Vale People First, the advocacy charity for and led by people with learning disabilities has recently secured a grant of £15,000 from the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales through its Community Programme.
Vale People First based in the YMCA building in Barry provides a representative voice for people with a learning disability in the Vale of Glamorgan area and works to improve and influence existing and future services for people with learning disabilities and also provides direct support to enable individuals to access services and live independently.
The charity which is fully led by its users is looking to expand its work by using the grant to employ a part-time facilitator to establish and develop groups for existing and new members and undertake outreach work into the community to educate other organisations on disability awareness and issues. They will also establish Training Group to enable up to 30 people with a learning disability become active members of their community, take on new skills and help the charity become a bigger and better organisation.
Liz Davidson, the Co-ordinator for Vale People First said
“The grant from Lloyds TSB Foundation will provide funding to develop our work over the next two years and enable those with learning disabilities to better represent their needs and play an active role in the communities they live in.”
