A project that helps those living with sight loss in Staffordshire to find work and improve their lives has been awarded £144,000.

The Beacon Centre, the area’s leading sight loss charity, has been awarded the funding from the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund through their Building Better Opportunities programme and the Evolve scheme run by Steps to Work.

It will fund the project until December 2019.

Those living in areas including Cannock, Lichfield, Tamworth and East Staffordshire, will be among those able to benefit.

The project will support 75 people over the age of 16 to find employment or enter education and boost their social skills via targeted activities including IT training, cookery courses, bespoke employability courses and financial workshops in a range of community venues.

The aim is to get people living with sight loss engaged in activities to improve their work readiness and progress into education, employment or self-employment and to become economically active.

Beacon Centre’s Head of Charity Operations Katie Jobling said: “The Beacon Centre is delighted to have been awarded this funding until December 2019 from the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social fund.

“We want to break down the barriers to employment by improving people’s confidence, independence and life skills.”

She added: “We are looking forward to forging new partnerships as we deliver this project in Staffordshire.”

• “The Big Lottery Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It puts people in the lead to improve their lives and communities, often through small local projects.

• It is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by National Lottery players for good causes. Every year it invests over £650 million and awards around 12,000 grants across the UK for health, education, environment and charitable purposes. 5 Section nine: Publicity (v5.0 – 12 December 2016)

• Since June 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to projects that change the lives of millions of people.

• The project has received over £3 million of funding from the European Social Fund as part of the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England. The Department for Work and Pensions is the Managing Authority for the England European Social Fund programme. Established by the European Union, the European Social Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support skills development, employment and job creation, social inclusion and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding”