Summertime Joy For 219 Lottery Funded Projects In Yorkshire And Humber

Close to £8.4 million from the Big Lottery Fund will be shared amongst 219 organisations including projects in Rotherham, Hull, Bradford, York and Doncaster.

Today’s funding will support local organisations to help improve their local communities and the lives of people most in need.

Below are examples of some of the great projects receiving funding today.

POPS Summer Camp receives £358,046 to expand a project supporting the physical, mental and emotional development of young people in Rotherham through youth inclusion activities. The project will increase from operating four weeks a year to providing an all year round facility. A range of outdoor activities will include a wide range of arts and crafts, sports and games such as dance and drama and adventure activities like woodcraft, bush craft and survival skills. Country crafts will include carving, willow weaving, basketry and candle making. More traditional artisan crafts will include sand casting, ceramics, pewter working, soap making, outdoor cooking and wild foraging. Other activities will include scavenger hunts, tent pitching, shelter building, orienteering, pond dipping, kite flying, mini-beast conservation. The project is based in Rosehill Park and the bowling green pavilion will be refurbished.

Hull City of Culture receives £450,991 for a project to enable 4,000 volunteers to develop learning and skills, improve their wellbeing and decrease social isolation. The 4,000 people will undertake 40,000 volunteering opportunities by January 2018. A large recruitment campaign will be launched with bespoke approaches developed for hard to reach groups including socially isolated or disabled people, those with mental health issues and young adults.

Mosaic II in Bradford receives £460,940 to relieve the mental and physical distress of families in West Yorkshire affected by sexual violence and abuse. Clients will have experienced sexual abuse or be a family member of someone who has been a victim of childhood sexual abuse. The project will help people experiencing suicidal tendencies, schizophrenia, constant anxiety depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep difficulties, low confidence and self-esteem, fear, anger and guilt, difficulty trusting others, relationship issues and parenting issues. The project will directly benefit 553 survivors of sexual abuse and 212 parent/carers.

Doncaster West Development Trust receives £185,207 for its Hot Chocolate Lounge project – a community hub with a café, generating new jobs, accredited training, volunteering and social opportunities in Denaby, South Yorkshire. The Hot Chocolate Lounge will adjacent to, and build on the existing work of, the DWDT Denaby Skills Centre. The café will provide a place for the community to meet and socialise, form social networks and a place for trainees to get qualifications.

Foundation receives £395,433 to improve the life chances of the most vulnerable care leavers in York and North Yorkshire by helping them become more engaged with wider society through support networks, new social skills and a motivation to move into employment, education or training and steer them away from brushes with the law. It will focus particularly ion care leavers with multiple problems like mental health issues, substance misuse problems and unstable housing experiences.

Shine receives £257,942 to reduce isolation, improve confidence, relationships, mental and physical well-being and increase opportunities and economic prospects for deprived members of the West Bowling area of Bradford. Activities will include a credit union, help with accessing foodbanks, children’s clothes banks, a community café, gardening, health and exercise classes and arts projects.

The Carers Resource receives £478,697 for a project covering North Yorkshire and Bradford. The current project aims to support carers who are currently in work but struggling to manage both employment and carer commitments as well as those who gave up work to care for an individual and would like to get back into employment. The new project aims to focus on 400 carers and 20 employers. Three new aspects will be introduced such as a focus on enterprise and self-employment, supporting carers who are combining work with caring responsibilities for the first time and working with employers to emphasise how important it is to support carers in the workplace.

Stainforth 4 All receives £138,786 to offer a programme of IT training to help long-term unemployed adults and young people search for jobs, compile CVs and draft job applications. Each person will receive 50 hours of training.

Lyn Cole, Big Lottery Fund England grant making director said: “So many local community organisations are enabling people and communities to grow together bringing positive changes to their lives and futures. It’s wonderful to hear the stories of how through these great projects people have overcome barriers, learned new skills and improved their lives.”

Today’s awards have been made through the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All and Reaching Communities programmes. Awards for All provides grants between £300 and £10,000 to voluntary and community organisations and Reaching Communities awards larger grants of £10,000 and above.