National children’s charity, 4Children, has been awarded £50,000 from the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to launch Rainbow Links - a mobile bus service which will provide crucial information and support to families with young children under the age of five in Braintree and surrounding rural areas.
The mobile bus service, Rainbow Links, has the potential to make a real difference to the lives of up to 800 families in its community by delivering crucial support and signposting parents to relevant services across the community. Bringing together a range of professionals, it will provide information across a variety of areas from health, youth provision and school based services to adult education, employment and parenting skills. Families will also have the opportunity to participate in fun play sessions led by professional children’s centre staff.
Rainbow Links will stop at specified locations according to a weekly timetable which will be widely publicised. It will help to overcome isolation difficulties in the community by prioritising families without transport. Families will also be welcome to contribute towards the planning, delivery and evaluation of the services through focus groups and volunteering opportunities.
The funding award was granted as part of the DCSF’s ‘Co-Location’ fund which supports projects that will help improve children and family services in schools and within the community through innovative and effective partnership working.
Carole Ware, 4Children Children’s Centre Co-ordinator at the Rainbow Children’s Centre in Essex said: “We know from our work in 4Children’s Children’s Centres that friendly, professional support can make a tremendous difference to the lives of families. I’m delighted that we will now be able to deliver these benefits to families with young children living in more rural areas of the community who otherwise may not have access to this crucial support.”
Anne Longfield OBE, Chief Executive of 4Children said: “Our children’s centres go straight to the heart of 4Children’s mission to help children and families get the type of joined-up support they need in their local communities. I am delighted that we are now able to take this to the next level with the pioneering Rainbow Links project. I hope that it is a service that we can soon build upon to help improve the quality of life of isolated families in many more communities across the country.”
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families said: “I want these winning projects to lay down a marker, not just for their local communities but for the rest of the country. This is setting a benchmark for how schools and wider children’s services in the 21st century should operate and the role they can play in raising standards for all children...
“Schools do not exist in isolation to the rest of their communities. Many schools already work with public, voluntary and private sector services and organisations – that should be the norm in every single school.”
Notes to the EditorFor further information, please contact Julie Watkins on 0207 522 6928 / 0791 787 0641
Julie.watkins@4Children.org.uk Full details of the 101 projects getting collocation funding are at:
The £200m co-location fund was announced in the Children’s Plan: One Year On document published in December 2008 -
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/oneyearon/index.cfm?id=1DCSF has also today published a toolkit for local authorities to help plan co-located projects:
www.dcsf.gov.uk/ecm/colocationtoolkit4Children 4Children is the national charity all about children and families.
4Children develops, influences and shapes national policy on all aspects of children, young people and families lives and works with a wide range of partners to deliver real support for children and families in their community.
4Children has spearheaded a joined up, integrated approach to children’s services which puts the needs of the most vulnerable at the centre. It is the one of the largest not for profit Children’s Centre provider in the country and also runs and supports out of school programmes and the new next generation ‘myplace’ youth hubs.
The organisation has recently launched the high profile
Family Commission chaired by Esther Rantzen. This eighteen month enquiry into families in the UK today will include one of the largest consultations with families ever undertaken and will report in autumn 2010.
For more information see:
www.4Children.org.ukRainbow Links will be a multi agency partnership project, bringing together a range of professionals from the health and social sector.
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