New project to improve lives in N-W Glasgow

A new community learning and support project in North West Glasgow is set to open up new opportunities for local people to help them improve their lives. 

Focused on the Westercommon, Hamiltonhill and Woodside communities, the project aims to make greater use of local facilities and strengthen partnership working with local schools and colleges. Activities will include job clubs, English language classes, digital learning and it will also provide free family meals.

Queens Cross Housing Association has been awarded nearly £200,000 to deliver the project from the Scottish Government’s Investing in Communities Fund, which aims to give local organisations the tools they need to tackle poverty, inequality and disadvantage in their area. 

Some areas of Queens Cross fall in to the bottom 10% of the most deprived communities in the city. 

Queens Cross’s Social Regeneration Manager, Jamie Ballantine, led the application and heads up many of the association’s community activities. He said:

"This funding will allow us to focus on achievable results that will help support families and tackle child poverty. We will work with local people to increase community involvement in shaping and creating the types of neighbourhoods where people want to live."

Central to achieving this will be the appointment of a new Community Opportunity Coordinator to deliver activity in the area. 

"Some local facilities are currently underused during the day, and this funding means we can create opportunities that see more community activity whilst also helping develop skills and improve opportunities for local people and their families," said Jamie. 

This new team member will work with families, individuals, schools and colleges with a view to supporting more people to take advantage of opportunities within their communities. 

"This funding will allow us to build on our existing commitment to tackling poverty through removing barriers that people have to getting into employment or becoming active in their community," added Jamie.  

"We want to take practical steps to tackle inequality at a local level. Our own household research shows that people living alone or as a one-parent family with children under 16 were most likely to say they’d chosen to miss a meal or eat less because they couldn’t afford to buy food. 

"This new project can help in practical ways such as by simply cooking meals for those who need them. Simple steps like this helps people to help themselves, improve their life chances and build more resilient communities."