TACKLING social isolation and helping young disabled people in Bristol make friends with their non-disabled peers is the aim of a £50,000 Big Lottery Fund grant to Bristol based charity Young&Free.

The Lottery support comes from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme - dedicated to improving the lives of local people across England.

Young&Free, which was formed by disabled young adults and their parents, provides a befriending service and encourages its members to get out and about, taking part in group activities like going to the cinema, bowling, music and visiting local attractions.

Pat Lapins, Chair of Young&Free, said: “Young&Free was formed in response to the social isolation the young people were experiencing after leaving school and college, and the lack of any service to overcome this by the local authorities and other charities. The people who benefit from the project serve on the committee and are actively involved in the decision making of what is their project.

“The project is successfully providing a great variety of social opportunities for our members and the barriers of social exclusion are coming down. Volunteers from all walks of life and Bristol’s two universities buddy up with our members in a variety of social events from bowling to a shopping spree. The Big Lottery grant will enable us to reach out and significantly expand this unique service.”

Apart from friendship building the project also offers disabled young adults the opportunity to volunteer with the group, helping them to develop practical transferable skills to encourage members to seek further education or employment.

The Lottery thousands will allow the group to continue their services and employ a project co-ordinator to attract more people to the group, as well as encouraging new potential befrienders and increasing the number of social events.

Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the South West, said: “This is a fantastic project which is helping to change the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in Bristol. The social isolation felt by many young disabled people after they leave school makes them feel very lonely and can even lead to depression. This project tackles those issues head on and helps these young adults lead a normal, happy life on their terms and through their own ideas.”

For more information about Young&Free visit http://www.youngandfreecharity.org.uk/77.html

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102 030
Textphone:  0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• Under Reaching Communities, the Big Lottery Fund awards grants between £10,000 and £500,000 to projects that offer people better life chances, build stronger communities, develop improved rural and urban environments and improve health and well being
• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £20 billion has now been raised and more than 280,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.