Tag: Young Start funding

Young Scots to benefit from £2 million in Young Start funding

LOTTERY FUNDING FOR STEPPING STONES NORTH EDINBURGH

Twenty-six- Scottish groups are today (WEDNESDAY 25 JUNE) celebrating a total cash boost of £2,049,812 from the Young Start fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund.  

The projects, which are based all over the country, will see thousands of young people engaging in various activities, which will ultimately bring a brighter, healthier, and more connected future.  

SEVEN Edinburgh-based groups and organisations received funding in the latest round of awards announced this morning. They are:

International Jazz & Blues Festival Ltd £93,000

The group would like funding to pay for a three year long, city wide, inclusive, multicultural youth arts initiative for children and young people age eight-24 years called ‘RISE’.

Edinburgh Napier University Development Trust £80,000

This group will use funding to support delivery of their student ambassador programme. The project will employ care-experienced learners to work as ambassadors as they are uniquely positioned to advocate and lobby for change across our partnership and beyond.

Inspiring Scotland £78,181

The group will use the funding to enhance and deliver the young persons group InVoice that sits within the wider intandem mentoring programme for young people looked after at home and in a kinship care arrangement.

Jack Kane Centre Community Wing £94,360

The group will use the funding to work alongside young men age 11-21 years in the community to delivering a 16 week peer education programme which has been co-produced with the young people on the theme of positive masculinity.

Marine Conservation Society £80,223

The group will use the funding to deliver skills training to young people within a marine and coastal environment (see below).

Stepping Stones (North Edinburgh) £61,740

This group will use three years funding to continue their support for young parents living in the North West of Edinburgh.

Delivery will continue to be a mix of group work and one to one support.

The programme encourages young parents to build confidence and self-esteem, develop new skills, reduce isolation and increase opportunities for further learning and employment for young parents.

YMCA Edinburgh SCIO £98,217

This group will use the funding to support up to 40 young people each year in Leith, Edinburgh. Through the three-year project, young people aged between ten and 13 years of age, will be part of a youth forum to campaign and advocate for a better environment and better local services. The young people as activists will take an active role in community issues helping to shape local services and developments.

The Marine Conversation Society will use their funding of £80,223 to run a programme of outdoor activities for young people in Central Scotland.  

Katie Macfarlane, Youth Engagement Officer, Marine Conservation Society said: “Spending time in nature is proven to benefit young people’s development and physical and mental health.

“Equally, our blue planet needs young people’s passion and determination to protect it more than ever before. Funding given to the Marine Conservation Society’s youth engagement programme in Scotland will enable us to reach more young people across the Central Belt over the next three years.  

“We will run youth events, coastal residentials, internships, educational workshops, and experiential outdoor fun – empowering and upskilling the next generation of ocean optimists to be a powerful force for change.” 

Thanks to an award of £29,150, Lochview Rural Training will deliver a range of land-based learning, training and career opportunities to young people in Sutherland who will get hands on experience in a range of skills including peatland management, dry stone walling, fencing and conservation and biodiversity. 

Cara Cameron, CEO and founder of Lochview Rural Training said: “We are deeply grateful to be awarded support from Young Start.

“This funding is not just vital—it’s transformative. It allows us to deliver meaningful land-based training and employability programmes tailored for young people in our rural community.

“In a place like Sutherland, where opportunities can be scarce and challenges are real, this kind of support helps create pathways to brighter futures. It truly makes a lasting difference.”  

Based in Dundee, Giving Back will use their award of £32,870 to run a three-year employability programme for young people in Broughty Ferry. 

Havey Gay, 18 Peer Worker, Giving Back, said: “Giving Back employed me last year on their first pilot of the Youth Employability Programme for six months.

“I was given support from a Mental Health Nurse and worked in a cafe in the area. As a young person with ADHD and Autism I struggled to find work and this opportunity gave me the skills, time and financial support to build my confidence.  

“I have now been employed by Giving Back to support the young people this year as a Peer Worker. This programme is amazing and really helped me to get into employment, have my voice heard, develop my confidence and encourage me to engage with the community.” 

