Community group using West Yorkshire’s canals to steer young people towards a brighter future
A West Yorkshire charity is utilising the county’s canals to support young people and their families to achieve their full potential, using money seized from the hands of criminals.
20 June 2023
Community group using West Yorkshire’s canals to steer young people towards a brighter future
A West Yorkshire charity is utilising the county’s canals to support young people and their families to achieve their full potential, using money seized from the hands of criminals.
The Joint Activities & Motor Education Service (JAMES) provides outdoor, educational activities in Bradford.
They received a near £6,000 from the Mayor of West Yorkshire’s Safer Communities Fund, which takes money recovered by police and prosecutors from criminal activities and pumps it back into community-based projects that are making their area safer.
With the Mayor’s funding, JAMES are now providing support sessions on their narrowboat with their project ‘Marine, Mindful, Motivate.’
Split into three parts, the project’s Marine element teaches people how to navigate the canals, Mindful promotes the outdoors as a tool for improving mental health, and Motivate aims to encourage young people to do more on the city’s canals, and in their communities.
Today (20/06/23) West Yorkshire’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Alison Lowe OBE, visited the project to see firsthand how JAMES is helping to steer young people and their families towards a brighter future.
Speaking at the visit, Deputy Mayor Lowe said:
“We want to create a safe, just, and inclusive region where everyone can flourish, regardless of circumstance.
“That is why we are supporting fantastic community projects like JAMES, who are providing positive opportunities for our young people and encouraging them to thrive.”
Anna Shepherd, Development Manager at JAMES, said:
"The funding from the West Yorkshire Mayor is invaluable.
“Through this project we have been able to support young people and families to access the amazing canal running through the heart of our district.
“It has given them new and unique experiences within a calm and natural environment, showing the potential on their doorstep, and the potential within themselves.”
Since 2022, the Mayor, Tracy Brabin’s, Safer Communities Fund has supported 173 organisations across West Yorkshire with over £1 million. Previously funded projects include self-defence classes for women and girls in Leeds, a healthy relationships programme for young people in Kirklees, and mental health support sessions for women in Calderdale.
Find out more about the Mayor’s Safer Communities Fund and the projects it supports: www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/mscf