Isolated and vulnerable parents across Aberdeen who are struggling to cope with their children’s behavioural problems will receive extra support thanks to a £143,378 award from the Big Lottery fund. The award to the St Machar Parent Support Group is one of 17 projects across Scotland today sharing in over £4.1 million from the Big Lottery Fund.

The group’s ‘Coping with Kids’ project will support 840 parents and over 1600 children over the next five years. It will focus on parents who have a problem with their child’s behaviour and will provide group and one-to-one support for those parents. It will also create support networks for isolated parents to make contact and share experiences with people facing similar problems. Parents will be encouraged to make better contact with their child’s school and with local support agencies. Home visits will be made to the most hard to reach parents.

Marylin White, Project Co-ordinator, St Machar Parent Support Project, said: “Thanks to this wonderful award from the Big Lottery Fund we will be able to provide a "Coping With Kids" programme throughout Aberdeen.  The money will help us to provide support for those families who are experiencing difficulties with the challenges of parenting through their child's behaviour. The project will provide one-to-one and group support to parents and carers, increasing their confidence and self-esteem.”

Announcing today’s funding totalling £4,154,963, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, Alison Magee, said: “We are delighted to be able to help the St Machar Parent Support Group to extend its services. The group has ten years of experience behind it and we are confident that, with this award, it will be able to build upon its successes while providing a lifeline for many more vulnerable families across Aberdeen.”

Today’s funding comes from BIG’s Investing in Communities portfolio* which has four investment areas. The St Machar Parent Support Project receives its award from the Big Lottery Fund’s Supporting 21st Century Life investment area.

Further information

Contact Landa Rolland at the Big Lottery Fund Scotland Press Office on 0141 242 1458 or 07789 033457
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone:  0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• 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.
• On 1 December 2006 the Big Lottery Fund was officially established by Parliament and at the same time assumed the residual responsibilities of the dissolved National Lottery Charities Board (Community Fund) the New Opportunities Fund, and the Millennium Commission. The Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £19.5 billion has now been raised and more than 250,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

SCOTLAND

The Big Lottery Fund has £257 million to invest in Scotland’s communities before 2009 as follows:

£231 million for the Fund’s Unified Investment Plan (Investing in Communities)*

£20 million for the Young People’s Fund

£24 million for Awards for All (until 2006)

The Fund’s future funding plans are detailed in the manifesto ‘Investing in Communities' available online.

*Investing in Communities is the Big Lottery Fund Scotland’s new funding portfolio which consists of four investment areas:

Growing Community Assets, to help communities obtain, improve, develop, manage, sustain and protect assets that will help them become stronger and more sustainable.

Life Transitions to support people at times of change in their lives – at different life stages and in different circumstances.

Supporting 21st Century Life to provide support to people and communities to deal with the pace of change, enjoy positive relationships, improve quality of life, and establish connections across 21st century society.

Dynamic and Inclusive Communities (DINC) to fund improvements to the capacity and infrastructure of national, intermediary or second tier organisations, to allow communities to engage in civic society and influence civic processes so that they can build strong and more inclusive local communities.