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The projects in this area are:
1st & 3rd Johnstone Girls Brigade – ‘1st & 3rd Johnstone Girls Brigade’
1st & 3rd GB is part of GB Scotland, supports females aged 5-18 across Renfrewshire. Meeting weekly for 1.5 hours, we aim to reduce stigma and encourage opportunities regardless of social background. We provide hearty snacks to ensure no young person goes hungry and offer a safe space to reduce loneliness. Through team games, arts and crafts, and bible stories, we teach kindness and community spirit. Our goal for 2025/26 is to organise more events, including trips to theme parks, activity centres, and overnight camping, helping young people develop soft skills and make new friends beyond their local area.
2nd Johnstone (Fordbank) Scout Group – ‘Scouts: More Equipment To Deliver Adventurous Activities and Skills With Scouting In Johnstone’
Equipment to enhance weekly meetings and nights away opportunities being offered by the Fordbank Scout Group in Johnstone, so local young adults and the surrounding community, can afford and access Adventurous Activities and build skills through Scouting.
Bring Unity to Communities (B.U.C.) – ‘Shared Heritage – Food, Friends and Events’
B.U.C. (Bring Unity to Communities) are a newly constituted group of Ukrainian refugees and unaccompanied asylum seekers aged 15 – 25 years. We are planning a multicultural programme that will engage and support young people aged 15 – 25 years of all nationalities to come along to a safe space to make friends and feel less isolated, build their confidence and skills. B.U.C. will plan and deliver multicultural events in targeted partnership areas for young people to learn about international music, dance, cooking and culture to promote respect and understanding in their community.
Create Paisley – ‘Johnstone High – Creative Lunchtimes’
Our project offers a weekly creative drop-in for young people in S1-S6 at Johnstone High School, from September 2025 – March 2026. The purpose is to provide regular, positive, fun arts-based activities, in a safe, welcoming environment. For some students (especially in S1-S3) lunchtimes can be a noisy, stressful, overwhelming time. Our drop-ins offer a more supportive, creative space to relax and connect with others. ‘I love arts and crafts… So I love that I can do it in my lunch break.’ ‘It’s a really good group for making friends.
Fèis Phàislig – ‘Fèis Phàislig 2025: Music, Community & Connection’
Fèis Phàislig: Music, Community & Connection is a free project for young people aged 12–25 across Renfrewshire. It includes live music performances in high schools, hands-on workshops in local venues, and ceilidh events where you can watch, play, or take part. Whether you’re trying an instrument for the first time or just want to experience great live music from young performers, there’s something for everyone.
I Am Me – ‘I Am Me’
I Am Me Scotland has been working with various groups of young people over the past year to develop Child Exploitation Awareness resources, known as “You Are Not Alone” (YANA). We plan to continue working with young people in Renfrewshire to design and develop resources that raise awareness of child exploitation. Young people possess valuable insights into the issues within their local areas and will play a crucial role in shaping educational resources. These resources will become part of the YANA package, which will be made available to other local authorities throughout Scotland, putting Renfrewshire on the map. Additionally, we aim to engage young people in your area to deliver a comprehensive campaign, including a play that will be performed in high schools to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation. This initiative will include workshops, providing young people with the opportunity to influence and shape the campaign moving forward.
Johnstone Castle Learning Centre – ‘Johnstone Castle Chaos Club’
Johnstone Castle Learning Centre is an independent registered charity providing community services for all sections of the community. Currently Johnstone Castle Learning Centre provides consistent youth work with young people from Primary 4 to Senior High School pupils. The youth groups run every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evening. Each week the youth groups participate in different programmed activities tailored to their needs. We also offer a summer programme which gives the young people an extra drop-in session and the opportunity to engage in trips out with the community. The funding will allow us to continue delivering our services and will encourage young people to continue attending with a new variety of activities and outings.
