Children as young as eight years old who are at risk of falling into criminal activity and anti-social behaviour are to benefit from seven tried and tested interventions to be rolled out across many parts of Scotland.
They are amongst 25 projects from across the UK sharing in £25 million from BIG’s Realising Ambition programme which aims to scale up and replicate proven approaches that improve the prospects of 8-14 year olds and reduce first time offending. It is estimated that, in total, all seven initiatives working in Scotland will reach out to 46,824 of the most ‘at risk’ Scottish children.
An award winning Scottish mentoring scheme which has been proven to steer young people away from a life of crime receives £1,193,000. Plusone mentoring delivered by the YMCA Scotland has already made an impact in Fife, Perth and Kinross and North Lanarkshire where it has been operating an early intervention programme since 2009 aimed at supporting children aged 8 to 14 whose behaviour is becoming a concern. Evaluation of the project has reported outstanding results with 86% of children showing significant change in behaviour within six months including higher attendance at school and less disruptive behaviour in school.
Another approach to be replicated in Scotland comes from the Children’s Parliament which receives an award of £319,965 to support vulnerable children aged 8 to 14 in Glasgow. They will work with the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, a multi-agency initiative designed to reduce gang violence across Glasgow, to support children and their families at a key time when they have most likelihood of turning around negative habits. The project which has operated in Fife, the Western Isles South Ayrshire and Midlothian will now be rolled out to benefit 337 children in schools in north east Glasgow.
A full list of projects which will be replicated in Scotland can be found here
Investing in Communities – latest awards
Parents with learning disabilities and older people experiencing rural isolation are amongst those to benefit from the latest grants totalling £4 million from our Investing in Communities fund.
Parents living with a learning disability are to benefit from an award of £520,088 through the Equal Say for Parents project, which supports vulnerable families. Over four years, 120 Glasgow parents can boost their confidence and self-esteem through group activities and training in parenting skills. The project will also help parents to better understand child protection issues and their children’s needs.
Cowal Elderly Befriending Scheme receives an award of £399,320 to improve the lives of older people living in rural areas. Fun social outings, one-to-one support and help at home will be on offer, enabling older people to stay independent in their own homes for longer. From repairing appliances and gritting paths, to emergency shopping or even feeding pets, this new service, delivered by outreach workers, is a welcome new addition to the project.
Announcing the funding totalling £4,366,209, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, Maureen McGinn, said: “Today’s awards will fund eleven very different projects across Scotland which share one common aim – helping vulnerable people move onto a more happier and healthier place in their lives. The Big Lottery Fund is delighted to fund this inspirational set of projects.’
For details on all of the latest Investing in Communities grants can be found here.
Village SOS – Live in Scotland
The Village SOS Roadshow is back, providing information, inspiration and advice to rural communities across Scotland for FREE.
Starting in Dunfermline on 26 April 2012, before visiting 10 other locations across the UK, the Roadshow will help people in rural areas to start community enterprises that will breathe new life into their village.
As well as hearing inspirational talks, the events will give you with the chance to vote on key issues, talk to sector experts, share with local practitioners and discuss ideas in 1-to-1 surgeries with a range of exhibitors.
The Dunfermline event will take place between 9:45am and 3:30pm at the Carnegie Conference Centre, on Thursday 26 April.
Book your free place here.
To find out more about BIG’s Village SOS programme visit our website
Rural enterprise is alive and well
Enterprising communities in rural Scotland are being offered grants of up to £50,000 to start up community business ventures that will breathe new life into their areas. The news comes as ten Scottish communities are sharing in the first grants from our Village SOS funding competition.
Each group has received an award of between £10,000 and £50,000 to develop plans for enterprising rural projects.
North Howe Transition Toun in Fife has been offered an award of £29,000 for its plans to develop its community bakery business, the Doorstep Bakery in the village of Collessie. The group will purchase new equipment and will take part in Farmers’ Markets and events to promote their business. This enterprise will employ a consultant bakery manager and provide training opportunities for local people.
In East Lothian, Ormiston Growers has been offered an award of £29,011 to set up and run a community shop which will provide a range of locally sourced produce. Based in premises in Ormiston main street, this new enterprise will become self sustaining through retail sales and will provide added employment and volunteering prospects for local people.
The Village SOS scheme aims to inspire a rural revival across the UK by supporting rural communities that may be struggling with issues such as isolation, ageing populations, and the closure of local amenities. People can register at www.villagesos.org.uk where they will find more information and advice about community enterprises, including an online support network. Application forms for are also available online.
