We are delighted to announce that Oarsome Chance has been awarded a £394k Reaching Communities grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to support the development of our Oarsome Community programme over the next three years.
The funding has been awarded at a crucial time for Oarsome Chance, as we seek to build on the experience and innovative delivery model we have developed supporting young people with Special Education Needs (SEN) in our Alternative Provision programme. The multi-year National Lottery Reaching Communities grant will help us extend our reach to more young people facing barriers to engagement through a programme of holiday and after school activities.
The new programme was developed in response to stakeholder consultation which helped identify these periods as times when many young people with SEN experience reduced support, particularly older teens, who are less likely to take part in out of school activities. The Oarsome Community programme will be tailored to their needs, and we will work closely with other local groups and organisations to support young people to access the programme.
Our CEO Paul Napthine said “This is an amazing opportunity for Oarsome Chance to make a difference in the lives of more local young people in our communities…. It’s thanks to the incredible hard work of our staff team that we are in a position to build on our successful Alternative Provision model and multiply the impact they are already achieving through their term time work.”
This exciting programme will help us deliver against our ‘Involvement’ strategic development area, identified in our three year Vision Strategy, towards our key development aim of “opening up increased after school and holiday club activities”. While also delivering against our strategic ‘Mission’ objectives of helping young people feel safe, belong, and achieve.
We’d like to extend huge thanks to the players of the National Lottery who make the work of the National Lottery Community Fund possible, and to the National Lottery Community Fund for their vote of confidence in Oarsome Chance to deliver this important work.
