Organisations across South Yorkshire are to benefit from £261,000 grant funding awarded by the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

Dr Alan Billings announced today (Monday, 6 July) that a total of 26 organisations are to be awarded grant funding from his 2015/16 Community Grant Scheme.

He said: “I am very pleased to award grants to organisations that are helping others within South Yorkshire.  The projects I have chosen directly address the priorities set out in the Police and Crime Plan, especially offering support for vulnerable people.”

“I have not found it easy to discriminate between so many good projects and I am sorry that the total amount of funding this year is much reduced because of austerity.”

Rotherham organisations Rotherham Women’s Refuge and Golddigger trust received the largest amount of funding with £20,102 and £20,000 respectively.

The Rotherham’s Women’s Refuge have for almost 40 years delivered a range of accommodation and support services to women and children, who have been affected by domestic abuse, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation.

The Golddigger Trust is an award winning, registered charity aimed at raising self-esteem and positive aspirations in young people, primarily those aged 11-18 living in South Yorkshire, particularly those identified as vulnerable around areas of child sexual exploitation, self harm and attempted suicide, harmful behaviours, youth offending and disengaging from education.

Dr Billings continued: “I am keen to work with organisations that support and help others look after themselves and re-build their lives.  The Women’s Refuge and Golddigger trust are fine examples of organisations providing support for victims and vulnerable people.

“I will be making plans to visit as many of the successful grant recipients as I can over the coming months to see for myself the good work they are doing and how the funding is helping them to help others.

“Unfortunately not all applications were successful and in some cases, I was unable to provide the full amount applied for.  Whilst funding is tight and austerity continues, I have to be certain that all of this funding goes directly to the people in South Yorkshire most at need of the support these projects offer.”

Edlington Community Organisation will receive a grant of £13,000 to help in the regeneration of the community of Edlington, Warmsworth and surrounding areas in Doncaster to improve the quality of life for residents.

The Mexborough Miners Welfare Institute will also receive £13,000 to run their MASTERS project, a diverse range of sporting, training and youth outreach activities across Mexborough targeted at local young people at most risk of committing crime and anti-social behaviour.

Sheffield organisations include Zest and the Brathay Trust.  Zest receive £15,000 to deliver employment support, leisure & recreation, health, and children’s and young people activities. The youth division offer structured provision, led by qualified coaches and youth workers, working with 72 different young people on a weekly basis and 62 different young people through the sport provision.

In Barnsley, Goldthorpe Development Group received £2,000 to help with the regeneration of the area and bringing communities together and Grimethorpe Activity Zone will receive grant funding of £6,958 to offer services to support young people aged 8 – 19. They provide a range of services to help to increase the opportunity for young people to develop into more active, creative and valued contributors to their community.

Cross county organisations South Yorkshire Neighbourhood Watch, Street Pastors and South Yorkshire Sport will all benefit from grant funding.

Applications were received from 118 South Yorkshire organisations totalling £2,083,051.  The grant fund available this year was reduced from £643,086 and £387,937 in previous years.