Voluntary Action Fund

Celebrating Cultural Diversity!

The International Bright Young Sparks Midlothian, a sub-group of the Midlothian Youth Platform (MYP) were the proud recipients of the Young Scot Cultural Diversity Award 2010, announced at the glittering awards ceremony in Glasgow on the evening of 29 April 2010.

This group of seven young people from Poland, Malawi and Dubai have all moved to Scotland in the past three years, and volunteered for the MYP, which encourages young people to develop a better understanding of youth participation, citizenship and democracy issues. During the past year, the International Bright Young Sparks formed a team to look at racism, hate crime and bullying issues in Midlothian. Having created a questionnaire and worked with the police to find out more about hate crimes, the team produced a film that brought together their research and experiences with suggested changes they would like to see made.

Through the Equality Grants programme VAF funds the Young Scot Access All Areas project which aims to empower young people from ethnic minority, refugee and asylum seeking and faith groups to influence service provision in their local area, enhance access and promote inclusion. The Access All Areas project supports both the International Bright Young Sparks Midlothian and the Aberdeen Ethnic Minority Programme, whose group of fourteen 12-17 year olds were also nominated for this year's Cultural Diversity Award.

The annual Young Scot Awards are sponsored by the Sunday Mail, and this year were delivered in association with The Co-operative Foundation. For more information on the Awards and this year's recipients visit Young Scot Awards 2010.