Police chiefs give £230,000 for community projects

DOMESTIC violence, child run- aways and anti-social behaviour are among the issues set to be tackled with a donation to five local projects from the South Yorkshire Police Authority.

Grants totalling £230,000 were divided between the projects under the authority’s community grants scheme, formerly known as the A Better Community (ABC) awards.

Each of the projects was chosen because their work supports people across the entire South Yorkshire region.

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One of the five funded projects is the MISPER (MISsing PERsons) scheme in Dinnington, which aims to reduce the number of children repeatedly running away from home.

Another project, 4 Change, works to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour among children aged between ten and 17.

The initiative, run by Retford-based In2Change, provides an experience of prison life in an attempt to change children’s perception about custodial sentences.

Other projects to receive funding include Doncaster Women’s Aid, Remedi – a South Yorkshire-wide restorative justice and mediation charity – and the ARC Project, run by South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, which offers young people on the “fringes of criminality” the opportunity to work with firefighters, police and youth offending service staff.

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More than 50 voluntary organisations and community groups applied for funding ranging from £30,000 to £50,000.

Charles Perryman, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Authority, said: “This funding is designed to help local community and voluntary groups contribute towards improving confidence and satisfaction with South Yorkshire Police as well as help give organisations the resources to continue their great work.

“It was extremely difficult to pick the winners as every single applicant is making a real difference at a local level, but we felt these five in particular were really spreading their reach out across the whole of our region.

“We look forward to hearing about how these five organisations put their grants to good use.”

South Yorkshire Police Authority’s grants scheme has invested more than £1.6m in more than 1,300 small grant projects since being launched in 2001.