Lamont Farm Project – ‘Lamont Farm Education Project’
Lamont Farm Project will provide young people with an education and experience with animals that they will not be able to experience anywhere else, through workshops, work experience, placements and our junior volunteering roles and we will support young people participating in awards such as Duke of Edinburgh and Saltire schemes. We will make working with and experiencing animals accessible to all either on site here or through outreach.
Paisley Rugby Football Club – ‘Free Sports Kit’
Paisley Rugby club wish to provide all young people attending with free sports kit to allow everyone to participate in rugby with no cost for Kit.
St Mirren Youth Football Club – ‘St Mirren YFC – To the Next Level!’
We’re a local football club creating fun, inclusive spaces for young people to play, train, and grow through sport. With this funding, we’ll provide new kit, better equipment, and training for our coaches—helping every player feel part of the team, develop their skills, and enjoy the game in a safe, supportive environment.
St. Benedict’s High School Parent Council – ‘St. Benedict’s High School Parent Council’
More and more pupils are becoming anxious particularly when they have exam pressures or other stressors in their lives and there are limited resources to help them. Many young people experience anxiety and worries in their lives and often live with regular panic attacks and don’t know where to turn for help. We hope to introduce this innovative Mindfulness programme to help provide pupils with the tools needed to enable them to become more confident and resilient, know how to deal with anxious thoughts or panic attacks, as well as how to deal with negative or intimidating behaviour. We would be grateful for your support in being able to teach these new resilience skills to our students, who can then share the techniques with others.
The Renfrewshire Toy Bank – ‘The Renfrewshire Toy Bank – Christmas Appeal 2025’
We will provide children and young people living in Renfrewshire with gift packages at Christmas via a referral system. We aim to provide younger children with books, soft toys, arts and crafts, board games, clothing, toys and sweets. We would also hope to provide all young people ages 12+ with a gift card, enabling cinema trips, coffee with friends or giving the gift of being able to go shopping for themselves. Working in partnership with social work, local schools and nurseries, health care organisations, grass route organisations as well as various local charities we aim to reach as many children and young people as possible ensuring we reach those who are care experienced. Last year (2024) we distributed 3,044 gift packages and 596 teenagers also received gift cards and hope to be able to do the same in 2025.
The Visionaries – ‘Visionary Youth Voice’
The Visionary Project is a youth-led group designed to create safe, inclusive, and engaging spaces for young from minority backgrounds throughout Renfrewshire. Through free, locally based events and youth activities, the project empowers young people, especially those from diverse backgrounds, to take the lead in shaping their community. It focuses on building confidence, building physical wellbeing through sports, promoting positive social behaviour, ensuring every young person feels heard, valued, and included. The Visionary Project ensures all young people can take part, connect with others, and thrive in a supportive environment.
Thorn Athletic Community Trust – ‘Summer Songwriting Programme’
Our unique songwriting programme will give the participants a basic grasp on the musical process through a number of carefully planned practical sessions. They will cover creative idea generation, music concept and writing lyrics, creating music and rehearsing, recording and final performance. They will enjoy learning chords, rhythm, melody etc. It will boost their confidence and communications skills and foster teamwork among the group.
Who Cares? Scotland – ‘Who Cares Scotland Care Experienced Groups-(The Diamonds and The Chill Out and The Drop In )’
Who Cares? Scotland is an organisation that care experienced people can join. Young people in care in Renfrewshire come for fun, make friends, try new things and talk about issues that affect them. They share that being in care can make them feel different so our group is a safe space to belong, with others who understand. We provide a lift for families without transport and provide food. Children get a chance to try hobbies, go trips and share worries that they might not share with others. We want Care Experienced people to have equality, respect and love like everyone else!
YOUTH INSPIRED – ‘YI LOVE ME’
YI LOVE ME 2025-2026 will be an inclusive LGBTQ+ project that provides a safe, relational fun place to be where young people from this community can connect with each other, find their voice and link with the wider Renfrewshire LGBTQ+ community.