Children North East, the region’s oldest independent children’s charity, based in Newcastle upon Tyne is developing its Little Friends project with the support of the Port of Tyne, one of the UK’s major ports.
The Little Friends project delivers services to families with young children in the Cowgate area of Newcastle. Supporting around 20 families, sessions will run over the next two years offering activities for children, support for mums and dads, grans and grandads and other family members who are in need of advice or guidance.
Carol Taylor, Senior Fundraiser at Children North East, said: “We are delighted with this new partnership with the Port of Tyne, which will make a huge difference to the children growing up in this part of Newcastle.
“We recognise the hardship families are facing currently. Children North East provides expert and dedicated support to help families overcome issues to enable parents to support their children to live happy and healthy lives.”
In particular the project will support young mums by offering opportunities for their personal development, offering parental education and other training workshops to equip parents with new skills.
Louise Tinkler, HR and Communications Director at Port of Tyne, said: “We are delighted to support Children North East; the Little Friends project makes a real impact in an area of our community that needs it most. We hope that through our support we can help families and young people to thrive.”
Operating from Children North East’s Families and Parenting Service on the Cowgate estate in Newcastle’s West End, the Little Friends project will also provide access to Children North East’s family support services including early years stay and play activity sessions, a toy library, and cookery sessions – all supported by qualified staff.
In addition, parents and their children will be offered family activities in the school holidays so that low income families have access to free family fun sessions, along with trips into the city to explore free access venues such as parks, museums and galleries.
The Port of Tyne is committed to working with and supporting its local communities by helping communities to thrive, building stronger local communities through people and places; by supporting children and young people and encouraging them to thrive; by supporting projects that improve the health and wellbeing of local communities.
In addition to the support given to the local community through sponsorship, the Port has donated almost £500k in grants over the past 13 years through the Port of Tyne Community Action Fund at the Community Foundation to the benefit of over 180 community organisations.