The President’s Trust has invested more than €600,000 into six innovative projects to help vulnerable young people facing social exclusion or at risk of poverty, figures released on its third anniversary show.

This amount goes over and above the €4.5 million being pumped into The Emanuele Cancer Research Foundation, Malta’s first cancer research entity announced in November, which is a collaboration with the University of Malta, and the Fondazione Terzo Pilastro, Internazionale.

One of the projects, carried out in partnership with the Blossom Foundation, has allowed 220 children at St Paul’s Bay primary to receive counselling services. The project has proven to be such a success that apart from continuing to offer this service to the St Paul’s Bay primary, the Trust has also been asked to extend the service to the Naxxar Middle School.

Another project, which has grown from the Trust’s partnership with St Jean Antide Foundation is Y-Assist, which focuses on providing semi-independent, supported accommodation to help young pregnant women and mothers aged 18 to 24 regain charge of their lives, with the technical expertise of the UK Life Charity.

Spark, meanwhile is the fruit of a partnership with the Birżebbuġa Local council and Agenzija Zgħazagħ, to build a new skate park for youngsters in the area who had nowhere to practice their sport and were endangering their lives by going on the roads.

Other projects include: an employment initiative to help disadvantaged youth with 51 participants in a year; Adopt A Family helps those at risk of poverty improve their standard of living; a scholarship programme for students from a disadvantaged socio-economic background; Programm Tbissima, a children’s community centre in Marsa; and a national readathon that will also provide the tools to help visually-impaired children.

“Our reward is finally reaching the stage where we can actually implement the project that is making a real difference,” Ms Borda Bondin said.

Set up in 2015 by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, the Trust brings together renowned and experienced businessmen, academics and professionals to create collaborations that make a tangible impact to youngsters facing difficult situations.

The Trust is currently funding six initiatives and working on a further three. Each initiative is funded with the support of the private sector, researched and costed to ensure its sustainability, explained Trust director Sarah Borda Bondin.

“Our sponsors are our active partners. We enter into partnerships with local and international organisations to audit each project at a planning stage to guarantee an effective, accountable process where the outcome of every initiative is measured,” she said.

President Coleiro Preca, who attended the anniversary celebrations, thanked the Board of Trustees, and all the entities which worked closely with The President’s Trust on its social projects. She also thanked the young people and volunteers who dedicated their time to the social projects.

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