Community projects set to celebrate as Minister announces £1.6 million boost

Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister, Lesley Griffiths, will today announce £1,602,014 for five community projects in Port Talbot, Swansea, Pembrokeshire and Caerphilly.

The Community Facilities Programme provides capital grant funding of up to £500,000 for community and voluntary organisations to help mitigate the impact of poverty, through creating and improving local facilities.

The Minister has awarded £154,852 to Bulldogs Boxing and Community Activities in Port Talbot to extend its current gym so it can be used by the wider community, including disabled users and amputees. The extension will also create smaller rooms, allowing the team to offer counselling for people suffering post traumatic stress and peer mentoring sessions, as part of a successful armed forces veterans support scheme.

Faith in Families is set to receive £500,000 to relocate the Penplas Family Centre in Swansea to larger premises. The family centre offers a range of services for children, such as school and holiday clubs, speech and language services, access to children’s mental health services and a library. Moving the centre to St Teilo’s Church is set to increase the number of children able to take part in the after-school club annually to 140, with 250 children able to benefit from holiday play schemes.

Bethel Chapel in Pembroke Dock has been awarded £48,705 to refurbish unused parts of the chapel to create a drop-in coffee shop, a meeting/training room, a Trussell Trust food bank and a debt counselling service. The Chapel already runs coffee mornings, a parent and toddler group and a low cost weekly lunch service for vulnerable people, such as the elderly, isolated or homeless.

The Minister has also approved funding for two churches in Caerphilly – the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Newbridge and St Dingat’s in New Tredegar. The Tabernacle will receive £498,460 to renovate its upper school room in order to extend its current community services. The funding will enable the church to hold more training and youth activities, establish a food bank in partnership with the Trussell Trust, and take part in the Night Shelter scheme where churches provide a place for homeless people to shelter in winter months.

The Parish of Bedwellty and New Tredegar will benefit from £400,000 to refurbish and extend St Dingat’s Church, which is the base for the Rhymney Valley Food-bank. The Church works closely with the local Communities First Cluster and hosts a variety of local services, including the Citizens Advice Bureau, and the Local Authority Housing Benefit and Social Services teams. The funding will enable the Church to accommodate even more community groups, develop a social enterprise selling crafts, floristry and food, and increase the number of people using the building by at least 140 a month.

The Minister will announce the funding during a visit to homeless charity Emmaus, one of the first projects to benefit from the £10 million Communities Facilities capital fund.

Emmaus received £500,000 to renovate Nant Lais, a former sheltered accommodation block in Bridgend.  Once open, the refurbished building will provide high quality accommodation for 23 homeless people.

The Minister will say:

“I am delighted to announce this funding which is set to transform local facilities. These projects truly are the heart of their communities, providing a huge range of services from counselling and after school clubs, to food banks and advice services. The money will enable the projects to expand their work further, throwing opening their doors to even more people in the local community.

“It has been great to see first-hand here at Emmaus the difference this capital funding is having. Once open, the wonderful new facility will have a life-changing impact on vulnerable people, providing much-needed accommodation, work and support.”