Scottish projects tackling child poverty to share £450,000 funding

By The Press Association14th March 2019News ScotlandBusiness / Funding / Finance, Child Poverty, Childrens Services, Government / Politics, News Scotland

Funding for projects aimed at tackling child poverty has been announced by the Scottish Government.

The seven organisations which support families in financial difficulty across Scotland will receive a share of the £450,000 grant as the Government attempts to reduce child poverty by 2030.

The projects to benefit include a Sure Start centre in Midlothian, job training, a befriending service, a school-based mentoring programme and support for lone parents.

The funding is provided by the Scottish Government and The Hunter Foundation and allocated each year of the Every Child, Every Chance scheme.

One of the projects to benefit from a £99,900 share of the funding is Stepwell in Inverclyde, which provides support to people in the local community with health and finance issues as well as training and employment opportunities.

As she met Stepwell service users in Greenock, Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell (pictured) said: “We are committed to tackling child poverty and are always looking for new ways to support households and families in financial hardship.

“No child or adult should have their chances limited by poverty.

“It has been great to hear about the approach being taken by Stepwell to tackle child poverty in Inverclyde.

“Their method aims to get to the root cause of any hardship and through encouragement, support and training, families can begin to change their lives.”

Stepwell chief executive Steven Watson said: “Stepwell is absolutely committed to tackling child poverty in Inverclyde.

“Through our ‘whole life’ approach, we focus on providing person-centred support, offering vocational and accredited training and ‘real’ business work placements within our social businesses.

“We are so grateful to The Hunter Foundation and Scottish Government for partnering with us.”