The Coalition, a charity providing youth and community programmes in Newcastle, has been chosen from hundreds of applicants across the UK to receive one of 30 AOL Innovation in the Community Awards of £2,000, plus a year's free AOL Broadband Gold subscription.

The awards scheme was set up by AOL UK and the national charity Citizens Online to encourage community groups and charities to make the most of the Internet and is now in its third year.

The Coalition's youth and community programmes work with vulnerable young people who become involved in truancy, anti-social behaviour and offending (www.thecoalition.org.uk). Its aim is to provide mentors who help young people make informed choices about their lives and realise their potential. To help achieve this, the Coalition set up a mentoring programme to assist young people with their numeracy and literacy, which has proved very successful.

The charity will use the £2,000 AOL Innovation in the Community Award to develop an online resource for its mentors, providing essential support and learning materials. Mentors meet with their mentees at a variety of locations across the city, from homes to shopping centres and fast food restaurants. The online resource will mean that mentors can access teaching materials from any location.

In addition, The Coalition will use the award to develop an out-of-hours online support service for mentors who need to contact staff or revisit training materials.

Anne Tate, Chief Executive of The Coalition said: "The online resource will really enhance the work we carry out through our mentoring scheme, which is a project we've wanted to develop for several years. Our young mentees like being able to meet informally at different locations so having remote access to resources complements the service perfectly. It's also great that the award means we will be able to offer our mentors the out of hours support that is needed."

John Fisher, Chief Executive of Citizens Online, added: "The level of innovation in the award applications never fails to amaze us. The Internet is clearly very beneficial for charities and community groups and this year's winners have realised its potential in some extremely creative ways. They have looked beyond the obvious to create valuable projects that have clear benefits for their community."

The 30 recipients of the AOL Innovation in the Community Awards 2005 will be invited to attend an awards ceremony in London in October.

Notes to Editors

About the AOL Innovation in the Community Awards 2005
The AOL Innovation in the Community Awards were set up by AOL UK and the national charity Citizens Online in 2003 to encourage innovative use of the Internet among community groups and registered charities in the UK. The 2005 awards were launched on 21 March, with a closing date of 6 June 2005.

A judging panel selected 30 projects to each receive an award to the value of £2,000, payable by cheque. In addition, each winning organisation will receive a complimentary AOL Broadband Gold account (up to 1Mbps) for 12 months, subject to Terms and Conditions.

Full entry criteria and Terms and Conditions for the awards can be found at www.aol.co.uk/innovation and AOL Keyword: Innovation Awards.

About AOL UK
AOL is the leading online interactive services provider to the UK, with more than 2.4 million members, including more than one million on AOL Broadband. AOL offers a range of services in the UK, including dial-up, broadband and voice, as well as unrivalled content and community for all the family.

AOL UK's Community Investment Programme seeks to extend the benefits of the online medium to those who would most benefit from it, but who are often the least likely to obtain access through traditional means. Priority areas are young people, particularly those outside of mainstream education, and people with disabilities. AOL UK is a founding member of the Alliance for Digital Inclusion.

About Citizens Online
Citizens Online is a national charity committed to closing the digital divide. It believes that members of the community should have access to ICT and the Internet to ensure they are socially included in all areas of today's society.

Citizens Online's work includes research projects analysing the ever increasing digital environment and its impact on society as a whole. As part of its ongoing involvement, Citizens Online works closely with the IT and Telecoms industry and local and central government in both an advisory and lobbying capacity and the development of ongoing projects across the UK.

For further information please contact: Lucy Hunter in the AOL press office 020 7348 8357 / [email protected], Anne Tate from The Coalition 01661 868424 / [email protected] or Danny Gilchrist from The Coalition 0191 230 0808 / [email protected].

Northumbria Coalition Against Crime, Northumbria Police HQ, Ponteland, Newcastle upon Tyne NE20 0BL
Telephone 01661 868 424, Fax 01661 868488, E-mail [email protected]