Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Granted £250,000 Funding To Turn Young People's Passions Into Community Action, UK

Main Category: Muscular Dystrophy / ALS
Article Date: 04 Dec 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign has been awarded over £250,000 funding by v, the youth volunteering charity, to encourage young people to be positively involved in their communities. The funding will be put towards a new project that will improve quality of life and boost independence for young adults with disabilities.

The project will be a part of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign's Bridging The Gap Campaign, which aims to improve transition into adulthood for youngsters with muscle disease. The new project will build on this campaign's aim by establishing a network of young adults with disabilities in each of the nine regions of England who will then become campaigning ambassadors and create a youth information network in key areas such as education, employment and housing.

Each regional network will have access to their own website and will be given training in campaigning, press and events. The project, which will involve over 200 young adults for a period of three years, will culminate in the launch of a national Young Disabled Persons All Party Parliamentary Group set up and organised by the network.

Robert Meadowcroft, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, said: "We are delighted to be able to get this youth networking project off the ground and would not have been able to do this without the help of v and their vinvolved programme. The young volunteers will be empowered to campaign on issues that are important to them. They will also have the tools to create and evaluate their own local resource in the form of an information service.

"This level of empowerment and involvement will ensure that the volunteers have a stake in the success of a project that reflects their interests."

This project is one of 152 projects across the country who will be funded by v as part of vinvolved, a new national youth volunteering programme backed by £75 million funding, which aims to inspire half a million more young people to volunteer in England.

Terry Ryall, v's Chief Executive, said: "v is delighted to be able to fund this innovative and youth-led project, which will enable young people to get positively involved in campaigning and information services.

"Young people are at the heart of this new programme which aims to put them at the centre of our communities. Instead of seeing them as a problem to be fixed, we are giving them the chance to become a positive force for change."

The volunteering opportunities will be available from April 2008, more information coming soon...

To find out more about v inspired, please go to http://www.vinspired.com.

Muscular Dystrophy Campaign