Our Social Group brings together autistic people (aged 18-35) from across West Dunbartonshire. The group reduces social isolation among autistic people living locally, and supports them to become more active in the community. Our Social Group is run by a specialist support worker and 3 volunteers. The grant would cover the costs of the staff involved, plus a range of social group activities. This will benefit up to 15 autistic people aged between 18 – 35 years who live in West Dunbartonshire.

We are a Football Club with a youth Academy based in Alexandria, we have 252 playing members and 52 non playing members. The money will be used to help with the cost of facility hire and to relieve the financial burden in families due to the cost-of-living crisis. This will benefit Our members within our community.

Dumbarton Shoto Budo is based out of the Concord Community Centre in Dumbarton. At present our group consists of approximately 30 members made up of people aged between 5 and 62. Our primary focus is Self-Defence and all of our sessions are developed around this. This funding will be used to cover the cost of renting the hall and our participants memberships and insurances which at present is our biggest expenditure.

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.

The group is based in Concord CE Centre and has approx. 70-80 members. The group is based in Concord CE Centre and has approx. 70-80 members. The money will be used for the running of the group. Volunteer training, food for the pantry, expenses, activities, uniforms and team building activities.

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.

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.

We are a Youth Football team based in Clydebank, part of the Clydebank FC set up. We have 19 boys who currently play with the team and 3 coaches.  We train two nights a week and play games on a Saturday.  We have been together since the boys were 5 years old and are now in our 9th year together as a team.  We will use this money in the current climate and cost of living crisis we will cover the monthly fees that the families have to pay each month to the club £30 each player. As we have 19 boys this will cover 9 months of fees.  This will benefit the families and boys in the team.

We are a Shopmobility centre, based in Clyde Shopping Centre.  We offer provision to people who may require assistance to get out and about, especially in the shopping centre. We are aware of the social isolation and want to start up a Boccia group which is suitable for people of all abilities and ages.  We also want to encourage young people to come along.  Boccia is a paralympic sport and we would look to join Disability Sports Scotland to get support from them.

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.