ECDP is pleased to announce that it has been awarded £143,766 as part of the Big Lottery Fund's Reaching Communities programme.

We will be using the money to expand a successful volunteering programme that helps disabled people become more confident and less isolated in the community. The expansion will include training disabled people to become volunteers so they can help others in the community and gain valuable skills.

Ann Gregson, Volunteers and Mentoring Manager at EDCP, said: "We are really pleased to have been granted funding from the Big Lottery Fund. It means that our very worthwhile project, the Independent Visitors Scheme, can continue to build on the success it has had so far. We will also be able to move into areas of Essex that we have not had the capacity to deal with in the past.

"The volunteers and clients involved in the scheme will be thrilled to learn that the project will continue. We have volunteers who were once clients of the scheme who had no confidence, had problems going out into their community and had little hope of ever finding employment. One such volunteer is now doing a post-graduate degree in disability equality at Anglia Ruskin University."