Thirty local community groups and projects in Surrey are to benefit from funding from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey.
After taking office in November 2012, PCC Kevin Hurley and his Deputy Jeff Harris identified £73,000 savings that could be made from the running costs of his office – £23k of which were reallocated to the Surrey policing budget, with the remaining £50k used to create a new fund administered by the Commissioner’s Office to support community based projects requiring relatively small sums of money.
The Office invited groups from across Surrey to put forward bids for funding. Over 60 applications were received, with 30 successful bids resulting.
Some of the projects receiving funding as a result of this new grant include:
– Surrey Youth Empowerment Service – £1500 to provide IT equipment to support their staff in working with young people to reduce offending and rehabilitate young offenders.
– Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum – £1000 to help fund an event to give minority groups in Surrey a chance to learn more about policing and community safety and give their views on issues in their communities.
– Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (RASASC) – £3000 to help raise awareness of their services amongst young people – giving advice on reducing the risk of becoming a victim of rape or sexual abuse and providing support to victims and survivors of these terrible crimes.
– Victim Support – £1000 towards the Surrey Young Witness Service which supports victims and witnesses of crime aged 4-18years.
– Plantation – £1000 to help fund equipment needed for this landscape gardening project which aims to boost the skills and confidence of young people aged 16-25 not in education, employment or training.
– Peer Productions – £3000 to support the Domestic Abuse Project which provides support to young people who have experienced domestic violence within their own families whilst using their experiences to educate over 3000 local students about domestic abuse through a schools tour across Surrey.
– Surrey Boxing Club – £3900 to provide a competition ring for this highly successful boxing club started by Surrey Police’s Runnymede Youth Team and supported by local volunteers. The club has won numerous awards for its work with over 300 local youths in Runnymede and its contribution to reducing youth crime and antisocial behaviour in the Borough.
Deputy PCC Jeff Harris said:
“I am delighted to be able to announce the award of these 30 grants to community projects.
“By cutting costs within the PCC’s office, we are able to support a wide range of fantastic initiatives helping to make our county a better place to live. We are taking money out of back office services and putting it to work out there in our communities on behalf of the public.
“Whilst much of the Commissioner’s work is about dealing with multi-million pound budgets and major strategic issues for Surrey, we also recognise that sometimes you only need to provide a little bit of funding to make a big difference. These grants reflect our desire to encourage and help organisations of all sizes who are doing good, public-spirited things for the county.
“As with any use of public money, we have set out a clear expectation that the projects we are supporting deliver meaningful outcomes for the public. We look forward to seeing the difference they will make over the next 12 months.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For more information contact the Office of the PCC for Surrey on 01483 630 200 or email surreypcc@surrey.police.uk