£2.5 million fund opened to youth groups

Justice Secretary urges community organisations to get involved

Youth projects throughout Scotland were today invited to apply for funding from a £2.5 million pot of cash created from the proceeds of crime.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill today announced that a fourth round of funding for youth projects from the CashBack for Communities scheme is now open.

The cash is the first portion of £6.5 million recovered earlier this year from a Russian money launderer with dealings in Scotland, which is now being invested directly back into local communities to provide free diversionary activities for young people.  Announcements on use of the remaining funds will be made in coming months

The scheme, to be administered by YouthLink Scotland, the national youth work agency, has been allocated £2.5 million to distribute over the next two years to local youth projects in the form of grants up to a maximum of £30,000.

Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill urged eligible groups to get their applications in as he visited the Recharge Project in East Lothian, an organisation that has benefited extensively from CashBack for Communities funding.  Recharge has used its funding to operate a drop-in session every Friday night over the past two years for young people aged between 13 and 18 years.

Across Scotland, 509 projects, including two at Recharge, have so far benefited from CashBack for Communities funding through YouthLink Scotland.

Mr MacAskill said:

“Earlier this year I was pleased to announce £6.5 million of dirty money had been seized from a Russian criminal and today we are seeing some of that money reinvested into worthy community causes.

“By supporting projects such as the Recharge project we are showing our young people that there is much more to life than offending or getting out of your heads on drink or drugs.

“CashBack for Communities delivers on our ambitions for young people but it also benefits the wider community, whether that’s getting kids off street corners, getting them involved in things like volunteering or offering them the chance to give something back to their communities. The benefits to the young people are clear - and the benefits are felt in the wider community.

“To date £19.5 million has been invested in a range of free activities for young people and every penny of that is money well spent."

Jim Sweeney, Chief Executive of YouthLink Scotland, said:

“YouthLink Scotland, as the National Agency for Youth Work, is delighted that the Scottish Government has agreed to enrich and increase the availability of youth work activities through Cashback for Communities. It will enable hundreds of groups and tens of thousands of young people across the country to benefit through more and better provision.”

Alan Bell, Project manager at Recharge, said:

“CashBack for Communities has been a fantastic resource for us. It enabled us to properly staff our Friday night drop-in sessions, which have been getting increasingly popular and led users to get more involved with other activities we do during the week.

“The young people that come here are the ones who benefit and it’s because of the CashBack funding that we have gone from strength to strength over the last two years.”

Background

1 The fourth phase of the YouthLink administered fund is now open and full details of how to apply can be found on the YouthLink website: www.youthlinkscotland.org  

2 The breakdown between local authorities is as follows:

Aberdeen City                         £81,329

Aberdeenshire                        £136,391

Angus                                     £56,256

Argyll & Bute                          £53,685

Clackmannanshire                  £24,305

Dumfries & Galloway            £85,465

Dundee City                           £66,670

East Ayrshire                         £62,590

East Dunbartonshire              £48,976

East Lothian                          £45,852

East Renfrewshire                £42,694

City of Edinburgh                  £177,962

Eilean Siar                             £18,210

Falkirk                                   £69,572

Fife                                         £176,448

Glasgow City                         £263,786

Highland                                 £124,636

Inverclyde                               £39,605

Midlothian                              £38,600

Moray                                     £47,352

North Ayrshire                        £70,540

North Lanarkshire                 £153,670

Orkney Islands                       £13,239

Perth & Kinross                     £74,222

Renfrewshire                         £77,380

Scottish Borders                   £59,576

Shetland Islands                    £15,800

South Ayrshire                       £52,689

South Lanarkshire                 £146,318

Stirling                                    £49,936

West Dunbartonshire            £44,180

West Lothian                         £82,065

SCOTLAND                          £2,500,000

Allocated based on the following formula: 80% percentage of 10-19 year olds; 10% on number of income support claimants (to capture deprivation); 10% on population living outwith settlements of 1000+ (to capture rurality).

3 The Scottish Government's CashBack for Communities scheme is funded from the proceeds of crime. The ill-gotten gains of serious organised criminals are taken from them and reinvested in our communities to make a real difference to the lives of young people throughout Scotland. To date £19.5 million has been invested in a range of free activities for young people.

4 Recharge in a registered charity working with young people aged 11 to 25 years old in Tranent and the surrounding villages in East Lothian. Recharge has received funding from CashBack for Communities in rounds 1 and 3.

The drop-in sessions have been very successful, with up to 50 young people attending every evening. Recharge is a partnership supported by a range of organisations who either deliver one-to-one or group work programmes directly or contribute to issue based sessions run by Recharge. Key partners include Skills Development Scotland, East Lothian Council, NHS Lothian, Ross High School and Lothian and Borders Police.

Other activities run by Recharge include Healthy Respect sexual health drop-ins, gender specific sessions with vulnerable young men and women, ‘JobSpot’ offering careers advice and support to job seekers and anti-social behaviour diversionary work.

Applications will be assessed by 32 assessment panels consisting of local authority representatives (Community Learning and Development and Community Safety in particular); the voluntary sector; and trained young people. Regional surgeries will be scheduled to allow applicants to improve their bids. The £30,000 limit is proposed on the basis of the average size of awards made in the three rounds of the previous phase. Panels will be free to make larger awards to flagship projects in their area.

Contact

Ross Clark: 0131 244 2656 / 07920 284163