£600k boost for young Scots to reach their potential

15 Dec 2017 11:41 AM

Young people across Scotland are benefitting from almost £600,000 of Young Start funding awarded last Friday.

The funding comes from the Big Lottery Fund’s Young Start programme, thanks to dormant bank and buildings account money, and is being shared among 13 groups supporting young Scots across the country. (See a full list of awards)

Maureen McGinn, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, said: “Young Start creates opportunities for young people to reach their full potential. Every one of the 13 projects being awarded funding today shares that aim, so I am delighted to announce this latest investment totalling £578,782.”

Examples of projects receiving funding are:

• MindMosaic Counselling and Therapy receives £42,644 to expand their play therapy services for children and young people, which will include superhero groups using activities such as role play, superhero comic books and storyboarding sessions to support children dealing with a range of challenging issues.   
• An award of £45,000 will allow Kustom Kruizers CIC to establish a community bicycle building project, which will teach young adults how to strip and restore bicycles, with the opportunity to take charge of their own project to build, advertise and sell a bike. 
• Bright Light will use their award of £47,400 to employ a Young People’s Coach to work with vulnerable young people to develop a ‘tool kit’ that will help them to develop life skills, cope with stress and anxiety, and promote good mental and emotional health.  

Young Start paused to new applications in early November 2017. For more information, call 0330 123 7110 or visit https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/youngstartfund.

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 0141 242 1524
Email: scott.oakley@biglotteryfund.org.uk 
Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Twitter: @BIGScotland 
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.
• Since March 2007 Big Lottery Fund Scotland has taken devolved decisions on National  Lottery spending, the Committee, led by Chair, Maureen McGinn plays a strategic role in the future direction of the Fund in Scotland.
• Since June 2004 we have awarded over £8.5 billion to projects across the UK that change the lives of millions of people. We supported communities to deliver 13,000 projects across the UK last year, thanks to National Lottery Funding.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £37 billion has been raised for Good Causes funding over 510,000 projects.