5 New Projects Awarded Funds by Sefton Council

Sefton Council has announced the latest projects to be approved as part of the Community Transition Fund.

The fund was established to assist community organisations in developing Sefton’s communities. In order to qualify for capital from the £1,000,000 pot, any schemes must be linked to the council’s priorities, in particular the support of Sefton’s most vulnerable residents.

The latest projects to be approved are:

Migrant Workers Sefton Community

Set up in 2010 with the aim of supporting migrant workers and their families in the Southport Area, Migrant Workers Sefton Community offers advice and guidance to help integration into the borough.

In July 2015, the charity became a ‘third party hate crime reporting centre’ and worked with Sefton Council, the Illegal Money Lending Team and multimedia company, Handstand Films, to produce an information video publicising the issue of loan sharks across Sefton.

Migrant Workers Sefton Community has been awarded £4,680 to help expand their Bus Pass for Over 60s and Pre-Esol Community Language projects.

Waterloo Community Centre

Waterloo Community Association has been running the community centre for 10 years and was recently gifted the hall by the Archdiocese of Liverpool. The building, which is Grade 2 listed, has been refurbished through funding and ongoing maintenance has been carried out by the trustees.

During recent routine maintenance a potentially dangerous fault was found which resulted in part of the building being closed off as a precaution.

The organisation has been awarded £9,620 from the Community Transition Fund to pay for urgent repair works to the building, which will allow the full reopening of the centre.

Sefton Veterans Project

The Sefton Veterans Project has been running for over 2 years and aims to improve the mental health and well being of veterans in Sefton. The project, funded by the CCG VCF Fund and managed by Expect LTD, has a trained psycho-therapeutic counselor who offers early intervention mentoring.

Through its work, Veterans in Sefton has found that many ex-service personnel are not ready to accept help for mental health issues. This often results in them hiding away from society and their families, and in many cases turning to addiction. Veterans that have been helped by the project believe it has saved them 4-6 weeks’ worth of therapy.

Veterans in Sefton has been awarded £13,767 split into two parts. The first £5,000 will be used to continue funding the psycho-therapeutic counselor on a session basis, for an interim period of three months.

The remaining £8,767 is earmarked as a contingency commitment to continue the project for a further four months beyond March 31, 2017. This will allow Veterans in Sefton to continue whilst seeking alternative funding. Should the project not need the remaining money it will be returned.

Heritage at Risk Officer

Sefton Council’s Heritage at Risk project enables the authority to prioritise heritage work, build community resilience and understanding as well as maximising opportunities for alternative sources of funding in the future.

Sefton Council has been awarded £35,000 from the Community Transition Fund to expand the project, including the Heritage Lottery bid to repair the town at Christ Church, Waterloo, support for projects outlined in the Southport Development Strategy and large scale heritage at risk council owned buildings, such as Victoria Baths and Southport Pier.

Summer Holiday Food Provision Project

As part of Sefton Council’s welfare reform agenda, a range of partners came together to discuss the potential of providing free meals to children in need across the school summer holidays.

Following the discussions, it was agreed that Sefton Children Centres could expand the paid for service they already provide across the holidays to include an additional number of targeted families who could not afford to pay for this support.

Cabinet has approved the use of £5,040 from the Community Transition Fund towards to the delivery of this project.

Cllr. Trish Hardy, Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing, said: “The Community Transition Fund is a fantastic way for community organisations to access much needed money to help kick start their work.

“Community organisations, volunteers and other groups are vital in creating resilient communities and it is important we do everything we can to help them.

“I am delighted that we have been able to support this latest group of projects and organisations.”

For more information visit sefton.gov.uk