The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has announced 72 projects that have been allocated a share of £19m from its Reaching Communities programme.

The Children’s Society was the largest recipient in this announcement, and has been granted £563,581 to help prevent sexual exploitation of young children in Tyne and Wear.

Richard Haigh, programme manager for the charity’s Scarpa project said: “This grant will help provide young people with one-to-one help when they need it and also fund a chance to be part of the Scarpa Squad – a group of young people who’ve overcome their problems and want to help others.”

Also among those receiving funding are Spurgeons, which has been allotted almost £300,000 to support families with fathers in prison, and the Young Minds Trust, which will use its £375,000 to expand its Reaching Out to Achieve Resilience project across England.

Nat Sloane, England chair of BIG, said: “The Big Lottery Fund is committed to supporting projects that enable children and young people to lead happy and fulfilled lives, especially initiatives which intervene with targeted support when problems are at a manageable level before allowing them to escalate further.”

A full list of grantees is available on BIG’s website.