SEVEN community summer projects for youngsters in Warrington are set to benefit from a share of more than £50,000 of seized criminal money from Dan Price, Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s SWAP Summer Support Fund.
Young people and families will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of activities including fitness and wellbeing sessions, forest school, cooking sessions, daytrips, dance and creative art sessions getting them out of the house and off their screens throughout the school summer holidays.
The projects that successfully applied for funding are:
• Homestart Warrington and Cheshire – running regular activities for families which include daytrips and play sessions encouraging families to make memories with their children.
• Momentum Collective – running strength and fitness sessions for young people, these sessions include young people from the LGBT+ and trans+ communities.
• North West Basketball Partnership CIC – delivering basketball sessions, encouraging young people not only to play, but look at coaching, officiating and volunteering.
• Purple Gecko Community CIC – running summer activities including sports, dance and musical theatre sessions.
• St Joseph’s Family Centre – running sports, forest school, arts and crafts, cookery sessions and workshops on healthy eating and dental hygiene.
• Striker Academy Foundation CIC – running sports and wellbeing camps for young people.
• Warrington Youth Zone – running a girl only summer camp with activities which include rock climbing, fitness, multi-sports, music and performance and one-to-one support with key workers.
The projects reflect the clear commitment Dan is setting as part of the Home Office’s ‘Safer Summer Streets’ initiative, which will be running throughout the summer months. The main focuses here in Cheshire include tackling anti-social behaviour, diversion, support and engagement. The projects that have applied for this funding help to fulfil those wider aims, as well as the localised ones set out by Dan in his Police and Crime Plan.
This is the first fund specifically aimed at summer activities here in Cheshire. The application process opened in June and saw 67 organisations from across the county apply for funding. 29 organisations received grants of up to £2,000.
Projects that were chosen demonstrated that they were:
• Supporting children and young people
• Promoting physical and mental well-being
• Reducing isolation and promote inclusion
Dan Price
Police and Crime Commissioner, Dan Price said: “The earlier we can help people stay on the right track, the better. That’s why this summer I launched my fund specifically for young people to give them something to do and somewhere to go over the long summer break.
“The number of applications we got shows how keen people are here in Cheshire to help young people and put on projects that appeal to all interests. This money has been invested in our future, putting the next generation on the right path away from criminal behaviour.”
The SWAP Summer Support Fund – Safety, Working Together, Action and Prevention – takes money that was earned or acquired in a negative way and swaps it for a positive community change. It provided grants of up to £2,000 to help organisations deliver projects over a period of six – eight weeks.
More information about the SWAP fund is available on the SWAP Fund page
