BBC Children in Need has announced that it has awarded new grants totalling £385,512 to four local projects working with disadvantaged children and young people across Cumbria. The grants have been allocated through the charity’s Main Grants Programme.
The new funding will enable projects to provide services to young people in the area and means that the charity now has more than £2.4million invested across Cumbria. This is the first funding allocation of the year, with additional funding to be allocated to projects across the UK throughout 2019.
One project which has been awarded funding is Cumbria Youth Alliance. It will use a three-year grant of £50,000 to deliver one-to-one personal development support to young people who are not in education, employment or training across West Cumbria. The project will develop individual support plans for each of the young people to identify their goals, their aspirations, and needs for their future working life. The project also helps to identify possible work experience opportunities, engages them with volunteering or training courses, and helps to build their confidence and self-esteem, as well helping them to learn new skills and preparing them for employment.
Cumbria Family Support has also benefitted in this latest round receiving a three-year grant of £116,598 to deliver a support programme to children and young people across Carlisle and Eden who have a lack of family support which impacts on their mental health and wellbeing. The young people will receive home-based support visits from a Family Support worker who will develop a family support plan to help them work through the difficulties that they are facing, to improve their relationships, reduce isolation and improve their emotional wellbeing.
Kellie Bradburn-Sims, Funding and Development Officer at Cumbria Family Support said: “The young people that we work with are facing many disadvantages due to a lack of family support, so our project helps to address these issues and provide the support needed to improve their emotional wellbeing and raise their aspirations for the future. A huge thank you to everyone that has made this new funding possible.”
Other projects benefitting from funding in this round include Carlisle Youth Zone with a three-year grant of £96,640 and Cumbria Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) with a three- year grant of £122,274; all of which will go on to benefit disadvantaged young lives across Cumbria.
Speaking of the new grants, Elizabeth Myers, Regional Head of the North at BBC Children in Need said: “We are delighted to fund the work of Cumbria Youth Alliance, Cumbria Family Support, Carlisle Youth Zone and Cumbria Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) and look forward to seeing the difference that these grants will make to children and young people across the region. We are incredibly grateful for the public’s generosity as without them this funding simply wouldn’t be possible.”
BBC Children in Need’s Chief Executive, Simon Antrobus added: “As always, thanks must go to our generous supporters and fundraisers – we are only able to make these much needed awards because of them. Each project will go on to make a positive impact on the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in communities across the UK who really do need our help, so thank you for making these grants possible.”
Across Cumbria, BBC Children in Need is currently funding 38 projects to a value of £2.4 million.
BBC Children in Need awards grants at six points during the year and funds two types of grants, both of which are open to new or existing applicants. A Main Grants Programme is for grants over £10,000 per year to support projects for up to three years. Meanwhile, our Small Grants Programme supports projects for up to three years, and includes grants up to and including £10,000 per year. Both of these programmes are currently open to applications.
Alongside the Main and Small Grants Programmes, BBC Children in Need have re-opened Curiosity – a partnership with Wellcome – which awards grants to organisations using inspiring science activities to create change for disadvantaged children and young people. The deadline for applications is 12 April 2019; more information on Curiosity and how to apply is available on BBC Children in Need’s website.
BBC Children in Need relies on the generosity and creativity of the thousands of supporters and fundraisers who raise millions of pounds for the charity every year. To date the UK public has raised over £1 billion for children and young people facing disadvantage across the UK.