Ansvar Insurance is delighted to launch its search for three outstanding charities to support, offering a generous donation of £75,000 to each over the next three years.
They will be looking to support charities that focus on helping children and young people to make positive lifestyle choices. This could include promoting safety, sports and exercise, mental wellbeing, or healthy eating, and registered charities across Edinburgh are being invited to nominate.
From all the nominations received, three charities will be selected to benefit from funding, each receiving £25,000 per year for three years, starting in January 2025.
Charities interested in applying are asked to initially submit a short application explaining their work and how the funding would be utilised, whether that’s to support an ongoing project or one that is about to begin. Applications can be made directly via the Ansvar website – Programme of Giving 2024 – Ansvar.
Sarah Cox, Managing Director of Ansvar, the expert insurance provider for the charity, not-for-profit, care and faith sectors, commented:“As a specialist insurer for the charity sector, we witness the incredible work these organisations do every day. Our Programme of Giving is a way for us to give back and provide support, encompassing our Community Hub, which is free, bookable office space we offer to charities and not for profit organisations, our colleague volunteering and fundraising, and our three-year cycle of grant giving.
“Previously, we offered £45,000 over three years, but we understand that numerous challenges have made it harder for charities to meet the needs of the people they serve. As a result, we have increased our funding to £75,000 for each charity. We hope this will make a significant difference to their work and help them continue to support young people.”
Charities can nominate themselves via the Ansvar website from now until to Monday 4th November. The winning charities will be notified by Friday 13th December.
Ansvar is a member of the Benefact Group, a charity-owned specialist in financial services. As the UK’s third-largest corporate donor, the Benefact Group strengthens Ansvar’s dedication to supporting the wider charitable community.
Two Leith-based charities – Edinburgh Young Carers and The Junction – have secured a share of a £25,000 funding pot, thanks to Scotmid’s Community Connect initiative.
The funds were allocated following a vote by Scotmid Members.
Edinburgh Young Carers has been awarded £15,000. The charity is a voluntary organisation that provides respite and support to young people between the ages of five and 25 who care for somebody at home.
It aims to improve the lives and wellbeing of young carers by raising awareness of the challenges they face and by offering emotional and practical support.
The Junction, which has secured £5,000, works with young people aged 12-21 across Leith and the North East of Edinburgh, offering access to a wide range of health-related services, education and information by providing a safe and welcoming environment.
The charity encourages social and economic inclusion and promotes long term health and wellbeing.
Margaret Murphy, Chief Executive at Edinburgh Young Carers, said: “We are over the moon to have been awarded £15,000.
“Young carers in Edinburgh face many challenges and responsibilities looking after their loved ones and this funding will provide new opportunities that they otherwise would not have.
“We are committed to offering young carers valuable respite and a place to grow their confidence and skills away from their caring responsibilities.”
The final good cause group in the East of Scotland to have been awarded £5,000 funding is Fairway Fife, a peer mentoring charity addressing the social isolation faced by most young adults with Learning Disabilities or Autism.
Keen to support local good causes? Pop into your local Scotmid and pay £1 to become a member.
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.
CyrilIshabiyifrom 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.
WillieMacKinnon, 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 ofCantraybridge, 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.
Members of Britain’s only youth community rail partnership were given a taste of revolutionary greener travel as they rode a hydrogen-fuelled train to and from Glasgow at COP26.
Young people involved with the 6VT Community Rail Partnership, based in Edinburgh, joined Jools Townsend, chief executive of Community Rail Network, aboard HydroFLEX, created by rail leasing firm Porterbrook and the University of Birmingham.
As Britain’s first mainline-approved hydrogen-train, HydroFLEX has been on display during the climate summit as part of the UK government’s plans to decarbonise rail travel by 2050.
While on board, 6VT members enjoyed a demonstration as to how the hydrogen technology works and took part in discussions around the importance of developing sustainable travel to combat the climate emergency.
They also had the opportunity to experience a train-driving simulator at the Rail Delivery Group’s green and sustainable-themed stand at Glasgow Central Station.
Last month, the partnership, who are members of Community Rail Network and part of the growing community rail movement across Britain, marked the first-ever ‘Community Rail Week’ by taking a journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow. During their trip, members pledged to ‘Go Green by Train,’ writing letters to themselves containing personal changes they could make to become more environmentally friendly.
6VT member Daisy Fiennes said: “Going on the HydroFLEX train was a great experience.
“It’s incredible how like an ordinary train it is, yet so different. It’s amazing how people are working so hard to solve the climate crisis, and it’s so important that we do solve it, because there isn’t a planet B.”