Announcing today’s funding, The National Lottery Community Fund, Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: “We’re thrilled to be able to continue funding such a broad range of vital projects for young people all over Scotland.  

“We are always keen to support projects that put Scotland’s young people at the heart of the development and running of services. If your group has an idea how you would make this happen, then we’d love to hear from you.”   

    Full list of awards attached:

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Find out more at:

https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/young-start    

Young Scots to benefit from £3.5 million in Young Start funding

A wide range of projects supporting young people across Scotland to develop their natural talents and make lasting connections within their local communities, are today sharing in £3,518,157 from Young Start.

Young Start funding, delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund, awards money from dormant bank accounts to projects that help young people reach their full potential.      

Young Start Table of Awards April 2025.pdf

Music youth charity Loud n Proud has been around for over twenty years, actively seeking out local young people, who might want to get involved in the music business.

Now, thanks to funding of £94,600 they will be able to run a community–based, performance event management training programme for young people from the Renfrewshire area.

Ethan Livingstone, 22 from Johnstone is one of the group’s oldest members and is more than happy to mentor young people who are new to the organisation. His day job, working in IT couldn’t be more different to his passion for playing the drums.

He said: “If you want to just learn new skills you can do that, but if you want it to be more social, it can be. I would say to anybody thinking about coming along, not to be nervous and just go for it. You’ll get the chance to learn new things and it’s fun.”

Tommy McGrory, Founder, Loud n Proud, explained: “Wherever possible we try to operate an open door policy because we understand that young people often have a lot going on in their lives, outside of the time they spend here and they can’t always commit to the same time every week or any kind of rigid structure.

“Thanks to the Young Start funding, our young people will not only learn practical skills but also skills related to the music business like putting on events. Even if they decide not to pursue this as a career, the skills they learn can be transferred to lots of different types of work.”

Another organisation working hard to engage with and support young people to develop their passion is Scottish Athletics.

An award of £60,310 means they can now employ a part-time Digital Content Creator and Marketing Officer to work closely with their Athletics Trust Scotland Young People’s Forum (ATS YPF).  The ATS YPF is a voluntary group led by Scottish Athletics to give young people a voice in sport.

Working closely with the Forum to create engaging digital content and resources and promote them on platforms like – Tik-Tok, the new role will help the group reach a wider audience and increase awareness of topics affecting young people in sport, including athlete health, inclusion and retention of young people in sport. 

Scottish Athletics CEO, Colin Hutchison, said: “We are delighted to have received funding from the Young Start Fund to support the work of our Young People’s Forum.

“This will have a significant impact on the lives of young people in our sport and allow us to reach a wider, younger audience which will help -our young people meet their full potential through physical activity and sport.”

Announcing the funding  Kate Still, The National Lottery Community Fund, Scotland Chair said: “We are delighted to announce our latest Young Start funding, which allows us to support organisations like Loud n Proud and Scottish Athletics who are providing a safe and welcoming environment where the door is always open for young people to go and learn new skills and hone their talents.

“Through our Young Start grants we want to continue to support more projects like these which work so hard to encourage and develop the potential of young Scots.”

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk  

Young Start Table of Awards April 2025.pdf

Young Start funding helps bright young minds across Scotland to thrive

LOTTERY SUCCESS FOR THREE CAPITAL INITIATIVES

Projects working to improve the confidence and wellbeing of young people across Scotland are today (WEDNESDAY 5th FEBRUARY) sharing in £1,271,922 of Young Start funding this Children’s Mental Health Week. 

The funding, which comes from dormant account cash and is delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund, is used to support thousands of children and young people annually all over Scotland, many of whom face mental health and wellbeing issues. 

Three Edinburgh projects receive funding in the latest round of grants:

Big Hearts Community Trust receives almost £85,000 to support the expansion of their Welcome Through Football initiative, using football to engage young refugees, migrants and asylum seekers aged 15-24 facing trauma, hardship and social
exclusion.

