The five-year grant will enable us to continue our work in New Parks, building on the success of MASH-UP.
For our Lottery application we did a wide-ranging consultation in the community, talking to young people, adult residents, community organisations and public sector services to find out what people wanted. The resulting programme, called Big Up New Parks, consists of several inter-linked strands of work:
The ‘Well Cool’ health awareness project for young people and parents;
The ‘Positive Vibes’ anti-bullying project for young people;
‘Creative Streets’ positive creative activities for children and young people on Friday and Saturday nights;
The ‘Connect’ strand which will bring young and old together through joint creative projects and street events;
Capacity building and training for residents to deliver their own creative activities;
A ‘Creative Mentors’ programme for NEET young people.
In addition there will be an annual celebration event to pull together all the strands of the programme and showcase what has been achieved.
We are working with a wide variety of partners in New Parks from the voluntary and community and public sectors to set the programme up, and hope to be starting activities in July.
For more information about Big Up New Parks please contact Chris Wigmore, chris@soft-touch.org.uk
