£10k Lottery Fund awarded to young people facing cost of living crisis in Wales

£10,000 has been awarded to children’s charity NYAS Cymru (National Youth Advocacy Service) by The National Lottery Community Fund to support young people facing the cost of living crisis in Wales

NYAS will distribute the grant to those who need it, funding educational training courses, equipment purchases, activities, and emergency supplies needed by children and young people who have been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

Part of the grant will be used to provide families in Wales with emergency crisis vouchers – a monetary support package to help those who are struggling to meet the cost of living.

These vouchers are a lifeline to families like Katie’s who’s name has been changed to protect her identity.

Katie is a single parent of five children finding it difficult to keep the family warm and fed.

An emergency crisis voucher provided by NYAS helped Katie to “put a bit extra in the gas and be a massive help with food”.

Care-experienced parents Emily and Jack also received a voucher before Christmas to assist with rising costs, allowing them “to buy a gift for our little girl and having extra food on the table at Christmas for our family.”

Vital

Sharon Lovell, NYAS Cymru CEO, said: “The National Youth Advocacy Service Wales are delighted to have received vital funding from the National Lottery to provide emergency relief to children, young people and families in need.

“We work with children and young people in care and those on the edge of care. We know that children living in poverty are more likely to enter the care system and therefore this funding will help us keep families together and support some of the most vulnerable young people in Wales who have no family to turn too”.

The National Lottery Community Fund gives over £600m in grants to projects each year, helping improve lives and communities across the UK.

National Lottery funding has been used to support over 635,000 projects since it’s beginning.

John Rose OBE, Wales Director of The National Lottery Fund, said: “The cost-of-living crisis is particularly impacting on care experienced young people, who may not be able to access support networks.

“NYAS Cymru have recognised this and applied for a grant to support care experienced young people in Wales.

“Every month we are supporting groups across Wales with grants to deal with the pressures of cost of living and working flexibly to ensure that National Lottery funding is continuing to reach people who need support.”

Names were changed in the article to protect identities.