Halifax project secures share of £2.6m to reduce re-offending and use of drugs

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) runs the fund and hit the milestone amount following an awards event week (21/03) for the latest round of the grant scheme.

A total of 57 community projects from across West Yorkshire received a share of over £250,000 at the event which was held in Calderdale at Halifax Academy.

Projects funded as part of the latest round included Alpha House in Calderdale who will be working to reduce reoffending and the use of drugs by providing support to people on release from prison.

Yvonne Oliver, Managing Director at Alpha House, said: “This funding award will greatly help to further our work; working with released offenders with mental health and substance misuse problems.

"Our work is vital in reducing crime in Halifax and assisting offenders to change their lifestyle from a destructive, to a constructive way of life; not only to benefit themselves, but also for the wider community."

The Safer Communities Fund was created by the PCC to give grants to voluntary, community groups, charities and partner organisations to help keep West Yorkshire communities safe and feeling safe which is the overarching vision of the Police and Crime Plan.

It is financed through money recovered from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) by West Yorkshire Police and prosecutors.

Mark Burns-Williamson, said: “It was another fantastic awards evening and a real pleasure to be able to provide support and funding, using money recovered from criminals, for a number of great causes.

“I launched the Safer Communities Fund in 2014 to help local groups make a real difference in their communities. The fund has now delivered across 15 grant rounds since then totalling £2,673,114.17 with 617 projects benefiting!

“However, I want the fund to be able to help even more during the ongoing austerity, so I have made the decision to increase the maximum grant from £5000 to £6000 for each project in future grant rounds.

“The next grant round of the fund opens for applications on 15 April and for the first time ever will have a split funding pot. Half of the money will be available to projects looking to either tackle drugs and alcohol misuse or work focusing on young people, with the other half open to applications looking to address any of the priorities in my Police and Crime Plan. More details will be available on my website shortly.”