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May 2006

Northern Rock Foundation announces grants worth £3.2 million for the North East and Cumbria

More help for the region’s homeless people is on the way as a result of grants announced today by Northern Rock Foundation. Three awards will benefit people who are homeless and poorly housed: a new learning and training centre in Newcastle, an initiative that will see them perform a specially commissioned opera at The Sage, Gateshead, and an emergency accommodation scheme on Teesside. Other grants will help people with learning disabilities, those with substance abuse problems and older people. The Foundation has also announced that it will provide a further three years’ funding for ippr north, the only English think tank outside London

£2.7 million of the total £3.2 million investment across the North East and Cumbria will be spent on projects in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and the Tees Valley. So far in 2006 the Foundation has given £9 million in grants across its area. Awards announced in this round include:

Alastair Balls, Chairman of Northern Rock Foundation, said: ‘I’m delighted to announce Northern Rock Foundation’s second round of grants in 2006. The awards represent a total investment of £3.2 million in people and places across the North East and Cumbria. Thanks to the hard work and commitment of all those involved, these grants will help tackle disadvantage in local communities, and to improve quality of life in our region as a whole.’

Northern Rock Foundation was established in 1997 when Northern Rock plc converted from being a mutual organisation. The Foundation receives 5% of Northern Rock’s annual pre-tax profits (amounting to nearly £144 million by December 2005), but it is entirely independent of the bank, and its own board of Trustees makes all policy and funding decisions. The Foundation is one of the country’s largest charitable funders, and the biggest independent grant-maker in the north. In 2005 it gave grants worth £20.2 million, invested a further £1 million in the Newcastle Enterprise Bond and made an exceptional donation of £500,000 to support victims of the Asian tsunami.

ippr north is the only English policy and research think tank based outside London. It has been working in the region for three years, initially funded jointly by Northern Rock Foundation and Millfield House Foundation, but subsequently generating income and sponsorship from a wide range of sources. It is part of ippr, the influential UK think tank. ippr north seeks to challenge London-centric thinking and to promote solutions to northern social, economic and environmental issues regionally and nationally. The Foundation’s grant will allow ippr north to continue its work for a further three years.

Crisis is a national charity providing support to homeless people. Crisis established its first Skylight Centre in London in 2002. It aims to provide opportunities for learning and working with others, to help homeless reconnect with wider society and achieve their goals. The London Centre includes a café run as a social business in partnership with the sandwich chain Prêt a Manger. It is open seven days a week and offers activities and training at a variety of levels. Crisis now wants to set up a second Skylight centre in Newcastle, and has already secured government funding towards the proposal. The Foundation’s grant will contribute to the development of the new facility, and encourage other funders to come on board.

Re-Solv is a national charity seeking to tackle the problem of solvent abuse, mainly by educating young people and the adults in their lives about the dangers. It produces educational materials, works with schools and youth groups and provides on-line support for professionals. The North East has a higher mortality rate from volatile solvent abuse than other UK regions and nations. The Foundation’s grant will allow Re-Solv to develop work in the region to better understand and then address the problem.

Middlesbrough First supports 100 people with learning disabilities to live independently by providing advocacy, training, support and advice. The Foundation’s grant will allow it to continue its work for a further three years.

Nightstop Teesside provides emergency accommodation for homeless young people for up to three nights in the homes of volunteers. It also provides advice and assistance to young people on housing and welfare benefits. The Foundation’s grant will allow Nightstop to continue to provide its service for a further three years.

Them Wifies is a community arts group based in Newcastle which works with disadvantaged people, particularly girls and women, and women with learning disabilities. Its Josephine Project uses a larger-than-life cloth woman, drama and storytelling as a tool to work with learning disabled women on health issues. The Foundation’s grant will allow Them Wifies to continue to run the Josephine Project and allow it to develop its network among the wider learning disabled community.

Northern Print Studio is the regional centre for contemporary printmaking and provides facilities for making and promoting prints. It also initiates and manages a programme of commissions, residencies and exhibitions and education projects. In 2005 the Foundation awarded a grant of £150,000 towards the costs of relocating from its current inadequate premises. Unfortunately it has had to change its plans and find a new location, which is expected to be the Steenberg’s building in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley. The Foundation’s extra grant will allow the Studio to fit out the building, which has been renovated so far to shell stage.

The Angelou Centre helps women from black and minority ethnic communities in Newcastle to gain employment. It offers education and employment guidance, a crèche to enable women to undertake training programmes, and language, literacy, numeracy and IT courses. The Foundation’s grant will support the Centre’s work for a further three years.

Greater Walker Community Trust supports older people, disabled people and carers in the east end of Newcastle. It runs clubs for older men and women each week, providing arts and craft activities, computing and games. A hairdresser, district nurse and the local Citizens Advice Bureau visit the clubs. The Trust also runs activities in sheltered housing schemes and organises shopping trips, outings and social events. The Foundation’s grant will allow the Trust to continue and develop its work for a further three years.

Tynedale Voluntary Action covers the largest district council area in England. It provides support and assistance to community and voluntary organisations, and to individual volunteers. The Foundation’s grant will allow the organisation to develop improved support for volunteers in the Prudhoe area.

Streetwise Opera offers homeless people a chance to discover skills and talents, and an opportunity to showcase them in public. It uses participation in opera and musical theatre as a way of raising self-esteem and boosting confidence. Essential to its success is the emphasis on high quality performance in professional venues – audiences not only see an excellent production, but their negative perceptions of homeless people are challenged. So far Streetwise Opera has produced critically acclaimed shows in London, Nottingham, Oxford and Luton. It is now developing work in the North East, and the Foundation’s grant will support its innovative approach, which will lead to performances of a specially commissioned opera – Whirlwind – at The Sage, Gateshead in October 2006 which will involve around 100 homeless people.

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