Disability charity’s college set for a £250,000 transformation

A DISABILITY charity’s college in Loughborough is set to be transformed with the help of a £250,000 grant.

Sense, which runs a specialist college in Loughborough for young people with complex disabilities aged 16 to 25, has received the cash from grant-giving charity the Garfield Weston Foundation.

The college provides education and personalised learning to support employment and independent living.

The funding will help transform the service, through renovation of the building and investment in new services, including early intervention support for disabled children, and arts, sport and wellbeing programmes.

Work will get under way next year and the college will continue to operate throughout.

Sense chief executive, Richard Kramer, said: “Sense College in Loughborough offers a range of opportunities for disabled young people to support education, independent living and employment goals.

“The generosity of the Garfield and Weston Foundation will help us extend our provision in the region, by developing a hub that offers pioneering services and programmes that support disabled people, their families and the wider community.”

The new Sense hub is expected to benefit 8,000 disabled people, their families and the wider local community in the first year of operation.

In 2015, the Garfield and Weston Foundation contributed £200,000 towards Sense’s Birmingham hub, which is a major community resource and provider of disability services.

Over the next five years, Sense will scale up its work in England and specialist

Northern Ireland, developing five new Hubs in Leicestershire, Leeds, Belfast, Lincolnshire, and Bristol where they have existing services.

The new Sense hub is expected to benefit 8,000 disabled people, their families and the wider local community in the first year of operation.