Monday, October 15, 2012

Our Local Charity Gets Life Line For Survival

PRESS RELEASE – BIG LOTTERY “REACHING COMMUNITIES” FUND

GRANT AWARD: £409,664

The Hinge Centre Limited is pleased to announce that an application to the Big Lottery “Reaching Communities” fund to roll out community based activities in line with its “Chances for Life” project, has been successful and we are to be awarded £409,664 covering a four year period. Established since 1997 in Goole, plus operating from within Bridlington since 2008, we have supported some of the most vulnerable and socially isolated residents and young people living in these areas, to address the findings and requests from feedback received from members of both communities, by extensive consultation and needs analysis which was funded via the “Supporting Change” fund earlier this year. The project will provide community based sessions and support to young people and adults living within the towns of Bridlington and Goole. Our key areas of support as a result of gaining this funding, will include addressing the following issues: • Access and support around benefits. • Access and support to improve employability, personal development training and volunteering. • Provide independent living skills training, health and disability awareness and breaking down barriers of discrimination and social isolation. • Supporting young people who are classified as NEET (not in education, employment, or training). Developing self-confidence and personal skills, plua addressing issues in order to improve access to further education and training. • Supporting the homeless and those under the threat of homelessness and providing family mediation and intervention support on a one to one basis, to reduce the threat of homelessness for anyone aged 25 and over. • Addressing specific domain weight outcomes as outlined in the “Indices of Deprivation” 2010 summary. • Addressing anti-social behaviour and reducing crime, by providing key facilities and projects in a safe, secure environment, to young people living within the Bridlington and Goole areas. The project will also continue to develop strong partnerships with other agencies, within both communities and maintain such partnerships in order to pull together key services that support vulnerable people, through their transition from youth into adulthood. The project aims to support 1,460 individuals over the next four years. Martin Crossland – Strategic Development Manager said: “It has been an eventful year for the Hinge Charity. After acquiring the premises next door to our original one on Field Road Bridlington, followed by their full refurbish, then launching “Havenfield Community Centre” earlier this year, we now have a direct facility that will support the residents and young people living on the Havenfield estate and this funding means that we can now deliver services from this building on a much larger scale”. “Our partnership working with SASH in York supporting homeless young people aged 16 to 24 and the recruitment of host family volunteers has already begun to reduce the impact of homelessness in the area and the issues faced by young people today”. “The money from Big Lottery “Reaching Communities” fund is the icing on the cake for us. This award is the highest amount of lottery funding that any voluntary sector group has ever received in Bridlington and it will now allow us to roll out more community based projects, sessions and support to residents and young people”. “It is fantastic news that we have secured funding for a further 4 years and that we will be able to deliver community based projects in both Bridlington and Goole, which are the two towns with the highest levels of deprivation within the East Riding of Yorkshire”. “We have undertaken a great deal of research and having consulted with both the communities of Bridlington and Goole, we know that this funding will allow us to support those most in need and have a considerable impact”. “Initial projects that will be delivered are to include an adult social group, art therapy, play activities for young people, community surgeries, community events, independent living skills and support with benefits, training, volunteering and employment to name just a few”. “We have waited over 2 years to reach this point and although we have been able to deliver some services, it has until now been only on a very small scale. This funding means that we can increase and further develop direct support services to promote community cohesion, support adults with any day to day problems they may have, engage the young people plus support them with play, education and learning opportunities. It means that the residents and young people will have a central hub in which to access support, with two dedicated workers in place that will help them in any way they can” “Without this funding we have now received from the Big Lottery we would not be able to support such a diverse range of individuals within both communities, in order to improve their day to day lives”. For more about THE HINGE please visit :

thehinge.org.uk


The BBC are covering this story at :

bbc.co.uk/news


See more details about this award on the Big Lottery Website :

news.biglotteryfund.org.uk