Other projects receiving funding today are:
Creetown Initiative Ltd – Award: £28,898
The project will set up a community car club which will give local people the option of car sharing. It is hoped that this will help more people to travel further afield for employment opportunities.
Caleycom Limited – Award: £18,000
The group will use the money to lead a community project to extend reliable next generation broadband to more people in, and surrounding, the rural village of Kinmuck.
Canna Community Association – Award: £19,786
This project based in Lochaber will install a number of fixed moorings on the island which will provide safe anchorage all year around. This enterprise will enable more accessibility, providing the island with a constant income source and encouraging a higher numbers of visitors.
Minginish Events Group -Youth Space -Award: £17,000
This project based in Carbost, Isle of Skye, will further develop the Tattie Bogal concept into a scarecrow trail to make Minginish village a tourist hotspot attraction. The enterprise will lead to other attractions along the trail such as refreshments and enticements for tourists to purchase branded goods and keepsakes. The enterprise will be sustained by the revenue generated from fun days, workshops and sale of branded goods and refreshments.
Network Carradale Ltd – Award: £29,920
This project based in Carradale East, Argyll, will set up the Carradale Cycle Trail by providing mountain cycles and electric buggies. This will encourage increased tourism to the area which will boost the local economy and create part time employment opportunities for local people. The enterprise will be sustained through income generated from hire of the cycles and buggies.
Rum Community Association - Award: £10,000
This project based on the Isle of Rum will establish a community cooperative to process and sell venison on the island. The enterprise will create employment opportunities and encourage an increase in tourism to generate an income for the community.
Transport for Tongue – Award: £30,000
This project based in Tongue in the Highlands will also serve the villages of Melness and Skerray. The group will use the funding to purchase a new 16-seater mini-bus with disabled access, so that they can provide a transport link between the three remote villages and to rail links for travelling further afield.
Ullapool Community Trust Limited – Award: £30,000
This project based in Ullapool, Ross-Shire will purchase a wood fuel processer to provide alternative natural fuel sources. The timber will be sourced from local forest landowners, where the wood logs will be cut and transferred for drying and seasoning and selling direct to customers.
Citizen Relay: Track the torch round Scotland
The Olympic Torch is coming to Scotland from 7 to 14 June this year and you can track its progress here.
CitizenRelay is a participatory project which relies on the involvement of people across Scotland to report on the untold local stories and the creative ways that people are interacting with the Olympic Games.
You can get involved in a number of ways. Firstly, CitizenRelay are looking for citizen media interns from the North/North West and North East of the country. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, experience of working with content across multi-media and can commit to being available between 9 and 13 June, then send a 200 word pitch to david@citizenrelay.net. Training events will take place in Inverness (3 May), Aberdeen (4 May), Glasgow (5 May) and Edinburgh (6 May).
If you would like your BIG or Awards for All Lottery funded project to be involved or your story to be told please contact David directly by email or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/citizenrelay/340805065956543 or Twitter @CitizenRelay .
Lotto support for island communities
Two island communities in the Highlands and Islands are the latest to benefit from our Growing Community Assets (GCA) programme which aims to give Scotland’s communities more control over their own futures.
The awards will help to invest in the infrastructure of Muck, part of the Inner Hebrides and South Uist in the Western Isles.
Thanks to an award of £978,840, residents on the Isle of Muck will soon have a reliable and affordable electricity supply on tap. Currentl
y the island’s power supply comes from a diesel generator, which only operates for 10 hours each day. Now, the Isle of Muck Community Enterprise Ltd will be able to provide the 38 islanders with electricity round the clock for the very first time.
Residents of Lochboisdale on South Uist are to benefit from a GCA award of £996,000 to Stòras Uibhist. This will enable the harbour area be developed and extended to help towards the economic regeneration of the area.
Both groups are part of a wider £6.9 million package of grants to be announced from our Investing in Communities (IiC) fund. Find out more about these awards in our latest IiC press release.
The power of volunteering
Based in the east end of Glasgow, Playbusters has been offering local people the chance to make a real difference in their community for the last ten years.
Originally set up to look at the lack of safe play areas for children and young people the group now works with over 300 people a week offering a wide range of opportunities from youth activities, Spanish classes, Green projects, intergenerational activities and an ever increasing volunteering programme.
The group received £340,078 from BIG in 2009 for their Connecting Generations project to provide a wide range of opportunities both generations to spend quality time together and learn different skills and knowledge.
But it’s not just communities who are changing it’s the people taking part. Playbusters has given them confidence, self belief, new skills new friends and has opened up a whole new world of possibilities.
In this short film four volunteers talk about what Playbusters has given back to them.
