BBC Children in Need awards £29,800 to Rochdale project

Pudsey, BBC Children in Need

BBC Children in Need has announced that it has awarded a new grant of £29,800 to a local project working with disadvantaged children and young people in Rochdale. The grant has been allocated through the charity’s Small Grants Programme.

The funding awarded to Xplode Magazine will enable projects to provide services to young people in the area and means that the BBC charity now has more than £502,000 invested in the town. This is the second funding allocation of the year, with additional funding to be allocated to projects across the UK throughout 2019.

Xplode Magazine will use the grant, over three years, to deliver sessions in magazine production to children and young people who are living in care in Rochdale.

The sessions will enable young people to create a printed magazine, distributed across Greater Manchester, where they will write articles and manage it too.

It will enable them to learn new skills in journalism, design, and team working as well as giving them a voice to explore issues that matter to them.

Young people will develop confidence and independence and playing a part in the magazine’s production will give them a sense of pride and help to raise their aspirations for the future.

Saeed Atcha MBE, CEO at Xplode Magazine said: “We know that looked after children perform less-well amongst their non-looked after peers. We’re delighted that we’ve been awarded this funding to help bridge that gap in a youth-led way through the magazine in Rochdale over the next three years. A huge thank you to everyone that has made this possible.”

Speaking of the new grant, Elizabeth Myers, Regional Head of the North at BBC Children in Need said: “It’s always a real privilege to award new grants to projects like Xplode Magazine in Rochdale, which demonstrate how our small grants programme makes a positive difference to children and young people’s lives.”

BBC Children in Need’s Chief Executive, Simon Antrobus added: “Thanks to our generous supporters, our Small Grants programme can and does make a significant and lasting impact on young lives. Each project will go on to make a positive and lasting difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in the heart of local communities up and down the UK, so thank you for making these grants possible.”

Across the Rochdale borough, BBC Children in Need is currently funding nine projects to a value of £502,270.

BBC Children in Need currently awards grants at six points during the year and funds two types of grants, both of which are open to new or existing applicants.

The Main Grants Programme is for grants over £10,000 per year to support projects for up to three years and the Small Grants Programme supports projects for up to three years, and includes grants up to and including £10,000 per year. Both of these programmes are currently open to applications.

BBC Children in Need relies on the generosity and creativity of the thousands of supporters and fundraisers who raise millions of pounds for the charity every year. To date the UK public has raised over £1 billion for children and young people facing disadvantage across the UK.