New Young Adults’ Services to be funded by The National Lottery
We are celebrating after being awarded £210,000 over the next 3 years in National Lottery funding to support our current Adult Friendship scheme and to launch new services for Young Adults, aged 19-25, with a disability in West Essex.
The National Lottery funding will start in September 2021, and Accuro are delighted to announce the launch of STRIDE, a 6-month life skills programme for Young Adults in Harlow and Uttlesford and a new social group for Young Adults, providing a wide range social and leisure opportunities for members in Harlow, Uttlesford and Epping.
STRIDE, standing for Skills, Togetherness, Relationships, Independence, Diversity, Equality is a 6-month programme that will support Young Adults with a disability in developing essential life skills. The first of the six month programmes will launch in Harlow on 25th September 2021 with Uttlesford sessions following. The programme will cover healthy living, personal care, household tasks, how to keep safe, social and communication skills and more.
The new social group for Young Adults has yet to be named, pending a naming competition taking place among our existing members. Members will come up with suggestions for a name and vote for their favourite. The group will take place in Harlow, Uttlesford and Epping and will run on two evenings per month in each location. The sessions will offer fun activities for young adults with a disability to socialise and make friends in a safe, supportive environment. Activities may include bowling, going out for meals, cinema trips and more and members will be involved in the planning of activities, giving them ownership over their club.
These new services aimed at supporting 19-25s with Disability will complement Accuro’s existing services for children and young people and our current Adult Friendship scheme, enabling Accuro to provide lifelong services for people with disability across West Essex.
The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest funder of community activity in the UK, will enable Accuro see these sessions expand to meet the demand identified for additional services for 19-25s with a disability in West Essex to support them on their journey into adulthood and greater independence.
Alison McKeown, Operations Manager at Accuro says: “We’re delighted to have support from The National Lottery and are thrilled to launch these services, that will meet the need for support for young adults in the area.”
Kerry Mattholie, Coordinator of Accuro’s current and future Adult services, says: “We are so excited to be launching these new services for young adults, both for our existing members and to welcome new members. Behind the scenes, lots of time and effort has been put in to putting together these new services and we are over the moon to have secured the funding to get them off the ground. We will be busy over the next few months finalising the plans ready to launch in September and absolutely cannot wait to welcome our members and have some fun!”
Helen Bushell, Senior Head of Regional Funding for London, South East & East at The National Lottery Community Fund told us, “We’re delighted to award this funding to Accuro, which will make a huge difference to the lives of young adults with disabilities living in West Essex through the provision of a life skills programme and social groups and activities.
Thanks to National Lottery players, projects such as this across the country are playing a vital role at the heart of their local communities and will continue to do so as we rebuild and reconnect with one another throughout this year.”
If you or someone you know are interested in finding out more about Accuro’s new services for Young Adults, please contact us on enquiries@accuro.org.uk
About The National Lottery Community Fund
We are the largest funder of community activity in the UK – we’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since June 2004, we have made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that have benefited millions of people. Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for the UK’s good causes, and £41 billion has been distributed to 565,000 good causes across the UK since 1994.
We are passionate about funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.
