Trio of Sunderland community groups to get thousands of pounds in new grants

The Virgin Money Foundation has announced its latest grant awards, with 11 North East charitable organisations set to benefit from a total £380,000 in new funding.

In Sunderland, Young Asian Voices will be given £29,904, the Youth Almighty Project will be handed £32,847 and Blue Watch Youth Centre will be awarded £17,500.

Nancy Doyle, executive director of the Virgin Money Foundation, said: “We are delighted to have been able to provide £5million of awards to benefit good causes since we launched the Foundation in 2015.

"This money is supporting innovative and dedicated organisations working for positive change in their communities.

"The latest awards progress our ambition to regenerate local communities by backing community leaders and in particular those young people who want to make a real difference to the neighborhoods they live in.”

Youth organisation Young Asian Voices is being given the award to support its Our Voice project, enabling black, Asian and minority ethnic young people to have a voice in their community and educate the wider community on subjects important to them.

Youth Almighty Project works with young people from the Silksworth area.

Itsa award is to work with young people from the area who are not in employment, education or training to help them into sustainable employment.

And Blue Watch Youth Centre's (BWYC) £17,500 grant is to help offer support to young people in Ryhope who are not in employment, education or training.

It is hoped the award will enable BWYC to continue to run a programme supporting young people into sustainable employment.

The latest grants announced today bring the total level of awards made by the Virgin Money Foundation to over £5million since the organisation launched in August 2015.

The foundation is funded through donations from Virgin Money, the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport as well as the Big Lottery Fund.