Fiona Horne, operations manager at the 6VT Youth Café, where the community rail partnership is based, added: “6VT Youth CRP were delighted and privileged to be invited to experience a journey on the groundbreaking HydroFLEX train.
“Our young people got to hear and see first-hand how the train works. As passengers of the future, their hope is that this method of green travel will be part of the way forward.”
Transport has a huge role to play if the UK is to reach its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 100% of 1990 levels, or ‘net zero’, by 2050. It is now the largest emitting sector in the UK, making up 27% of domestic emissions in 2019.
Rail is already acknowledged as one of the greenest ways to travel, producing just 1% of transport emissions, and is getting greener all the time.
The £8million HydroFLEX project allows new hydrogen fuel systems to be installed on upcycled trains, providing a clean and renewable energy source. The train, which also welcomed Prince Charles and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during COP26, is a tri-mode that can also run on electricity and battery power, all sources identified as having a role to play in decarbonising rail traction.
Alongside her Community Rail Network role, Ms Townsend was at COP26 as the chair of the Sustainable Transport Alliance, a group that brings together the UK’s leading sustainable transport organisations.
The alliance’s ‘People make transport: communities enabling greener travel’ event highlighted the importance of drawing on community actions and voices, including those of young people, to place walking and cycling, public, community, and shared transport at the heart of climate ambitions.
She said: “It was fantastic to join members of 6VT aboard HydroFLEX, and to be able to talk to them about sustainable transport and the vital importance of green travel at a local and global level.
“COP26 has underlined how we must put people, communities, and justice at the forefront in tackling the climate crisis, and this very much applies to transport.
“Rail, combined with buses, walking, cycling, and shared mobility, provides a huge part of the solution: shifting as many journeys as we can onto these modes, and reducing private car use, can help us forge a more sustainable, healthy, inclusive future, which is particularly important for our younger generations.”
Pilton Youth & Children’s Project have unveiled their plans for a Summer Programme with a difference this year.
For the first time ever, PYCP activities won’t be happening at The Greenhouse in West Pilton – but will instead be taking place ONLINE ONLY because of ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
Like youth organisations all over the country PYCP have had to adapt to these unique circumstances but despite huge challenges they have managed to put together a programme that’s packed with fun activities despite being drastically different to those of recent years.
Activities commence week commencing 29 June. Full programme below:
Pilton Youth & Children’s Project has received an award of £75,285 from the National Lottery Community Fund.
PYCP is one of twelve Scottish projects – and the only one in Edinburgh – to receive a share of £800,000 in dormant bank account money.
The local youth group, based at The Greenhouse in West Pilton, will use the Young Start funding over three years to run their Creative Mentoring Programme to help young people aged 15-20 years move away from participating in anti-social behaviour and criminal activity.
PYCP’s Lesley Ross said: “We are delighted to receive this award.
“The project will recruit 10 young people each year for a 6 month programme (two intakes), which includes peer mentoring, education, training, weekly sessions, 3 day residential course and an emphasis on improved mental health and well-being.
“We are looking forward to building on the experience and knowledge we already have built up, over a number of years when engaging with this target group of young people. The programme is due to start in September 2020.”
An employability project giving disabled young Scots newfound confidence, skills and qualifications is also celebrating today.
Leonard Cheshire’s Can Do Dumfries project receive a two-year grant of £55,904. The funding will support young volunteers like 21-year-old Alastair, from Gretna, to learn new skills and achieve accredited qualifications that will boost their chances of future employment.
Alastair said: “I started coming along to the Can Do conservation project because I wanted to improve my knowledge of the outdoors, gain a certificate and better my CV. Before the project I was struggling to find work. I had difficulty socialising as I was feeling nervous and unsure all the time.
“Can Do helped me to feel more capable and boosted my confidence. It also helped build my knowledge and skills, particularly in sawing and working with wood. Now, I will get a new job or start more training.”
During the current lockdown period, Leonard Cheshire is delivering its Can Do Dumfries project through digital platforms to keep young people engaged and focused on developing their personal skills.
Welcoming today’s award,Stuart Robertson, Director for Leonard Cheshire in Scotland, said: “We are delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work this way.
“Now, thanks to this Young Start award, we will be able to continue empowering young people with additional support needs in Dumfries and Galloway to give back to the community.”
Young Start awards dormant bank and building society cash to youth-led projects across Scotland and is delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund.
Announcing the funding, National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Director, Neil Ritch, said: “Young Start aims to help children and young people across Scotland realise their potential while also building invaluable skills and confidence for the future.
“By placing young people at the heart of project design, delivery and evaluation, these projects will empower young people to achieve whatever they set their mind to.”
Groups wanting to know more about Young Start, and how it can support them during these unprecedented times, should visit:
BONFIRE WEEKEND 
