WEST Dunbartonshire Council have committed £100,000 worth of funding to support youth activities across the area.

They agreed to establish the Youth Success Fund using cost of living revenue reserves, as part of continuing efforts to support communities to during the cost of living crisis.

The purpose of the Youth Fund was to provide one-off funding of up to £10,000 that would give groups the opportunity to set up projects that will benefit young people up to the age of 18 or aged up to 25 if they are care-experienced or have additional support needs.

A total of fourteen applications were received between May 1 and May 31 this year and each all fourteen groups were successful with their funding bids.

The successful applications will provide a broad range of activities such outdoor learning, football festival and fun workshops that will address social isolation and build the confidence of our young people.

Commenting on the initiative chair of the Cost of Living Fund and deputy leader of the council, councillor Michelle McGinty said: “For me this is genuinely one of the most rewarding roles that we have as Councillors. To be able to direct policy and funding to ensure that it can make a real difference in our communities.

"Our young people have been most affected by the impact of the pandemic and its hoped that the funds can support projects that would not only reduce some of the social isolation, that they are still facing but would help them build their confidence and resilience for their futures.

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“I wanted the criteria to be flexible so that we could help as many youth groups as possible, so I was delighted to see that we received such a wide range of applications from youth and community groups across the whole council area.

“I’m really  pleased that all fourteen applications were successful and that we managed to commit the full one hundred thousand pounds we earmarked for our new Youth Success Fund."

Vice chair councillor Clare Steel said: “It’s great that our new fund has been able to help all of the youth groups that applied for funding.

"I know it will make a huge difference to our young people and I am excited to see the how children will be able to take part in all of the fun activities the groups have planned.

“I want to thank all the volunteers who not only submitted the applications but willingly give up their time to help to make the activities a success.

"We cannot understate the real difference the community volunteers can  make in our young people’s lives."