertiveness, problem solving and decision making skills. The Lottery award will fund the salary costs of a part time young people’s self-advocacy worker.

Julienne Dickey, Director, Partners in Advocacy, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the news of our Young People's Fund grant. It means that we can provide a number of self-advocacy groups in Dundee where young people of differing abilities can come together, develop their confidence and skills in speaking up for themselves, support one another to make plans for their lives and help Dundee to be a more inclusive community.”

The Young People’s Fund supports projects run for and by young people. Today’s announcement sees £2,157,516 going to 21 youth projects across the country.

Big Lottery Fund Scotland Director, Dharmendra Kanani, said: “The Young People’s Fund is about changing the way in which organisations work with and respond to young people. It’s about making sure that young people are given the tools and opportunities to make decisions about the things that affect their lives. I am pleased that young single parents and those with learning disabilities in Dundee are amongst those to benefit from today’s funding. Projects like these make a huge difference to the lives of hundreds of young people helping to increase their confidence and give them a whole new skill set.”

Further information

Contact Landa Rolland at the Big Lottery Fund Scotland Press Office on: 0141 242 1458 or 07789 033457
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: 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.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £19.5 billion has now been raised and more than 250,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

Scotland

The Big Lottery Fund has £275 million to invest in Scotland’s communities before 2009 as follows:

• £231 million for the Fund’s Unified Investment Plan (Investing in Communities)*
• £20 million for the Young People’s Fund
• £24 million for Awards for All (until 2006)

The Fund’s future funding plans are detailed in the manifesto ‘Investing in Communities'.

The Young People’s Fund (Scotland) is a £20 million programme open for applications until August 31st 2007. It aims to help young people aged 11-25 learn new things and take part in healthy and positive activities that make them feel good about themselves. Young people themselves are involved in every aspect of the programme including making the decisions.

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