The WW2 Dunkirk little ship, the Skylark IX’s story of hope and resilience is what inspires all of our Community Engagement activity, alongside the people we work with. Weekly, five adults in recovery and one retired community member participate in our boatbuilding programme based in the Denny Tank Museum, Dumbarton.  We also have 14 members of the community who engage weekly in our textile group based in the Lennox Evangelical Church. Over the past few years we have continued to engage with young people in schools and local community centres, as well as running our own youth sessions outside, locally, all around West Dunbartonshire.  Our regular Community Engagement activities helps to reduce social isolation, and creates opportunities for skills building in a meaningful, inclusive, therapeutic and collaborative way, developing our Skylark IX Crew Culture, which makes everyone involved feel a part of something for their collective or individual goals and aspirations.   We intend to have Skylark IX Rowing School Summer sessions running twice weekly for 6 weeks through July and August 2023, specifically targeting young people ranging from ages 12-25. These sessions will be based out at Balloch on Loch Lomond and the River Leven at our base by the Maid of the Loch. We will utilise funding to bring in support and expertise from partnering organisations such as Royal West Amateur Rowing Club, alongside our own team of trained volunteers from our current programmes/rowing school members and employ a sessional youth worker to support the logistics and operational support of the project engaging with the young people too.  We will purchase any necessary extra water safety equipment (i.e. life jackets) and buy materials for our boatbuilders to produce smaller oars. We will also utilise a bit of contingency for any other potential amendments to our wooden boats or adjustments that may need to be resolved in the workshop, to ensure our boats are fully accessible for any young person wishing to be participate. This will be a free activity for young people, where they will be supported with safe travel where required, to and from our sessions, and we will help tackle holiday hunger by providing ample amounts of healthy breakfasts, lunches, water and snacks for all involved.  We will also purchase Crew T-shirts and beanies to gift to the young people involved, to evoke further becoming part of "The Skylark IX Crew".

We are Gavinburn Primary School’s Parent Counci who meet on average once a month and our aim is to help promote partnership between the school, its pupils, its parents and the community. We develop and engage in activities throughout the year which support the school, education and welfare of the pupils.  We identify and represent the views of parents on not only the education provided by the school but any matters affecting the school, education and welfare of the pupils. We strive to increase social and well-being opportunities for our pupils and community.  We would like to fund the purchase of outdoor wear for pupils of Gavinburn Primary School.  We will purchase  waterproof jackets and trousers, fleece jackets and wellington boots to allow more outdoor learning for the pupils.  Gavinburn encourages as much outdoor learning as possible and considers itself to be an "outdoor" school.  Our pupils will benefit from this funding.

We are a social enterprise engaging people in West Dunbartonshire with the arts. We are passionate about breaking down barriers, or perceived barriers, to participation. We work in areas of deprivation and with people with additional support needs. We will run a number of trips for young people aged 3-25 to see professional theatre/performance. Young people aged 3-25 from throughout West Dunbartonshire will benefit from the project. Our aim is to have 100 people attend the theatre as a part of this project. 

Sessions at the horticulture project at Knowetop form part of the recovery programme offered by Alternatives to clients in its community-based and residential programmes. Our Into Nature programme of afterschool and school holiday sessions, runs from March to October and there is a range of outdoor activities, storytelling, and nature inspired art and crafts. We also work with schools, and to date 108 children from the 2 local primaries have taken part in our schools programme. This funding will be used to develop and deliver a programme of outdoor activities at Knowetop for 11 to 18 year olds, providing young people with opportunities to experience nature and take part in workshops to learn new practical skills. This project is aimed at young people between 11 and 18 years old from anywhere across West Dunbartonshire. Our programme to date has focused more on younger children, and we’ve identified a gap in our provision for this age group.

We are a community group based in Braehead, Bonhill. We currently have 25 members and are open to volunteers from other groups, schools and nurseries to join. We are applying for funding to make improvements to the community seating Area, Create Light, Physical Activity to garden users and improve shelter areas.

WDCF provides support to anyone affected by poverty and food insecurity in West Dunbartonshire. We provide Emergency Food Parcels, a School Uniform Bank, a Babybank, School Holiday Brunch Bags, a Christmas Toybank and an Emergency Fuel Project.  We provide support by home delivery, delivering across West Dunbartonshire 5 days per week.  Our Emergency food Parcels include ambient food, fresh and frozen food, toiletries, household, Baby food/milk/nappies, and pet food; and each parcel contains enough food for 7 days for the household. The funding will be used for Charity operating costs.  This will benefit anyone living in West Dunbartonshire who is affected by poverty and food insecurity.

We are a parent council of approximately 15 members supporting 350 pupils within the school. We do this by meeting regularly with school senior leaders to discuss school issues and ways the parent council can support the school.  We do regular fundraising that helps to supplement school funds, which are used to enhance the children’s educational experience.   Fundraising is done through events such as Christmas and spring fairs, bounce-a-thons, sponsored walks.  The money will be used to purchase Chromebooks for Knoxland Primary School. This will benefit all children, teaching and support staff within the school environment, giving them access to a wider range of resources and digitally enabled lessons.

Centre81 Steering group are based in Centre81 in Whitecrook and provide activities for local young people and their families.  We try to provide consistent weekly sessions focusing on arts, sports, cooking, and other activities that provide not only fun but a range of soft skills and build relationships within our community.  We are applying for funding to continue providing these opportunites for young people in 2023.

St Marys Primary School, Clydebank, G81 6DL. We, The Parent Council, are made up of 4 core elected members however parents/carers and automatically invited when their child is enroled in the school. We aim to raise funds to help enrich the childrens learning.We would improve one of our playgrounds which is delapitated and has a lack of resources to benefit the childrens social, emotional and physical well-being. Approx. 400 children in the school and attatched nursery will be able benefit from the improvements.

We are based in Dalmuir at Golden friendships club. We have 500 + members. Our weekly activities include Arts and crafts, Drama, karaoke, Dinner clubs, Bingo clubs, Entertainment, Dancing, Singing. We also have a campaign tackling loneliness and are currently planning outdoor activities and bus trips. Gardening is one of our newest activities.We will use the money to make our new gardening plot accessible. For all. We want to make it wheelchair friendly put in raised bed and other necessary requirements to make gardening available to all. The funds will benefit the members and we will also use some of the money towards our outdoor activities where we will need to travel.