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£500,000 for youth groups
30/03/2010
Six Scottish youth organisations have been awarded seized criminal cash to help them 'Be Prepared'.
The award of £500,000 over two years from the Government's CashBack fund will benefit the activities of the Boys' Brigade, Clubs for Young People, Girls' Brigade in Scotland, Girlguiding Scotland and Youth Scotland, in addition to the Scottish Council of the Scout Association.
CashBack for Communities is a program of diversionary activities for young people to increase their opportunities to develop interests and skills in an enjoyable, fulfilling and supported way, using funds recovered from criminals.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill visited the Scouts' Scottish headquarters and said:
"This is a perfect example of bad money being used for good purposes, by turning cash seized from crooks into funds supporting the work of six very deserving youth organisations. 
"CashBack for Communities has allowed thousands of young people access opportunities that they might not otherwise have got. More than 100,000 young people have benefitted so far.
"The projects being supported demonstrate to young people that there is more to life than petty crime and getting out of your head on drink and drugs. These six organisations have been demonstrating this for many years, doing fantastic work in the local community, often on a limited budget, getting kids off the streets and involved in positive activities.
"I'm pleased this money can be put towards more great projects to benefit young people across Scotland.
"Youth development is vitally important to the future of Scotland and this investment will allow these groups to continue their outstanding work, develop their activities in the future and benefit the wider community."
Youth Scotland
Youth Scotland is the largest non-uniformed youth organisation in Scotland and one of the key providers of information, training, advice and support to part time and voluntary youth workers. With a membership of 584 affiliated and 174 participating youth groups, it works in partnership with a network of area associations and local authorities to support youth workers to deliver safe and inspiring youth opportunities to young people throughout Scotland.
The Boys' Brigade
The Boys' Brigade (BB) is the oldest uniformed organisation for boys. Founded in Glasgow in 1883, the BB operates internationally with over 53,000 members, 14,000 leaders in 1,400 companies in Scotland alone.
Clubs for Young People
Clubs for Young People (Scotland) has been in the forefront of youth work since its formation in 1928 and is committed to providing young people with the necessary opportunities, support, skills and positive role models to enable them to become healthy and confident adults. It is currently working with 20,000 young people across Scotland each year and the vast majority of its club leaders are unpaid.
The Scottish Council - the Scout Association
Scottish Scouts are led by The Chief Commissioner of Scotland who is appointed by UK Headquarters to oversee the development of Scouting in Scotland. With around 36,000 members including leaders in Scotland, they deliver their objectives through The Programme, a continuous progression of training, activities and awards that covers everything that young people do in Scouting from the age of 6 to 25.
Girlguiding Scotland
Girlguiding Scotland is Scotland's largest voluntary organisation for girls and young women and is part of an international organisation. There are around 60,000 members in Scotland and 3,500 units according to the various age ranges of its membership.
The Girls' Brigade in Scotland
The Girls' Brigade in Scotland has just under 11,000 members, including leaders, within 254 companies. The Girls' Brigade follows four themes: Spiritual, Physical, Educational and Service.
Administered by Youth Scotland, each organisation is allocated an indicative sum that each of the six groups might use until March 31, 2012. Youth Scotland have produced a set of guidelines and application forms which will assist the process of both encouraging applications to come forward and enable those within each organisation to assess the bids submitted. Up to £1,000 will be made available for start-up groups and up to £2,000 for those already in place; particular effort will be made to ensure the inclusive nature of this funding by targeting those areas of Scotland where such bodies either do not exist or where certain parts of Scotland's youth are under represented through such organisations.
CashBack for Communities is a programme of diversionary activities for young people to increase the opportunities they have to develop their interests and skills in an enjoyable, fulfilling and supported way. Using funds recovered from the proceeds of crime, the Scottish Government has committed to investing over £13 million in a range of CashBack projects for young people.
The Scottish Government has committed to invest over £13 million and over 100,000 young people have benefitted so far.