031003 Strong demand for Lottery funds in Scotland

The grant of £182,000 awarded to the Scottish Personal Assistant Employers Network will enable the group to become fully operational as a national support organisation for disabled people who would like to live independently. Each of the group’s beneficiaries will be able to take control of his or her own personal assistance care package and be empowered to choose who provides their assistance and how and when it is provided.

Peter Brawley from the Network said, “This grant means that SPAEN can further develop our support network ensuring that disabled people can maximise the choice, control and flexibility of how their support is provided. The logical conclusion of this choice, control and flexibility is that disabled people can and do become active members in the mainstream of society.”

YMCA Scotland has been awarded a grant of £114,000. The money will be used to develop the infrastructure of the organisation’s work with young people in six pilot areas of Scotland. These are all disadvantaged areas, with many young people gathering at the YMCA, but with no services for them beyond the basic facilities. The organisation has identified that there is a lack of qualified Youth Workers in these areas, and will train people to become fully qualified.

Kerry Knox, Youth Work Development Manager with YMCA Scotland said,
“We are delighted to be receiving this grant, which will enable us to
develop new work in partnership with six local communities to make a real
difference to the lives of young people. It also gives individuals within
the communities the opportunity to become qualified youth workers, creating
new training and employment prospects.”

Chair of the Scotland Committee, Kay Hampton said, “This is a massive package of grants which will make a great difference to community groups in every part of Scotland. We are committed to making sure that there is an equitable spread of Lottery funding throughout the country. Today’s announcement shows that the need for Lottery funds is as strong as ever and that the money continues to make a considerable difference to the lives of people who are at most disadvantage.”

Notes to editors

A full list of grants is attached. Please refer to all three lists for details of all the grants in your area. The grants are made under two programmes run by the Community Fund: Grants for large projects and Grants for medium sized projects.
The Community Fund (formerly the National Lottery Charities Board) was set up in 1995 to distribute proceeds from the National Lottery to community and voluntary organisations.