A project to help meet the needs of the diverse families that live in St Albans is getting a funding boost from a local county councillor.

County Councillor Allan Witherick (St Albans North) has allocated £1500 from his locality budget to the Sure Start Children’s Centre in St Albans as a contribution to purchase multicultural items such as clothes, food, equipment and books.

A total of £10,000 is available to each of the 77 members of Hertfordshire County Council to spend on worthwhile community projects in their area.

The Children’s Centre in St Albans provides a range of services to parents and carers of under-fives, in line with the objectives of Sure Start. Sure Start is a government programme to give every child the best start in life by bringing together early education, childcare, health and family support.

Councillor Witherick said: “St Albans has a wealth of different communities and ethnicities. I have spoken to families from countries as diverse as Italy and India through to Morocco and Albania locally. Providing this funding will hopefully help them to learn more about the world, and their own heritage. Being of mixed heritage myself I know how important this can be.”

Locality budgets were launched in July 2009, with funding to be used for worthy social, economic or environmental causes in Hertfordshire. For information on how to apply for funding under the scheme, visit www.hertsdirect.org/localitybudgets.