Archive Main Grant Programme Case Studies
Smarter Scotland
Cumbernauld & Kilsyth Unemployed Workers Centre, Income Maximisation (North Lanarkshire)
This personal service is very much needed in an area of high levels of deprivation to people who suffer from financial exclusion in North Lanarkshire. In the year prior to applying to The Coalfields Regeneration Trust for funding they had 2,660 clients who were assisted in accessing £541,637 in social benefits. Assistance with employment law representation achieved a further £63,000. This fits with North Lanarkshire’s Regeneration Objective of Reducing the vulnerability of low-income families to financial exclusion and multiple debts with the Outcome of Improving resident’s financial awareness.
Getting People Back Into Work
Trans Fife, Travel To Work (Fife)
The majority of Coalfield Communities are extremely isolated and face major transport issues particularly in relation to travel. Bus services do not operate at appropriate times to help people travel to work. The majority of people living in these areas are in low paid work or are engaging in work or training for the first time, thus they are on low incomes and unable to afford the luxury of their own transport. The Coalfields Regeneration Trust through an award of £97,240 are supporting Trans Fife Community Transport to deliver a ‘Travel To Work’ project providing accessible transport to the 3 main ‘job spots’ in Fife - Glenrothes, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy for people living in isolated coalfield communities. This increases chances of employment to people living in the targeted coalfield communities.
CRT prioritised this project by linking it to Fife Regeneration Outcome objectives, including ‘improving access and overcoming barriers to employment’ and ‘strengthening the economic and social base of the regeneration areas and improve their sustainability as communities’.
New Approaches - to Employment (Clackmannanshire)
New Approaches is Clackmannanshire Employment Intermediary Project, working with unemployed individuals and local employers to maximise opportunities in employment and training. New Approaches offer integrated support packages to meet individual needs including one to one guidance and support, job sourcing and matching, access and source training, support costs for starting work and help in the initial stages of employment. New Approaches secured funding including European Regional Development Fund, and European Social Fund, Coalfields Regeneration Trust funding was the final piece in the jigsaw, in order to progress clients towards employment.
As an example in June 07, this grant allowed a client to undertake Health and Safety Training (Client Contractor National Safety Group), which enabled him to apply for a position as Industrial Cleaner. Through European Regional Development funding, New Approaches supplied the client with clothes for interview, and offered interview advice. This client was successful in gaining employment, and the grant was again used to help provide protective clothing he required for the position.
Since January 07, The CRT grant has supported 101 New Approaches clients to source and enter employment, and has funded 50 individuals to undertake training courses.
North Lanarkshire Carers Together, Outreach Project (North Lanarkshire)
North Lanarkshire Carers Together enhances the quality of life for carers by the promotion and representation of the issues and views of carers, thus ensuring that they have a voice to enable them to influence and contribute to policy development and service provision at a local and national level. Support for this project has allowed The Coalfields Regeneration Trust to link with North Lanarkshire’s Regeneration Objective of “Improving Health” and the subsequent outcome of “Supporting more people at home as an alternative to residential and nursing care”
Raising Educational Attainment
Skill Force Development (North & South Lanarkshire)
A £100,000 Coalfields Regeneration Trust grant helped Skill Force Development to expand their programme into the Blantyre area. Skill Force Development is a unique initiative successfully utilising the skills of mainly ex-Armed Forces personnel as independent instructors to deliver an alternative curriculum to pupils within the school environment.
Skill Force works in local schools and provides an alternative for young people between 14 and 16 with behavioural and other social problems. It helps them improve their attendance at school and reduces levels of exclusion with an aim to re motivate these young people towards their school courses and increase their chances of employment.
While much of the programme is conducted within school, Skill Force is an additional complementary provision over and above statutory provision. However it closely supports wider school aims and has a significant knock on effect in terms of raising wider attainment and attendance levels among its students.
This project clearly links with the National Priority of Raising Educational Attainment with the subsequent outcome of increasing the percentage of school leavers in employment, training or education; however, it has the dual benefit of also contributing to the Engaging Young People National Priority
Café Society (Clackmannanshire)
Coalsnaughton and Devonside Regeneration Group aims to improve education standards, employment prospects and job skills in the community. They established Café Society, an internet café, in June 06 with a grant from Clackmannanshire’s Community Regeneration Fund.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust have supported this initiative with a grant which enables the organisation to employ an IT Development worker who will help people using the facilties on a one to one basis and also to support the Regeneration Group take forward their ideas and develop the Internet café and other local services in the community.
The IT facilities improve access to services that will enable people living in Coalsnaughton and Devonside by increasing job opportunities and helping their younger customers use the facilties to support their studies and enhance their education. This is an extremely isolated community with no other facility available for community use.
Engaging Young People
Mayfield and Easthouses Youth 2000 Project (YK2) (Midlothian)
Y2K provides drop in facilities to enable the young people of Mayfield and Easthouses (Midlothian) to take part in social and recreational activities in a safe environment. It aims to build confidence and trust with the young people, whilst at the same time empowering them to make informed choices about their lives. The Coalfields Regeneration Trust award contributes towards staff salaries, running costs, training for staff and volunteers. The CRT funding completes the package that allows Y2K to form relationships with the most vulnerable and hard to reach young people in this area, supporting them to engage with issues in their lives whilst enabling change to come about. Additionally this work is supported by a number of local businesses and community organisations including Midlothian Council community development and learning and education departments.
