A Stoke-on-Trent Bicycle Recycling Service has been given £2,820 from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s People Power Fund to offer young people the chance to gain skills and confidence.
Ayudante was awarded the funding to create a bicycle recycling project for 12 young people to participate in a six-week course to refurbish second-hand bikes.
As part of his commitment to local communities, the Commissioner is providing £500,000 in 2015/16 through the People Power Fund in the form of grants of between £100 and £3,000.
The fund is supporting locally-driven community safety activities in local areas throughout Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
Mr Ellis said: “Ayudante is such a brilliant idea as it gives young people the chance to gain life skills and work experience to help them in the future.
“It helps young people from troubled families to break out of a cycle of offending and to focus on giving something back to the community.”
David Wells, Managing Director of Ayudante, said: “The People Power Fund has allowed Ayudante to support a small group of young people currently in alternative education, and the bicycle project has provided them with work experience, mechanical training and improved social confidence. We look forward to supporting another cohort of young people.”
The People Power Fund is one part of £2.5 million of Commissioner’s Community Funding for 2014/15. The Commissioner’s Locality Deal Fund has allocated money to local areas through working in partnership with local district and borough councils. Meanwhile, the Commissioner’s Proceeds of Crime Fund is seeing 100 per cent of funding received by Staffordshire Police going back into local communities, through grants of between £3,000 and £15,000. It is made up of money seized from criminals as Staffordshire Police continue to strip offenders of their assets.
Successful projects in all three funding streams will deliver what’s important to local people based on the four priorities set out in the Commissioner’s Safer, Fairer, United Communities Strategy – tackling the root causes of crime through early intervention, supporting victims and witnesses better, reducing reoffending and increasing public confidence.