Across the city in Leith, Hibernian Community Foundation also score with £95,000 to support neurodivergent young people aged 16-25 to develop essential life skills by delivering a structured programme of activities and community participation. Over the next three years 240 young people are expected to take part and supported by 40 volunteers.

Making it a hat-trick for the capital is Castlebrae-based Edinburgh Development Group, who receive £100,000 to provide a three-year project, supporting neurodiverse and disabled young people, who are working towards employability.

Founded in 2005, Lochaber Hope supports young people facing crisis periods in their lives. In recent years the charity has concentrated its efforts on a number of peer support projects and activity groups which focus on the well-being and improvement of young people’s mental health and from this the Bright Minds Project was born.

Bright Minds is a local youth initiative, created for young people and guided by a youth advisory board. The project offers events and training opportunities, as well as campaigning for changes in mental health culture and advocating for better support systems for young people.         

An award of £54,220 means they can help more young people like 24-year-old Shaun Wallace from Lochaber.

Shaun previously worked with the charity as a project assistant but left to go to college and study to be a veterinary care assistant. When he was going through a difficult time, Lochaber Hope offered him seven free counselling sessions.

Shaun Wallace Lochaber Hope

Shaun explained: “I’ve always struggled with my mental health, all the way through high school I was dealing with anxiety, depression and bi-polar disorder.

“This would, at times lead to suicidal thoughts or thoughts of self- harm and did result in an incident where I had to be taken to hospital. Thankfully I decided to seek out support and this was the beginning of me getting better and going to counselling sessions provided by Lochaber Hope. I owe so much to Lochaber hope and don’t know where I would be today, if it wasn’t for them.

“I loved giving something back by helping at events and when the chance to get involved with the Bright Minds project came up, I was more than happy to. I might be the oldest in the group, but we all have big ambitions and I’m able to offer support and advice to the younger members of the group.

“We’re only small but we’re making a big impact. Ideally, I would love a lot more people to get involved and experience the huge changes in their lives that I have.”  

Alyson Smith, Founder Manager, Lochaber Hope said: “Young Start has been a very special fund for Lochaber Hope.

“We can see how young people are better managing their mental health by building resilience and confidence, and we look forward to the events and activities they have organised that will be taking place over the coming months.”

Another organisation nurturing young people’s talent and wellbeing is  Toonspeak Young People’s Theatre. 

The north Glasgow based charity receives £100,000 to run its PROGRESS: Empowering Young People for Creative Careers project which provides a range of entry points and routes for training and employment for young people to enter the creative industries.

Jennifer Toonspeak

Jennifer Belle Baird, 25, from Glasgow, is a published writer but would never have dreamed of speaking in public before she joined Toonspeak three years ago.

Jennifer said: “I had gone through school living with anxiety and was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder at 14. Being part of the project I was able to get feedback in a supportive way, without criticism. It was so good for my self-confidence and helped rid me of imposter syndrome.

“There’s no pressure to perform because it’s not all about performance, they value all areas of creativity here. Being a writer can be so isolating and now I actually enjoy performing too. I’m a member of the Toonspeak performance collective, the Young Company and have even written a play for The Merchant City Festival.

“I now view myself as a working artist and hope to work in a theatre. I often think how lucky the younger people here are to have Toonspeak at their age, Hopefully I can continue being part of the organisation and my work can uplift younger people.”

Chi Nguyen, Funding Officer, Toonspeak Young People’s Theatre said: “We’re incredibly grateful for the support from Young Start.

This funding allows us to create life-changing opportunities for young people to develop skills, confidence, and networks in the creative industries. Already, PROGRESS is helping them take big steps toward their future careers, and we’re excited to see the continued impact this will have.”  

The National Lottery Community Fund, Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: “We are so pleased to announce our latest Young Start funding, which helps enable organisations to directly support the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

“Shaun and Jennifer’s stories are two examples of the many young people who’ve benefitted from Young Start funded projects and we are always keen to support more ideas. If your group has a project that could improve the lives of young people in Scotland, then we’d love to hear from you.” 

