Edinburgh children and young person’s charity has won £30,000 with a possible £10,000 still to come
An Edinburgh children and young person’s charity has won a prize worth over £30,000.
The Junction, based in Leith, has been named the only Scottish recipient of the GSK Impact Award.
It recognises the outstanding work of community-based health and wellbeing charities and The Junction will receive £30,000 of unrestricted funding as well as access to training and development worth an estimated £6,000.
The awards are run in partnership with The King’s Fund and it is the second time the charity, which works with children and young people to help reduce harmful behaviours and improve health, has been awarded the accolade.
Sam Anderson, director at The Junction, said: “We are delighted at being a 2015 GSK Impact Award winner. Being a GSK Impact Award winner in 2009 provided the Junction with the platform to celebrate our strengths, develop and deepen.
The 2015 GSK Impact Award offers fantastic recognition of all we have achieved and provides us with both significant funding and development opportunities
“The 2015 GSK Impact Award offers fantastic recognition of all we have achieved in the six years since and provides us with both significant funding and development opportunities which will ensure we are able to continue to flourish.”
The Junction tackles unhealthy behaviours, like alcohol and drug use and risky sexual behaviour, by creating a supportive environment for young people and building services around their needs.
Services include a drop-in sexual health services clinic, complementary therapies, one-to-one support and counselling.
It also carries out educational work on alcohol use and parental substance misuse and outreach in schools and on streets in the community.
The Junction has been invited to join the GSK Impact Awards Network – a unique learning network supporting more than 60 award winning charities to develop their leaders, share and learn from each other’s experiences and expertise and build the recognition of their significant and vital contribution to their communities.
It will receive its prize at a ceremony held at the Science Museum in London on 14 May, along with nine other winners.
An overall winner, who will receive a further £10,000, will be revealed on the night.
Lisa Weaks, third sector manager at The King’s Fund, said: “The Junction’s starting point is that young people are an asset with the potential to improve their own health.
"It targets a range of young people who would otherwise slip through the net. It builds services around the needs of young people, supporting them, rather than providing inflexible services which its users have to fit around. It is an excellent charity demonstrating impressive achievements.”
