YORK GROUPS GET A SECOND FUNDING BOOST TO HELP WITH VOLUNTEERING (York Liberal Democrats)

York Liberal Democrats <info@yorklibdems.org.uk>

YORK GROUPS GET A SECOND FUNDING BOOST TO HELP WITH VOLUNTEERING

June 8, 2010 12:00 AM

The second round of the £1.4m volunteering project in York has been completed and ten groups have been awarded grants. Organisations such as the York City Knights Foundation, Heworth Rangers, York Playspace and others have received amounts varying from £5000 to £34,626, creating 1586 new volunteering opportunities for young people in York.

City of York Council was one of only 5 local authorities in the country to secure funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families for a volunteering programme for 14 to 16 year olds.

The project, which will run from January 2010 to March 2011, aims to expand the already large number of young people volunteering in the city by providing more volunteering opportunities for more than 4000 young people in a wide range of areas including sports, conservation and environmental programmes; local community improvement projects; theatre, music and museums activities.

A total of £213,856 has been handed out as part of the second round of funding, bringing the total allocated so far to £489,856. In April £276,000 was allocated in the first round, providing more than 3,300 volunteering opportunities for young people in the city.

The bids to the fund were examined by a multi-agency assessment team who recommended the 10 bidders for approval. The recommended bidders were accepted by Councillor Carol Runciman at the Children and Young People's Services Executive Member Decision Session today.

Councillor Runciman said she was pleased with the range of volunteering opportunities being made available by the scheme. She said, "I am delighted that this scheme is providing such a wide range of opportunities for local young people."

"The second round of the project has seen funding awarded to a diverse range of groups providing a range of activities including sports, theatre and peer mentoring."

Councillor Runciman urged groups to take advantage of the third and final round of bidding for funding from the project, which closes on 27th August.

She said, "There is still more than £200,000 available for local groups to bid for through this fund. I would urge them to take advantage of this opportunity to increase the volunteering opportunities they are able to offer and put a bid in for the final round of funding."