Published: Thursday, 22nd July, 2010 9:22am

Funding pot Recharged

by Editorial

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A POPULAR Tranent youth centre was the venue for the launch of a new Scottish Government funding pot, created using £2.5 million recovered from a Russian money launderer.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill visited Recharge last Thursday to announce the new round of funding available under the 'CashBack for Communities' scheme, which uses the proceeds of crime seized by the Government to benefit the public.

With £45,852 available in the pot for East Lothian, county projects will no doubt be hoping to emulate Recharge, a registered charity working with young people in the Fa'side area, which has already witnessed two projects benefit from funding administered via the scheme.

Mr MacAskill at the Recharge football table with Callum Hutchieson and Charley Clelland.

The money that was awarded enabled Recharge staff and volunteers to operate a drop-in session every Friday night for the past two years for young people between the ages of 13 and 18 years as well as other activities including Healthy Respect sexual health drop-ins and 'JobSpot' offering careers advice and support to job seekers.

During his visit, Mr MacAskill praised Recharge and urged similar projects to follow suit.

"By supporting projects such as the Recharge project we are showing our young people that there is much more to life than offending or getting out of your heads on drink or drugs," said the Musselburgh and Edinburgh East MSP.

"CashBack for Communities delivers on our ambitions for young people but it also benefits the wider community, whether that's getting kids off street corners or offering them the chance to give something back to their communities. The benefits to the young people are clear - and felt in the wider community."

Recharge enjoys support in the community from East Lothian Council, NHS Lothian and Skills Development Scotland. And it is this support along with the Cashback funding which has helped the programme be such a success.

Alan Bell, project manager at Recharge, said: "CashBack for Communities has been a fantastic resource for us. It enabled us to properly staff our Friday night drop-in sessions, which have been getting increasingly popular and led users to get more involved with other activities.

"The young people that come here are the ones who benefit and it's because of the CashBack funding that we have gone from strength to strength over the last two years."

A further £4 million recovered from the Russian criminal, who had operations in Scotland, is to be allocated at a later date which could see the money invested in youth projects across the county since the scheme started eclipse £23m.