WIREDGOV

Hundreds of Scottish children are to benefit from Lottery funding that will support families through the toughest of times, thanks to the latest grants announced recently (THURSDAY 27 AUGUST) by the Big Lottery Fund.

With an award of £488,614, The Mentor Foundation (UK) will be able to continue supporting kinship carers in Edinburgh and East Lothian for another three years.  The money also means that the organisation can now reach out to families in Fife providing them with information, advocacy, advice, training, respite and outings.

Over 500 carers and 700 children across the three regions are expected to benefit: families like the Cuthills who will now have access to a range of targeted support.  Fay Cuthill, 68, from East Lothian, has had kinship care of her two grandchildren for three years.  Fay said: “The Mentor Foundation have given us so much emotional support and financial advice and have been there for us at all times.  There’s always someone at the end of the phone if we ever need help.  The project is fantastic because they care about the carers and the children.  If the kids are happy then there’s a pretty good chance the carers will be happy too.”

Scotland Director, Heather McVeigh, said: “I am so grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for providing us with this opportunity to continue to provide hands on support to kinship families.  By building on their knowledge and skills as well as empowering carers and the children in their care to thrive, we have witnessed the growth of strong, resilient and happy families.  This funding, over the next three years, will enable us to build on this work, enhance our youth provision as well as raising kinship care to the public arena.”

In the North East of Glasgow, St Roch’s Childcare Service receives £390,832 to help meet demand for their service, providing support to vulnerable families, and expand into adjoining areas in the city.

Anne Sweeney, Officer in Charge, said: “We are delighted that we have secured three year’s funding from the Big Lottery Fund.  This will enable us to continue to support families within Royston by way of family support, parent and toddler groups and respite childcare.  This support to families increases confidence, health and wellbeing and promotes positive relationships within the family unit and the wider community.  The grant also will enable us to address un-met need by extending into the neighbouring areas of Germiston and Blackhill.”

Announcing the recent investment, Big Lottery Fund, Scotland Chair, Maureen McGinn, said recently: “Today’s awards go to nine projects across the country which share a common goal – helping people to  move on from challenging times to live more positive and productive lives. These range from the Mentor Foundation continuing to support and advice to kinship carers in existing and new areas to St Roch’s who will  be able to provide assistance to more vulnerable families in Glasgow, and all are excellent examples of Lottery money making a difference in communities across Scotland.”

Other projects sharing in Big Lottery Fund grants totalling £4,172,654 are:-

Mearns and Coastal Healthy Living Network
£366,470
Aberdeenshire
The project will support older people living in the Laurencekirk area with a particular focus on those living with dementia.

The Broomhouse Centre
£262,000
Edinburgh
The project will support adults facing barriers to employment with a programme of work experience to increase their confidence to move onto work, training or education opportunities.

Barnado’s 
£615,782
North Lanarkshire
The project will work with 500 care leavers in North Lanarkshire to help them at key transition points in their lives including leaving school and leaving home.

Stepwell Consultancy Ltd
£782,901
Inverclyde 
The project will work with 70 young people in the region in an employability project where they can gain skills and get work experience.

Auchinleck Community Development Initiative 
£417,187
East Ayrshire
The project will work with people in the former mining communities of Auchinleck, Muirkirk, Catrine, Logan and Lurgan to help them into work, training or education.

Community Maintenance and Environmental Enterprise
£568,489
Clackmannanshire
The project will run a three year employability and work experience scheme for young people in the region.

Home Start UK 
£280,379
Inverclyde
The project will establish a satellite service, based on the Home Start volunteer visiting service for families in the region.

We’re also awarding £75,861 to eight projects through Investing in Ideas. A table of awards isattached

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

Notes to Editors:

• 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 for good causes 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 make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £33 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.