Great Yarmouth receives National Lottery funding boost to strengthen communities and improve lives

The funding from the Big Lottery Fund, the largest funder of community activity across the UK, will enable the Neighbourhoods that Works project to expand upon a successful long-term joined-up way of working with communities. This has been developed and pioneered in Great Yarmouth and works with residents to build stronger neighbourhoods, focussing on developing people, communities, their own strengths, the connections between them, and the things that matter most to them.

Led by the borough council, the Neighbourhoods that Work Project aims to help communities to develop their ideas for improving lives, help existing services to work better together to support vulnerable people, and help people into training, volunteering and work.

The project, which launched in October 2015, is set to run for a further two years and the funding will enable the project to continue its work. In addition to this, the grant from the Big Lottery Fund has enabled the project's multi-disciplinary workers to continue providing first step support over the next two years to help even more people overcome challenges with budgeting, money and debt. 

Since 2015, the project has delivered some key achievements, such as:

·         670 people improved their skills after participating in bespoke training activities, with 105 people in sustainable                       employment

·         1,260 people have been helped to make new friendships

·         120 groups of residents have been supported to work together

·         358 people reporting improved well-being due to getting support to deal with complex life challenges

The Neighbourhoods that Work Project was a highly commended finalist in the Community Involvement Category of the 2018 LGC Awards, and a finalist in the Excellence in Community Engagement Category of the 2017 MJ Local Government Achievement Awards.

Cllr Andy Grant, chairman of the housing and neighbourhoods committee, said: "The release of this funding is a credit to the hard work, over many years, of council staff and the voluntary sector partners who help to deliver Neighbourhoods that Work, as well as those residents who are committed to getting involved in their own communities.

"We would like to thank the Big Lottery Fund for this important investment in our pioneering approach to supporting communities. The statistics and other feedback shows that it is really improving people's life chances, and one of our biggest successes has been the way we've influenced other organisations to deliver services in a better way that's aligned with our approach."

Sacha Rose-Smith, Senior Head of Regional Funding at the Big Lottery Fund, said:

"We are proud to be supporting a project that puts communities at the heart of what they do and the impact of this has clearly been demonstrated in the work that has already been achieved. Thanks to National Lottery players, the Neighbourhoods that Work Project will support a number of local people to improve their own lives as well as others."