CashBack for Communities Youth Work Fund Annual Report 2020 / 21
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Church House Bridgeton ( Glasgow )
Church House Bridgeton originally applied to run a Friday night drop-in diversionary provision . They delayed the start of the projects and then adapted the activity programme so that the majority of it could be delivered outdoors ( with social distancing in place ) as lockdown restrictions eased and tightened again , they adapted to deliver indoors or outdoors accordingly .
Support from YouthLink Scotland :
For CashBack recipients and the wider sector YouthLink Scotland has provided ongoing updates to clarify what can safely be delivered outdoors and how to adapt to the opportunities and challenges presented by working outdoors . This has also benefitted and supported the flexible delivery of CashBack funded projects .
Community Response
Many youth work organisations were directly involved in local crisis response efforts and refocused to support their communities . Some of the funded projects were able to maintain their contact and relationship with young people by supporting them to become involved in this work .
The Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre ( Edinburgh )
This new centre situated in Moredun , in the City of Edinburgh was established with the purpose of providing social , recreational and educational opportunities for the local community . Moredon is in quintile one ( decile two ) of the most deprived data zones in Scotland ( ranked 768 ).
They relocated to the local church and throughout the year they engaged 67 young people as volunteers , operating at the forefront of a neighbourhood food delivery services . As a result , the young people accumulated 5,000 hours of volunteering ( 75 per person ) delivering 39,520 lunches , 13,600 hot meals , 14,900 bags of food and supporting 300 families .
As this
video illustrates , the centre has been positively transformed throughout this year , building stronger personal and working connections throughout the community . It will therefore be interesting to see how this project evolves in years two and three and how much of a legacy this year has created .
The centre received a CashBack award of £ 5,000 to run the “ Breaking Down Barriers ” project which would engage young people in a range of team building activities with the aim of tackling territorialism , sectarianism , racism , and gender stereotypes . However , when the pandemic hit the centre was forced to close . The centre team knew that people in the area might struggle with meeting basic needs and brought together partners , young people and adults from across the community to provide a range of support services .