More help for community from Advertiser cash scheme

Over the past four years we have teamed up with South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings to offer grants of up to £1,000 to voluntary groups and non-profit organisations across the borough.

Almost 40 projects aimed at preventing crime and protecting the vulnerable have benefited and the most recent successful applicants are the Community Education Adult Disabilities’ (CEAD) Feeling Safe in the Community project and Sheffield YWCA’s Escape The Trap Teenage Relationship Abuse Programme.

CEAD spokeswoman Julie Carroll said: “Having to stay at home during Covid-19 has affected the mental health of disabled people more than non-disabled people and the feeling of loneliness and vulnerability has increased.  

“The aim is to identify areas of vulnerability with regard to local crime and provide people with the ability to make informed decisions and control their own lives safely.”

The project will involve sessions on home security and integrating into the community by providing advice on dress code, travel, shopping, money management and attending events like sport and shows to avoid being seen as different and treated unfairly.

There will also be advice and support on cyber safety as well as provision for internet accessibility to people who cannot afford tablets.

Julie added: “Crime involving disability is still very much in our communities. By giving these people the opportunity to use the internet to get information and provide them with the confidence to integrate into our community is also giving them a feeling of being valued.”

The grant will pay for tablets, alarms and room hire.

Escape The Trap has been awarded £947 to pay for staff, venue hire, booklets and graduation gifts for participants.

Project manager Tracy Collins said: “A huge 64 per cent of our clients have experienced serious and prolonged violence from an intimate partner. As a response, YWCA invested significant resources to train staff to deliver the Escape the Trap programme.

“It is a targeted intervention aimed at supporting young women and girls who are experiencing or vulnerable to teenage relationship abuse. It will support young women and girls to learn about the dynamics of power and control in relationships so that they can begin to explore how gender inequalities impact and shape beliefs and behaviours at a much earlier stage, and to give them the knowledge, skills and confidence to protect themselves and their children in the future.”

You can apply to Cash For The Community by visiting our website at www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk and filling out the application form.

Terms and conditions of the PCC grants can be found at https://southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk/app/uploads/2019/04/Terms-and-Conditions-2019-20.pdf