A new childcare centre in Blackwood will be created, thanks to Welsh Government cash to a project that helps families in disadvantaged areas across Wales.
Lesley Griffiths, the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, announced £6.9 million in funding on January 19 for the Flying Start scheme. She said the funding will help families and create jobs through construction of new facilities and the local employees needed to run them.
Ms Griffiths said: “This funding will support 40 new capital projects across Wales to ensure we have the facilities we need to meet our commitment to double the number of children benefitting from Flying Start to 36,000 by 2016.
“Having visited Flying Start facilities across Wales and talked to the families who have benefitted from the help and support provided by our dedicated staff, the huge impact the programme is having on people’s lives is clear to see.”
The scheme helped Colin and Lisa Manning, who live at home in Caerphilly County Borough with eight of their 11 children.
A stressful home life saw social services refer the family to Flying Start and they started a Parent Nurture Programme, which helps relationships.
Colin said the scheme completely changed their lives.
He said: : “In only the ten weeks it took to complete the course I learned so much about parenting.”
Rhianon Passmore, Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning said: “The Flying Start Programme helps to improve the lives of both parents and children throughout Caerphilly County Borough. It is wonderful to see that they have helped Colin and Lisa form a much happier family unit.”