Community Fund projects 2023/24

IT and Internet Safety

Ripon Community Link – £2,224.14 awarded –  Harrogate

Ripon Community Link supports 55 adults and young people with mild and moderate learning difficulties. Members are offered supported day care activities to develop skills and grow in confidence, overcome barriers to disability. Funding will purchase 3 additional laptops and support the implementation of an internet safety course for members with learning disabilities, tailored to their unique needs and levels of understanding to keep them safe. The course will be a 6-8 week course and include bullying, grooming, spending money online, social networks and safety. Project aims to educate on the dangers and opportunities and to break down barriers to disability. Funding will enable the project to run the course for a course leader and 6 individual members.

7th House set up costs

Lifeline Harrogate –  £6,140.00 awarded – Harrogate

Funding will support the initial set up costs of an additional supported accommodation venue in Harrogate, enabling the house to be furnished and compliant, including fire alarms, fire doors etc. The new house will add value by reducing the waiting list of vulnerable people currently sofa surfing, or on the street and therefore take more people away from the risk of crime and anti-social behaviour. Lifeline is the only organisation in Harrogate and its surrounding areas that provides this sort of supported accommodation to people who are vulnerable, homeless or have been in prison.

Safe Space Diversionary Sessions

YMCA Scarborough – £19,998.00 awarded – Scarborough

Funding will enable delivery of 2 x 2 hour sessions/week of centre-based youth work provision. Sessions will be delivered by suitably skilled and experienced professional youth workers. The project is about creating a safe space for young people who feel unsafe or need some breathing space, as well as sessions for young people who are at risk of involvement in anti-social behaviour. To meet both these criteria, sessions will be run at times that other provisions are not available, determined through liaising with network of youth work providers in the town. Young people participating in Scarborough Youth Council meetings, and ongoing feedback from the young people in contact with YMCA have specifically requested to fill the gaps when other provision is not available, so that there is a ‘safe space’ for them to be. YMCA Scarborough will ensure links with the Community Impact Team, North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Council, OPFCC Commissioned Providers and other local partners, to support a targeted approach to identifying young people to engage and participate in the project.

Spirit of Christmas – Family Christmas Parties

Spirit of Christmas – £1,152.00 awarded – Selby and York

Funding will support the Family Christmas Party project in Acomb and Selby, linked with Youth Justice Services. A different group of young people get involved in the preparations for and running of three Christmas parties in their locality. Funding will support family Christmas parties catering for 320 children plus adults. The project will allow families to attend a 2-hour party where they can meet, chat, network and allow children to have fun in a safe environment and not have to worry about costs. Families come from known areas of deprivation in York and Selby. Project will work with social services to identify families to attend the event in Acomb.

Building a better Hut – Phase 3

The Hut – £10,800.00 awarded – York

Funding will support specific aspects of Phase 3 of The Hut’s wider project building refurbishment. This final phase will complete capital works and bring the site up to spec. The grant will support the cost of replacing the exterior doors in the main building – installing 2 x power assisted doors (boosting accessibility to ensure members are able to access the building independently) and 1 x access controlled door (ensuring security of the site for members and especially for any staff working late and/or lone working). In 2015, The Hut had 55 registered members; this has now grown to over 100.

Our Park – Hull Road Park a Space for Girls’ project

The Conservation Volunteers – £8,200.00 awarded – York

Funding will support engagement opportunity for young people, focusing on girls, enabling them to connect with their local green space, have a sense of belonging and promote wellbeing and self-esteem. Local youthwork has identified a desire for a small girls’ group, where they can meet with peers and trusted adults to learn new skills in a calm environment, with the opportunity to share concerns, ask questions or find information on issues themselves or their friends may be facing. The grant will fund the development of the weekly group, for 10-20 targeted young people and positive activities, using the Choose2Youth Community café in the park as a base and to provide a meal for participants.

City-wide Public Access Trauma Kits (PAcT) for a safer and more secure city centre.

Make it York – £2,800.00 awarded – York

Funding will purchase up to 20 x Public Access Trauma (PAcT) kits to be distributed across the city in a range of businesses and venues (retail, hospitality and offices), which will increase the city’s resilience for any untoward attack, together with a promotional awareness campaign via participating businesses, North Yorkshire Police, City of York Council, York BID and Make It York. In the event of a major incident, the city will be prepared to treat victims with emergency first aid care. The wide network and campaign aims to help to deter potential offenders carrying out surveillance in the city. Once the kits are in place, they will provide an ongoing reassurance. Training through City of Yor Council will support the roll out of the kits.

Project Harm Reduction

North Yorkshire Police & NYC Public Health – ££16,665.00 awarded – Countywide

Funding will enable 12-month drug analysis project across North Yorkshire, using the services of Mandrake Laboratory in Manchester. Mandrake is England’s first publicly funded permanent city-centre based testing and harm reduction facility, supporting open science and agencies working towards safeguarding the health and wellbeing of the public.

The partnership is working on a number of intelligence sharing projects to safeguard communities through drug awareness & harm-reduction.

The project will send 60 samples per annum, 5 per month decided by a multi-agency panel that will be analysed by Mandrake. Each test will identify substance, purity and contaminates.

This project will support & work with other harm reduction initiatives like Not My Child Campaign, Drink Drug Hub & Change Direction to educate people in North Yorkshire around the risks from illicit drugs, also allowing tailored training around those substances identified.

