Ards and North Down Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) has launched its Small Grants Programme for 2024-25. Grants up to a maximum of £4,600 are available to community and voluntary groups to deliver diversionary and detached youth engagement projects, which will target areas of anti-social behaviour (ASB) within the Borough. 

Councillor Alastair Cathcart, Chair of Ards and North Down PCSP said: "On behalf of Ards and North Down PCSP, I am pleased to launch the 2024-25 Small Grants Programme, and I would encourage community and voluntary groups across the Borough to consider applying.

"In the past, recipients of PCSP small grants have delivered effective and innovative youth engagement programmes, covering everything from football to gardening, creative arts to gaming, targeted workshops to on-the-street engagement. Anti-social behaviour is a challenge in many of our communities; the Small Grants Programme is an opportunity for community and voluntary groups to take positive actions to address this."

Anti-social behaviour can be a challenge in many communities, and often there are particular 'hotspots' where groups of people might engage in negative behaviours. This can include substance abuse, criminal damage, disruption, nuisance, street drinking, trespassing, drug trafficking, and rowdy or inconsiderate behaviour. By taking positive actions to engage young people, community and voluntary groups can support them to make positive life choices, and this can have a positive effect on reducing incidences of ASB in communities.

Ards and North Down PCSP are keen to receive applications from community and voluntary groups which propose positive and innovative ways to engage with young people within the Borough. Priority will be given to projects which target specific ASB hotspots.

Full details of the Small Grants Programme can be found at www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk/pcsp-grants