Community / Donations sought for youth cafe project amid funding uncertainty
A CROWDFUNDING campaign has been launched to raise money for a popular youth cafe project which could lose some of its funding at the end of March.
The OPEN Project said money raised from the campaign would go towards the running costs for its Da Café initiative, which could include covering the cost of food or drinks for youngsters and funding two staff posts.
The Co-op Warm Spaces Funding Boost is also match-funding donations, up to a total of £5,000. People can donate here.
Da Café opens for young people aged between 14 and 25 in the Olive Tree in Lerwick between 4pm and 6pm on Mondays and Thursdays.
The café sees around 50 people each week come though the doors.
The aim is pretty simple – to provide a safe, warm and free space for young people to go in Lerwick.
On Thursdays £5 vouchers are given out to every young person so they can have something to eat and drink, while on Mondays there is the chance to use ‘pay it forwards’ donated by the community.
The crowdfunding page, organised by the OPEN peer education project, said: “We currently only have funding secured to provide free food on Thursday’s and open on Monday’s until the end of March.
“While we could continue to open on Thursday’s without the offer of free food these sessions may lose some of their value, specifically as the cost of living crisis continues to add pressure to our community.”
Funding for Da Café comes from Young Start – a National Lottery Community Fund – and the Cashback from Communities (CBfC) Youth Work Fund, administered by YouthLink Scotland.
The Cashback for Communities Youth Work fund is ending as of the 31 March, and this pays for four staff hours and well refreshments for the young people.
So far more than £1,300 has been raised for the youth-led project.
OPEN Project mentoring coordinator and development worker Wayne Leask said: “We have set a soft limit of £3,000 but we are hoping to break this to continue Da Café for as long as possible.
“Particularly in this climate of increased poverty and economic crisis, we are hoping to provide a hot meal and drink for as many young people as we can.”
He said it is looking like it the last time the CBfC scheme will be run as the “Scottish Government have decided not to provide funding to continue after April”.
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