Police Commissioner grants target youngsters

PROJECTS helping young runaways, boosting crime prevention and tackling antisocial behaviour have been given cash in the first round of police commissioner grants.

More than £400,000 will be split between the 13 organisations announced by commissioner Shaun Wright yesterday.

Among them are Dinnington charity SAFE@LAST and REMA, which provides crime prevention advice and workshops for black and minority ethnic groups.

Money given to GROW, based at Kimberworth Park, will enhance the police public protection and child sexual exploitation teams.

Also successful were weekend nightscene volunteers Street Pastors and Hellaby-based In2Change, which involves ex-offenders speaking to youngsters.

There were more than 100 applications after the scheme, offering grants between £10,000 and £50,000, was launched in February.

Mr Wright thanked everyone who submitted a bid and encouraged unsuccessful groups to try again in the future,

He said: “The quality of the projects undertaken by the voluntary and community sector shows the excellent work they are doing.

“It was a very difficult task to evaluate all the bids against the funding criteria, and to decide who we can support.

“We only have a limited amount of money, and funding was allocated in a way we believe to be fair, supporting the organisations that make a real difference.”

For more information about the grants, see www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk.