Chester summer activities get their share of £50k cash boost

Five community summer projects for young people in Chester are set to benefit from a share of more than £50,000 of criminal money from the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s SWAP Summer Support Fund.

Young people and families will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of activities including fitness and wellbeing sessions, cooking sessions, daytrips, dance and creative art sessions getting them out of the house and off their screens throughout the school summer holidays.

The projects that successfully applied for funding are:

• Pantry for Blacon – running cooking and social sessions for secondary school students at Trinity Hall.
• Rage Fitness Wellbeing Group – free gym memberships and access to fitness, holistic and mental health sessions for young people and their families.
• Saughhall Colts Blacks U14s – providing a digital blackout weekend, with those involved taking part surrendering their phones and access to social media to encourage them to take park in life skill sessions
• Save the Family – a trauma-informed summer holiday programme delivered to homeless and at-risk individuals. The sessions will include arts and crafts, forest school sessions and day trips.
• The Heath Youth Club – running weekly skill-building sessions including first aid, dance, art and performing arts to build confidence and explore young people’s interests.

The projects reflect the clear commitment Dan is setting as part of the Home Office’s ‘Safer Summer Streets’ initiative, which will be running throughout the summer months. The main focuses here in Cheshire include tackling anti-social behaviour, diversion, support and engagement. The projects that have applied for this funding help to fulfil those wider aims, as well as the localised ones set out by Dan in his Police and Crime Plan.

This is the first fund specifically aimed at summer activities here in Cheshire. The application process opened in June and saw 67 organisations from across the county apply for funding.  29 organisations received grants of up to £2,000.

Projects that were chosen demonstrated that they were:

• Supporting children and young people
• Promoting physical and mental well-being
• Reducing isolation and promote inclusion

Police and Crime Commissioner, Dan Price said:

“The earlier we can help people stay on the right track, the better. That’s why this summer I launched my fund specifically for young people to give them something to do and somewhere to go over the long summer break.

“The number of applications we got shows how keen people are here in Cheshire to help young people and put on projects that appeal to all interests. This money has been invested in our future, putting the next generation on the right path away from criminal behaviour.”

The SWAP Summer Support Fund - Safety, Working Together, Action and Prevention – takes money that was earned or acquired in a negative way and swaps it for a positive community change. It provided grants of up to £2,000 to help organisations deliver projects over a period of six – eight weeks.

More information about the SWAP fund is available here: 

SWAP Fund page.