The Way Youth Zone based in Wolverhampton is celebrating today after being awarded £245,417 over three years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

The Way will use their funding to intensively support 30 young people per year aged 8 – 18 in care, leaving care or on a child protection plan. They will receive tailored one-to-one mentoring support from a recruited pool of fully trained adult mentor volunteers, who are trained to specialise on the target group.

This new National Lottery funding for our Mentoring Aspirations Plus project will support education around independent living and safe lifestyles, as well as support with learning and training. It will give young people the vital skills required to compete on a level playing field with other young people, in terms of securing sustainable employment, stability at school and improving their educational attainment, and a safe homelife.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. The National Lottery Community Fund distributes a share of this to projects to support people and communities to prosper and thrive.

Jackie Redding, Chief Executive of The Way Youth Zone, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, this grant means that we can support young people in care, raising their aspirations for the future, building their confidence and resilience and providing information that will assist them in making the right lifestyle choices.”

During the pandemic, in 2020 alone, The National Lottery Community Fund distributed almost £1 billion to charities and community organisations across the UK.