27 July 2006
GOOD NEWS FOR LOWER ORMEAU YOUNG PEOPLE
Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group's "Young Peoples' Project" has received Neighbourhood Renewal funding of £94,735 to boost skills and opportunities for local young people.
The funding from the Department of Social Development's (DSD) Belfast Regeneration Office will support three posts and assist the delivery of educational programmes, personal development programmes and schemes aimed at improving the social interface of young people within their community and with other communities.
Social Development Minister David Hanson said: "Young people are the key to the strong and confident communities of the future and it is important that we provide them with essential life skills and opportunities to ensure they can play their role in the future of their neighbourhoods.
"Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group have established a series of successful training schemes targeting young people, including youth leadership courses and accredited computer training courses. They have also developed a summer scheme programme and encouraged the young people of the Lower Ormeau area to work productively with young people from other areas. This award of over £94,000 will allow those services to continue and to be expanded.
"I would also like to congratulate the team who worked on the cross-community project with young people from the Bridge Community to develop a garden for the recent show at Balmoral, and received a BBC award for their creative design and hard work."
The Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group, has facilitated the establishment of a Youth Council, empowering local young people to identify the needs of the youth and recommending solutions to those needs. It has also delivered awareness projects focusing on issues such as drugs, sexual health and suicide awareness.
Gerard Rice, Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group said: "The young people involved in the Balmoral Garden Show had a fantastic time working together to create a fabulous recycled garden. Tractor tyres, old boots, disused plastic milk containers all went in to making a garden worthy of the prize. It does not end there over the summer months both groups of young people will be coming together to recreate their winning garden design in East and South Belfast."
This award has allowed the Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group to further enhance its work and support for the young people of the area. The project has a current registration of 119 young people aged 5-25 years. It provides young people with a safe place to go to meet friends and make new friends a place to plan and organize events; it provides opportunities for young to grow in confidence, experience diversity and to gain new life skills.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group has secured funding of £94,735 to support two full-time youth workers, one full-time childcare worker and the delivery of a variety of programmes aimed at young people.
- The Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group's "Young Peoples' Project" operates from the Shaftesbury Recreation Centre, 97 Balfour Avenue, Belfast, BT7 2EW.
- The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy 'People and Place' was published in June 2003 to close the gap between the quality of life for people in the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of society.
- The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy has four interlinking strategic objectives:
- Community Renewal - to develop confident communities that are able and committed to improving the quality of life in their areas.
- Economic Renewal - to develop economic activity in the most deprived neighbourhoods and connect them to the wider urban economy.
- Social Renewal - to improve social conditions for the people who live in the most deprived neighbourhoods through better co-ordinated public services and the creation of safer environments.
- Physical Renewal - to help create attractive, safe and sustainable environments in the most deprived neighbourhoods.
- For further information, contact the DSD Information Office on 028 9082 9496.
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