Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Disability charity welcomes Big Lottery grant

by Ethos public relations

National disability charity Action For Kids has said it is 'thrilled' at being awarded £476K from the Big Lottery Fund.

The grant is part of a multi-million pound fund for 41 youth projects across London to help run local activities and services that improve the lives of young people.

Maureen Galvin, business development director at Action For Kids said: "We are absolutely thrilled to receive this funding from the Big Lottery to support our work in enabling young people with learning disabilities to live more independently.

"The money will be used to develop the participation element of our work; creating opportunities for young people who come to Action for Kids to make decisions about the services we provide to them. This could range from saying where they would like to go on a group outing to contributing to business planning and reviewing the work of the charity.

"Learning how to make decisions is particularly important for young people with learning disabilities because it enables them to feel more confident and independent. Many have complex support needs and some have had little or no experience of being able to choose, so we will be providing them with as much practical experience as possible in making decisions so that they can carry the skills into their everyday lives.

"We intend to produce a web-based tool kit on participation for other organisations working with young people to use in a similar way."

Some of the £476K grant will also go towards funding a range of multi-media technology for young people with learning difficulties to assist communication, memory and social interaction.

A total of more than £52 million from the Big Lottery Fund is going to 185 places across England, with just over £12 million in London alone.

Posted at 26^th August 2009