Project Indi celebrates after receiving £480K of National Lottery funding to expand their services for adults and children with disabilities in Staffordshire!

Local charity, Project Indi, is today celebrating after being awarded £480K in National Lottery funding to support its work with adults and children with disabilities over the next 5-years. The charity based in Sneyd Green, Stoke-on-Trent will use the money to fund five staff, including three new roles, and expand their services, focusing on specialised SEND sessions for children, young people and families, and expanding their adult services throughout Staffordshire.

The charity first began in 2018, providing day opportunities and activities for those who required additional support, finding themselves isolated or alone following the loss of their support system, or unable to access other services due to budget cuts.

Now, Project Indi’s key offering is providing day opportunities and social groups for individuals with additional needs at their inclusive hub, The Indi Club. This offering has grown into full community support, which includes free school holiday activities, SEND sessions for children and young people, inclusive work placements and community events.

Natasha Gratton, CEO of Project Indi says “We have listened to our community and this project has been designed with those we support in mind, ensuring that we meet the pressing needs of adults and children with disabilities in our local area. We listened, we learned, and now we are ready to act. We are committed to providing essential support and resources to adults, children and their families, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

We are immensely grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for this incredible opportunity to make a positive impact and we look forward to working together to build a brighter and more inclusive future. Thank you to the National Lottery players for making our project possible!”

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will see the charity expand their adult groups into additional areas in Staffordshire, beginning with Newcastle-under-Lyme. Additionally, it will facilitate the introduction of after-school clubs for children with special educational needs or disabilities and monthly family-focused community events.

The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030. 

As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.