North Yorkshire’s partnership approach to recognising and responding to Harmful Sexual Behaviours in Children

North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership – £7,500.00 awarded – Countywide

Funding will enable the NSPCC to support North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership’s approach to recognising and responding to Harmful Sexual Behaviours (HSB) in Children. This will include a thorough root and branch audit of the current HSB position, identifying strengths and weaknesses and providing a clear and robust multi-agency plan that builds confidence in identifying and working with HSB incidents and creates a shared use of language.

This NSPCC multi-agency audit and subsequent support in the form of action plans, facilitation of launch events and framework implementation will ensure a consistent approach.

The NSPCC will provide action planning support, framework implementation sessions to focus in on agreed areas and explore with the strategic group the best way to implement plans.

Partners will be able to access ongoing support and consultation from an Implementation Manager throughout the audit process.

Once the project has been completed there is ongoing access to annual practice events for areas who have completed the audit, to share best practice, findings and get support from each other.

Fun bikes trailer

Resurrection Bikes – £1,500.00 awarded – Harrogate

Funding will enable the purchase of a large box trailer to support ‘fun bikes’ events.

Sessions will encourage people to ride around a circuit for fun and rediscover the joy of cycling as well as building confidence in cycling generally.

The trailer is needed to avoid the need for rented vans to deliver the bikes to events which would add significantly to costs, potentially making the events hard to afford for some users.

The project will link with local partners to ensure a targeted approach to delivery, including bike safety.

Free Play Football in association with Premier League Kicks

Harrogate Town AFC Community Foundation – £10,605.00 awarded – Harrogate

Funding will support delivery of diversionary football project, to engage young people between the ages of 11-17 years, as a form of early intervention and to enrich young people’s lives through targeted activities and workshops focused on supporting their personal, social and educational development, in a safe and trusting environment.

Established model of informal open access play sessions provide young people with an opportunity to participate in constructive activities in the evening and school holidays, with free football activities at three venues across Harrogate.

Project will work in partnership with the Council, Police, Youth Justice & Community Safety Hub partners, to create a joint referral pathway and support other interventions, with a focus on engagement, participation and prevention.

Community Games Court

Hipswell Parish Council – £2,000.00 awarded – Richmondshire

Funding will revitalise and bring back a disused public tennis court into use on Hipswell (Catterick Garrison) Playing Field.

This is phase 2 of an ongoing programme to create and improve community spaces for young people in the parish. Renovation of the tennis court area will provide an enclosed area for not only tennis but ball games and provide something similar to a multi- use games area (MUGA) for young people as well as serving the wider community.

Project will link locally with the Community Safety Hub and police team to ensure a targeted approach to engagement.

Mindspace

Scarborough Whitby and Ryedale Mind (SWRM) – £20,000.00 awarded – Scarborough and Ryedale

Following a successful pilot, funding will support new 12-month project for 60 young people(YP), 11-16 with SEMH needs (social, emotional, mental health), entirely coproduced by over 300 young people.

MindSpace has 3 elements; monthly ‘dry pub’ in 3 neutral areas, programme of external activities designed to boost connectivity, self-esteem, confidence, and for YP with more complex needs, 1-2-1 support with an outreach worker.

Referrals will be open to self/family, partner agencies including schools and VCSE, many of whom have been involved in design. Activities run after school, weekends, holidays to complement existing SEMH provision which is almost entirely during school hours.

MindSpace will be overseen by a steering group including partners such as Carers+,Youth Council, SEND practitioner and YP with lived experience.

MindSpace will be delivered over 1 year with an outreach worker, sessional workers alongside YP mentors trained in Youth First Aid for Mental Health.

Pathways Project

Kyra Women’s Project – £10,010.40 awarded – York

Funding will support 12-months Pathways Project, to enable Kyra members to follow a more structured pathway through the activities on offer, providing markers to celebrate their achievements and end points.

Project will establish a woman’s need on entry and guide her to courses to meet that need. Pathways shall:

• Develop the range of pathways based on members’ issues.
• Expand the enrolment process to include identifying suitable pathways for each new member.
• Reinstate and deliver the ‘core’ courses addressing issues of self-esteem and assertiveness (skills deficits that put women in the way of harm, abuse, victimhood), and build these courses into pathways.
• Train a new cohort of facilitators and volunteers to run the core courses and develop materials for the courses in a permanent form (project legacy).
• Introduce a system of member journals, course certificates, and celebratory events to mark members’ completion of their pathway.

Wild Ones

Friends of Rowntree Park – £10,528.00 awarded – York

Funding will support outdoor group for girls aged 10+ from March to October, to provide a safe space for girls to learn new skills, make friends and spend time outdoors in response to feedback from older girls that they don’t feel safe in the park or feel it is a male dominated space.

Project will deliver 63 sessions over three years of funding. Sessions will run in weekly 6-week blocks with up to 16 girls attending each week, led by two qualified forest school practitioners, both experienced in working with older children.

The girls shape each session, directing their own activities with the help of the two facilitators. Activities will include nature exploration, tool work, crafts and fire work.

Project will link locally to ensure a targeted approach and alignment to the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) approach.

The group will run in term time from Easter to October when the evenings are lighter. This is typically the time of year when anti-social behaviour in the park is at its highest.