WIREDGOV

Projects giving young Scots the skills and confidence to take greater control of their futures yesterday (February 15, 2017) shared in £455,889 of dormant banks and building society cash from the Young Start Fund, run by the Big Lottery Fund.

Amongst the ten successful projects, is a unique arts project for young people who live on Stornoway run by Rural Nations CIC.  The award of £33,330 means they can deliver over 100 weekly film workshops over the next two years to motivate and inspire the youngsters to create short films from their own ideas.  Their completed work will be showcased at the An Lanntair Arts Centre in Stornoway and will be entered in Young People’s Film Festivals across the country.

Muriel Ann Macleod, Creative Director, said, “We are so pleased to be able to deliver Digiheb again for young people in Lewis with this funding from Young Start. We will be working in partnership with An Lanntair Arts Centre to enable young people between the ages of 14 and 24 work on making their own short films with support and skills tutoring from locally based industry professionals.

“The weekly workshops allow participants to learn through practical experience and they will try out their ideas and learn about film making in all its aspects as well as getting the chance to make their own films.  During the lifetime of the project the young people will develop films which can be used in their portfolios to help them enter media and other courses in Colleges and University”

In Glasgow, thanks to an award of £45,000, The Southside Youth Work Support Agency will work with young people aged between 14 and 19 years of age in the Govanhill, Pollokshields and Kinning Park areas of the city to work through the opportunities that are open to them when they leave school.

John Gilfillan, Chairman, said, “I am delighted we have received this money from Young Start.  This money will make a real difference to young people living in the Southside of Glasgow.  We are aiming to work with youngsters who have dropped out of school or who would be leaving with few educational qualifications and hope to motivate and inspire them to move into employment, training or further education.”

Maureen McGinn, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, said, “With this funding, children and young people across Scotland will be able to unlock their talents through a wide range of activities.  These are designed to engage and inspire them to follow their dreams while also building skills and confidence for the future. The Young Start programme creates opportunities for children and young people to achieve their potential and every one of these projects reflects that aim.”  
 
Run by the Big Lottery Fund Scotland, Young Start awards money from dormant bank and building society accounts to support a range of projects to help young people aged eight to 24 years old reach their full potential.  These latest nineteen awards to groups will allow young people across Scotland to access a wide range of new opportunities. 
  
For more information about Young Start visit the website at:-
 https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/global-content/programmes/scotland/young-start

Other projects that received funding yesterday were:-

React Basketball, Inverclyde
£50,000
The organisation will deliver a programme of basketball playing and coaching opportunities for up to 1,000 young people aged between 16 and 25 years of age across the region.

Fast Forward, Scotland wide
£35,449
The group will train young volunteers from youth theatre groups in youth health issues working together to produce and perform five new pieces of educational theatre. They will perform the piece to young audiences in community venues across the country

The Get Up and Go Youth Club, West Dunbartonshire
£49,974
The group run a club for young people with additional support needs.  They will be able to put together a programme of events designed to improve health and confidence.

Links Park Community Trust, Aberdeenshire and Angus
£45,792
The group will run a volunteering project called "Pitch In" for young people not in employment, education or training. The youngsters will get the chance to take part in a range of sporting, health and educational initiatives designed to improve their confidence and their employability skills.

Hibernian Community Foundation, Edinburgh 
£49,682
The group will work with young people who are not in education, employment or training to help them move away from anti-social behaviour and inspire and motivate them to take up opportunities in sport, employment or education.

The Haven, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire 
£47,302
The group will be able to continue to run its support group for children in North and South Lanarkshire who are coping with bereavement or who are living with a family member with a life limiting illness.

The Friends of Cambuslang Park, South Lanarkshire 
£50,000
The group will run a Forest Schools and Outdoor Learning project for young people aged 8-16 years old in South Lanarkshire.

Bellshill and Mossend YMCA, North Lanarkshire 
£49,360
The group will be able to continue to run and to develop their wellbeing service which supports young people living in North Lanarkshire. Around 240 young people aged between 11 and 24 will benefit from a range of advice, information and activities to designed to support them in addressing challenging issues in their lives.

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 0141 242 1451
Email: lorna.mcniven@biglotteryfund.org.uk
Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Twitter: @BIGScotland #biglottery
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFundScotland

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 estimated grants budget for 2014/15 is £4.8m. It should be noted that this figure is a median projection and may go up or down.

The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes. 

Since June 2004 we have awarded over £8 billion to projects that change the lives of millions of people. Every year we fund 13,000 small local projects tackling big social problems like poor mental health and homelessness.

Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £34 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded

The Big Lottery Fund Scotland is focussed on helping people and communities most in need throughout Scotland through its five-year £250m funding scheme as well as small grants schemes Awards for All and Investing in Ideas.

Since March 2007 Big Lottery Fund Scotland has taken devolved decisions on Lottery spending, the Committee, led by Chair, Maureen McGinn plays a strategic role in the future direction of the Fund in Scotland.