Opportunity knocks as new doors open for disabled youngsters in Wales

Area:

Wales

Programme:

Young People's Fund Reaching Out

Release date:

21 9 2007

With the £269,560 they received from Big Lottery Fund (BIG), ELITE Supported Employment Agency (ELITE), based in Talbot Green, will work with 15-19 year olds who have moderate to severe learning disabilities or difficulties, during their final two years of education.

The money was awarded under BIG’s Young Peoples Fund £6.2 million Reaching Out programme, which supports projects in Wales that focus on young people between 10 and 19 years old who are at risk of becoming, or already are, disaffected and disengaged, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

ELITE will spend the money on helping around 25 young people a year into employment or volunteering and will open new doors for them to learn new skills and gain qualifications. This will improve their self-esteem, confidence and social integration.

The new project will build on the success of a similar project, which received six years funding from BIG up until July 2006. The previous project also provided high-level support for a number of youngsters, with beneficiaries exceeding the anticipated numbers.

The new elements to the project include working with young people a year younger (aged 15) and engaging them in employment during school years rather than upon the completion of education, which has traditionally been 19 years plus.

The project will also incorporate opportunities for youngsters aged 16-18 with borderline disabilities, who fall into the "incomeless trap" i.e. those who are too young to obtain benefits, unable to independently access or obtain employment due to lack of skills and only able to access limited training due to anticipated level of achievement by training providers.

The project provides support to young disabled people to allow them to enter the employment market at an age comparable with their non-disabled peer group enabling employment, financial and social inclusion. The service will be provided to young people from seven schools in the County Boroughs of Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr Tydfil.

One of many success stories from the previous project is 24-year-old David Darch. He works full-time as a Production Operator with Pontypridd Precision Engineering in Ferndale. The family run business manufactures press tools for machines, produces parts for the motor industry and has already employed numerous people through ELITE Supported Employment Agency. David first started with the company on ELITE’s Saturday job scheme, but has been full time for the last four years: “I like working so close to home and the people here have been good to me,” he explained.

David’s employers, Pontypridd Precision Engineering, are more than happy with the quality of his work and the service offered by ELITE. As the Production Director at the factory, Jason Price, explained: “The great thing about Elite and the placement scheme is that you have an insight into the capabilities of the staff before you take them on full-time. They’re trained on the job and if you decide to take them on after the placement, then you’re employing them safe in the knowledge that they’re capable of doing the work.”

Explaining how the project will benefit the youngsters and reflecting on the success of the previous project, Elite Director, Andrea Wayman, said: “Young people with learning disabilities and difficulties face multiple problems at transitional stages in their lives. This project will fill a gap in provision and will have long term positive outcomes for the lives of young disabled people and for their peers in accessing employment, going on to further education and improving their quality of life generally.”

Highlighting the importance of the Reaching Out programme, Big Lottery Fund Wales Committee member and Chair of the Young People’s Fund Committee, Mike Theodoulou, said: “BIG has been very active in supporting young people in Wales over the years and I have no doubt that this project we have funded will have wide-reaching benefits for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities from various communities and backgrounds in South Wales.”

For further information about the Big Lottery Fund and how your group can apply for funding, log onto the Big Lottery Fund website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

For further information about the project and to obtain contact details for the individuals and organisations involved, please contact the Big Lottery Fund press office on the numbers below.

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 02920 678 207
Out of hours contact: 07760171431
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102 030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• In Wales, the Big Lottery Fund is rolling out close to £1 million a week in Lottery good cause money, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across Wales 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. It was 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 £20 billion has now been raised and more than 250,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

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