Year of Young People 2018: Funding Awarded to Wild Projects Designed and Delivered by Young People

The Future Routes Fund is funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and administered by ReRoute, Scotland’s Youth Biodiversity Panel, with support from Young Scot.

More than thirty groups and individual young people aged 11-26, from throughout Scotland applied for funding for projects they designed, to help Scottish youth be inspired by our country’s natural landscapes and wildlife. In addition to providing financial assistance, SNH will work with Young Scot to support the groups in further developing their ideas and bringing them to life. This could involve the use of SNH’s and Young Scot’s resources, or assistance from local staff.

Mike Cantlay, Chair of Scottish Natural Heritage, said: “It is wonderful to see the creative ideas young people across Scotland have to celebrate our incredible nature and wildlife. The winning projects will ensure young people, whether in cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow or from our islands such as Skye and Shetland, have opportunities to really engage with the natural world. We are proud to support these projects as they inspire young people throughout the country to enjoy nature now, and help work to preserve it for the future.”

The projects to be funded are:

• Our Park, Our Place, Edinburgh: developing environmental activities for young people in Holyrood Park and an exhibition at Abbeyhill Primary School
• Into the Woods Young Collective, Glasgow: creating a Sensory Garden and hosting art and music workshops at The Children’s Wood in North Kelvin Meadow
• Mid Yell Junior High Schools Eco-Schools Committee, Shetland: cleaning beaches and collecting recyclable plastic to create paths for students to get to school in Yell
• North Lanarkshire Year of Young People 2018 Ambassadors, North Lanarkshire: hosting an outdoor learning festival in a local country park to teach young people about nature and help them develop outdoor skills
• Craigmarloch School Pupils, Inverclyde: gathering research on a local environmental issue and recording data using motion sensor cameras before presenting their findings to a larger audience
• Lucie Treacher, Sutherland: bringing cinematic experiences promoting the local environment and cultural histories to local communities without cinemas through projections in historic buildings
• Misty Isle Youth Forum, Skye: offering several free, educational arts and crafts activities using items found on beach-cleans during the summer
• New Age Youth Group, Central Belt: encouraging youth to take a break from social media and exploring local green spaces and learning from nature
• Project Colour, Fife: making Silverburn Park a brighter place for both young people and wildlife to visit by adding colourful posts, bird boxes, and hedgehog houses
• Grove Academy Eco Group, Dundee: creating a game to encourage young people to explore the nature and wildlife on their doorstep
• Julie Aitken, Outer Hebrides: hosting workshops throughout the island to engage young people in the natural environment

Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham, said: “I have been hugely impressed by the enthusiasm and creativity demonstrated by all the applicants to the Future Routes Fund. Young people can, and do, play a vital role in the protection of Scotland’s precious natural environment and the wildlife which depends upon it. That’s something we should celebrate and support, particularly during the Year of Young People, and the Future Routes Fund is a great way of doing exactly that.”

Louise Macdonald, Chief Executive of Young Scot, said: “The fantastic ideas being delivered by young people through the Future Routes Fund will help more people make the most of Scotland’s abundant natural beauty during the Year of Young People 2018. Not only are these projects by young people, they were also selected by the young people involved in ReRoute. The Future Routes Fund demonstrates the wonderful things that can happen when you involve young people in a project from beginning to end.”

ENDS

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For more information please contact the Young Scot Communications team on 0131 313 2488 or email gavine@young.scot.

Photo Caption

Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham and Mike Cantlay, SNH Chair, with Edinburgh area winning group Our Park Our Place. Credit: Lorne Gill/SNH