Yipworld.com – SEAM & Lights, Camera, Attitude-ShowTime (East Ayrshire)
The overall purpose of this project is to provide a high quality filming/photography/recording studio opportunity for many of young people living in the coalfield area of East Ayrshire. It is managed and co-ordinated by two young people as a social enterprise initiative lead by Yipworld.com. It provides an economical service to local groups and organisations for photography, filming, recording music and marketing. The project demonstrates a clear fit with the National Regeneration Objective of Engaging Young People in East Ayrshire’s ROA and improves opportunities for young people to participate in community activity.
Other Ways of Engaging the Community
Linked Work Training Trust, Coalfields Communities Capacity Building Project
This project provides four local community activists with community development employment and training through work experience placements within a range of local regeneration and community development agencies.
The four trainee development workers are undertaking an apprenticeship based accredited learning programme which has been developed to specifically meet the needs of local community activists who may have little or no education background, low confidence levels and few presentational or work skills. Whilst the trainees work in their local communities they also receive professional training and education, leading to a Certificate in Higher Education from Glasgow University. The trainees are based in the community with an appropriate local agency.
A range of partners is assisting in the delivery of this project combining their skills and expertise. There will be an opportunity for mentoring and shadowing RMs, community planning partners and professionals involved in regeneration.
The trainees established Community Committees in each area, which will become a focal point for community activity. They helped local people explore and increase their knowledge of the culture of coalfield communities and what is changing which will in turn assist the community to formulate a response. This was done through community profiling that examines the historical development and current priorities, employment, demographic, social and community issues and looks at community activity and service provision. This information will be used to engage with people and will form part of community-based research that will identify key findings to inform future work in coalfield areas. Additionally this information can be used by CRT to identify need in these particular communities.
The initial findings from Linked Work and Training Trust’s Coalfield Community Capacity Building and Research Project (LWTT, 2008), which took place in 4 Scottish coalfield communities, indicated that the current priorities for people living in the participating coalfield communities in Scotland include:
Community Mums 
The Community Mums project is based in Methil, Fife and has been operating since November 2005 The project is a recognised charity and aims to improve the lives of parents and children across Scotland by supporting and encouraging the development of community mums programmes.
This is the first of its kind in Scotland and their aim to implement a pilot project in the Levenmouth area in Fife.
Community Mums provide a home visiting service to first time mums to help reduce the feeling of isolation parents and carers can experience. They also provide a sign posting service to help parents and carers access services in the local area. They do this through a volunteer programme that is structured to provide a range of activities that meet the direct needs of parents. When visiting the family the programme is structure to pick up on the individual’s problems and underlying concerns.
A CRT award of £50,690 will help the Community Mums project employ a co-ordinator and an administrator to free up the time of the group and allow them to develop their home visiting roles.
What the grant means to Community Mums (Scotland)
I’m thrilled that we’ve received this grant and I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead – Jean
I’m grateful to Coalfields for giving us the opportunity to provide the Community Mums service to the local community – Sharon
This money is going to allow us to open our doors to the public, create two jobs and open up a host of volunteering opportunities. – Karen
I still can’t believe we’ve been given this opportunity. It is a bit scary but I’m really excited about the year ahead. – Pauline
After 5 and a half years, and not really getting anywhere, I was getting really disheartened. It wasn’t until I opened the letter from Coalfields saying we had been successful, that I realised how much this project means to me. I can now visualise how much further we can go with this.
Fallin Community Enterprises - Recyke a Byke 
Fallin Community Enterprise is a company limited by guarantee and registered charity, established in July 2005. The company has evolved from the Fallin Futures Commit group and aims to drive foreword the social, economic and environmental regeneration of the village.
In line with these objectives the organisation established a bicycle recycling service known as Recyke a Byke which is helping to reduce the impact of waste on the environment as well as providing employment and training opportunities within the Fallin area. The project reconditions donated and waste bicycles and then sells them on to members of the community at a low cost. A bicycle maintenance and repair services is also provided through the scheme, ad accessories and parts are sold through a small retail facility at the group’s workshops premises.
The organisation have recently received an award from CRT totalling £34,400 to cover the salary costs and to pay for a new trailer which will assist with the transportation of the bikes to and from the workshop.
Kirkconnel Parish Heritage Society 
Kirkconnel Parish Heritage Society is a social enterprise which was started initially with a grant from CRT with the aim of recording the natural and cultural heritage of the village of Kirkconnel and then to raise awareness of the area’s heritage to locals and visitors alike.
The Society is involved in a wide range of activities including creating and reinstating heritage sites in the village, creation of paths; provision of genealogy information; compilation and production of local heritage books, heritage work with local schools, production of various videos; and old photograph restoration. It is also working in partnership with Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway to introduce wireless broadband into the Upper Nithsdale area.
The Trust recently made an award of £35k, towards the development of a Digital Media Centre within their present premises. This will enable the Society to provide services such as leaflet production and film and editing services and will allow the Society to become self-sustainable, allowing it to generate it’s own income to fund future projects.
