WIREDGOV

Projects in Stirling, Edinburgh, Shetland, Dundee and the Western Isles are recently (9 MAY) awarded Young Start grants totaling £200,104.  

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.

Heart to Heart in Stirling will use their grant of £50,000 to run a programme for young people who have been affected by the divorce or separation of their parents. The one year project will provide counselling and guidance to young people aged 11 to 18 years old. Heart to Heart is a charity based in Callander and the project will provide two co-ordinators who will cover Stirling, Dunblane and Callander. The six week programme will involve one-to-one and group support with other young people who are going through the same experience as well as mentoring which will take part in local cafes, parks and youth clubs. 

Big Lottery Fund Scotland Director, Jackie Killeen said: “Supporting young carers, helping individuals affected by divorce and giving young people the chance to volunteer on an environmental project will make a real difference to the lives of the young people involved. Young Start funding can help children and young people gain the skills and confidence they need for positive and healthy futures, and the projects awarded funding today are excellent examples of how this can be done." 

Shetland will ring to the sound of singing, dancing and acting thanks to a grant of £38,045 for GlobalYell Ltd. Their Singing Saturdays’ project will expand and focus on getting young people who are no longer part of the project to come back and volunteer with the group. The project gives young people living in the Shetland Islands the chance to get involved in the arts and mix with the wider community. Transport costs are covered so that young people can travel from across the islands to attend and the venture will culminate in a trip to perform at the St Magnus Festival.

A Young Start grant of £49,570 means North West Carers Centre in Edinburgh will be able to continue to run their existing Wi Rascals programme. The project supports young carers living in the area offering one-to-one help and guidance and weekly social sessions designed to increase their confidence. The interaction helps the young carers with their sense of isolation, introducing them to a variety of new social skills with the chance to make friends. The project also provides a quiet space where they can get on with homework.            

RockSolid Youth Project's two-year project will use today’s grant of £36,297 to provide a range of recreational and educational opportunities for young people in the East End of Dundee. Young people aged 12 to 16 will be able to take part in arts and crafts, singing and dancing, cooking, sport, and gardening. There will also be issue based work involving drugs and alcohol, self-harming and body image. The programme works closely with local teachers and community workers and operates from three local facilities including churches and community centres.

Young people living in the Western Isles will have the chance to volunteer for an environmental project. The Western Isles Support for the Environment (WISE) volunteering project has offices in Stornoway, Northern Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra and will use their grant of £26,192 to establish an environmental volunteering service. It will set up four experienced volunteer teams, consisting of all age groups, to work with young people to encourage them to volunteer as part of the team outwith school hours. The work will involve exploring better use of existing path networks for physical activity and maintaining community owned playgrounds.

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