The National Lottery Community Fund has this week confirmed that they will fund £100,000 of PATH’s most ambitious project yet.

The Pathways to Empowerment: Digital, Literacy and Numeracy Upskilling project is the natural evolution of PATH’s Numeracy Project.

Until now, the Numeracy Project has been SPF funded and has helped over 100 people across Pembrokeshire in the last year upskill in all areas of mathematics, which has enabled them to manage their money, pay their bills, and stay out of debt.

All of these things help reduce the risk of homelessness, which is the overall aim of the project.

In addition to this, the project has also been hugely successful in improving the overall wellbeing of the participants, with mental health counselling, tenancy support and much more being available at each session.

Learners have made friendships, built up their confidence, and some have even become volunteers on the project itself.

The success of the project was evident in August 2024 when the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, visited a session in Haverfordwest.

“It’s not just the numeracy, but the social interaction, the confidence… you can see firsthand the incredible work that’s going on here,” she said during her visit.  

With the SPF funding coming to an end in March 2025, PATH has made several applications for funding to continue the project, with the National Lottery Community Fund being the first to make a decision.

Going forward, the project will still teach numeracy skills, but with an additional focus on digital and literacy skills.

During the first year of the Numeracy Project, the learners were keen to improve their reading and writing skills, and many had little to no confidence using devices such as laptops and mobile phones.

With that experience and feedback guiding us, it was an obvious choice to expand the scope of the project for its second year.

“I’m delighted that we have secured this funding from The National Lottery Community Fund and want to thank them for seeing our vision for the future of the project,” said Michael Hooper, Managing Director.

“Our innovative Numeracy Project has been a huge success and the results we’ve seen from our learners has been amazing.

“We have ambitious plans to reach many more people in the second year of the project, and by offering far more support we know we can continue to make a big difference in reducing homelessness.

“The application was informed by the learners on the course, a public consultation which had over 500 responses, our stakeholders and partners, and the delivery team who had constructed the course content.

“Last but not least, I’d like to extend a huge thank you to all of the PATH team who have worked so hard on this project over the last year. The team’s dedication has not only helped over 100 people already, but enabled us to help many, many more in the years to come.”

If you need help with your numeracy, digital or literacy skills, contact us today or call 01437 765335.