A well-loved Bishop Auckland community hub has started the new year strongly with a further financial boost from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.
Based in the heart of the Woodhouse Close Estate since 1964, Auckland Youth and Community Centre Limited (AYCC) is celebrating The National Lottery Community Fund’s confirmation of a new grant award of £163,935.
Starting this month, the Centre’s flagship two-year Building Community Resilience Project will provide long-term, sustainable development for the Woodhouse Close community. In particular, it will provide local residents with additional support to help them recover from the ongoing impacts of Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis. Building Community Resilience also means tackling financial, social and health inequalities. In turn, it will help the organisation to continue to build and nurture a safe, supportive and inclusive local community.
Led by volunteer trustees, AYCC’s dedicated staff and other volunteers will work in consultation with residents to rebuild social cohesion and mitigate the impacts of social isolation; recently made worse by the pandemic and cost of living crisis. The grant will provide the additional resources necessary to achieve these aims – whilst improving local residents’ health, wellbeing and resilience.
A particularly important part of the project will intensify the support already provided to the local crisis intervention programme – including a busy food bank – which has been delivered by AYCC’s neighbours, Woodhouse Close Church Community Centre, for many years, and which continues to support record numbers of local people through these increasingly difficult times.
John Wiseman, AYCC’s Business Development Manager, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Community Fund for this new award and continuing to support the AYCC and above
all, it will help us to make further progress in supporting the recovery from the combined impacts of Covid-19, austerity, welfare reform and, most recently, the cost of living crisis. We’re pleased to be getting started on the new project!”
Duncan Nicholson, Head of Regional Funding (North East and Cumbria) at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, we are delighted to be able to support the work of Auckland Youth and Community Centre and their ambitions around the Building Community Resilience project. Given the difficulties communities are continuing to face in this post pandemic and rising cost of living crisis, it will support people to face the challenges ahead.”
In 2023 and beyond, AYCC looks forward to providing more services at the heart of the Woodhouse Close community. More details are available at www.aycclimited.co.uk or by calling (01388) 604575.