“To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk “

See full list of projects: –  Young Start Table of Awards February 2025 (1).pdf

A bright new future for thousands of young Scots thanks to Young Start funding

Ten youth led projects share over £600,000 

Today (Wednesday 15th December), projects paving the way for young people in Scotland to gain new skills will be sharing in £600,000 of Young Start funding. 

The additional funding comes as a lifeline to many young Scots, whose services and opportunities for learning and gaining experience have been negatively affected by the pandemic. 

Edinburgh Young Carers Project has been awarded over £99,000. The project works with young carers aged 16-25 years who are no longer at school and who are providing unpaid caring support to someone.

Through the creation of a Transition Plan, created with the Young Adult Carer (YAC), the project will identify the carers strengths and look at things they need support with.

Association for Black Engineers (UK) Limited has been awarded £49,300 for its NextGen Coding Club, based in Aberdeen. 

The club focuses on levelling out the inequalities for opportunities for young people from a mixed ethnic background, specifically around opportunities within engineering career paths. 

Cyril Ishabiyi from the project said:  “The underrepresentation of minorities in engineering and technology is well documented.

“Studies from EngineeringUK show that despite the fact that 31.8% of UK domiciled undergraduate qualifiers are from BME backgrounds, only 7.8% of professionals are in the engineering sector.   

“The NextGen Coding Club is a youth-led initiative that exists to address this gap by creating an environment in which young people develop their interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and where they develop skills of coding, teamwork, creativity and leadership, skills that will equip them to be innovators of the future.   

“Now we will be able to reach out to more people from disadvantaged communities and provide them with the necessary equipment to consolidate their learning, and ensure they experience the fun and practicality of not only engineering, but technology as a whole.

“Furthermore, leadership courses will be given to the participants, to ensure their soft skills are also second to none.” 

 

Young people on the remote island of Tiree will benefit from £46,814 of funding for the Tiree Community Development Trust. With a population of only 800 people, this funding will benefit almost all the young people on the island in some way.   

The group will use the funding to support a broad range of wellbeing and volunteering opportunities, helping young people to flourish.  

Willie MacKinnon, Youth Activities Coordinator said: “Living in such a remote setting can be incredibly difficult for some young people.

“The funding means we can keep delivering the activities which really have become paramount to the children and young adults in our community to have a well-rounded experience of growing up. 

“Some of the young people who benefit from our services go on to become volunteers, passing on what they’ve learned to the younger kids, and in turn, gaining leadership experience. We’re so proud to see so many of the service users go on to study youth work or teaching on the mainland.  

“The pandemic has been hard for everyone, but being part of a very small island community, it’s been so easy to see how people can become isolated. The various activities we run – from football and hockey to a chess club and a sci-fi group – really have been a lifeline to many of the young people taking part.” 

Near Inverness, The Cantraybridge Café and Enterprise Shop receives £60,000 which will be used to re-open their onsite café, located within the grounds of the specialist further education college.  

Hazel Clark, CEO of Cantraybridge, said: “Our café was closed a few years ago and has been greatly missed by all at Cantraybridge and the locals who visited regularly.  

“The funding will enable us to re-open our café and provide that wonderful link between the young people who attend and the local community. We have many groups in our community who enjoy visiting Cantraybridge, the cycling club, Church groups and local schools to name a few.  

“Previously, we found that our young people gain so much more than just skills in cooking, baking and customer care. They grow in confidence and the difference in their self-esteem is quite remarkable.

“We have found that our young people take such a pride in their achievements and the joy they experience when a customer compliments them is priceless.”   

Announcing today’s awards, The National Lottery Community Fund’s Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: “Young people across the country have faced an enormously difficult period over the last 20 months. We’re thrilled to have been able to commit another £600,000 to projects across the country which are dedicated to improving the future of young Scots.    

“We are always keen to support projects which put Scotland’s young people at the heart of the development and running of services. If your group has an idea how you would make this happen, then we’d love to hear from you.”   

Groups wanting to know more about Young Start, and how it can support them should visit https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/youngstart or contact 0141 846 0447.