ANOTHER round of grants hasbeen awarded to community schemes as part of the £15,000 Stronger Together campaign supported by the Barnsley Chronicle.
Grants of up to £1,000 are available through the scheme, which is a partnership between the Barnsley Chronicle and the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, who is funding the scheme.
A primary school has been awarded £800, which will be used to educate children on the impact of graffiti in their local environment. The school is also providing materials for students to showcase their art skills in a responsible manner with the help of a professional artist.
A spokesperson for Oakwell Rise Primary Academy said: “Having the graffiti programme in our holiday club means that we can curb antisocial behaviour and re-educate children and communities that graffiti is beautiful if it is done in a responsible way.
“This opportunity means we can deliver more to our students and means that we can help mould pupils into responsible and contributing members of society.”
Another grant of £1,000 has been awarded to 5ives Community Sports Club in Kendray.
The club will use the funding to improve the facilities and provide free-of-charge football taster sessions for youngsters.
Ross Logan, project manager said: “The need to improve the facility was advised by a report from South Yorkshire Police identifying areas of improvement that would have a positive impact on the local community.
“We have already refurbished the inside of the pavilion and were involved in the local Great British clean which recruited volunteers to tidy the local area of rubbish.”
Bobby Hassell from Barnsley FC is an ambassador for the Stronger Together scheme and sits on the panel which allocates the funding.
He said: “It was great to meet the grant recipients. Both are worthy of the funding to help steer kids away from getting involved in things that may regret later in life. I’m looking forward to seeing how the school children get on with their graffiti artwork and visiting 5ives when they get the project underway.”
Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner said: “It is good to see that the funding from the Stronger Together Scheme is being directed to young people in Barnsley to help make a difference.
“The latest round of successful applications show how this grant scheme is helping to educate young people before they get involved in criminality and divert them away from boredom and anti-social behaviour by engaging them in activities.”
Another grant approved this month is £1,000 for Nova City, on Peel Parade in the town centre, to provide parkour and freerunning workshops which will help educate young people about the dangers of taking unnecessary risks, like train surfing, and climbing on roofs and bridges.
Another £990 was awarded to Qdos Creates to support school leavers with learning disabilities from Greenacre School to become independent, and just under £900 to Fareshare Yorkshire to provide ten unemployed people the chance to volunteer for 50 hours to train in forklift truck driving and develop life and employability skills.
The grants are open to projects which help combat social isolation, tackle crime, keep young people off the streets or provide support to vulnerable members of the community.
The idea is to protect or divert vulnerable people away from crime and antisocial behaviour.
Funding is still available, and the application form can be found at barnsleychronicle.com/strongertogether
