Charities, social enterprises and community groups across Renfrewshire are to share a £500,000 windfall.
The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund was launched in 2021 by the Scottish Government to support adults in towns and villages across the country.
A total of 59 projects in Renfrewshire have received funding this year, with amounts ranging from £600 to over £30,000.
While some projects have received a second year of funding to develop their work, the majority of this year's projects are new to the fund.
One such group are the Renfrewshire chapter of Dates'n'Mates, a national programme that supports adults with learning disabilities to find friendship and build trusted networks.
Janie Waddell, regional lead for west of Scotland at Dates'n'Mates, told The Gazette: "The effect of Covid cannot be underestimated on the learning disability community.
"An already isolated and lonely group of individuals saw their services cut or reduced. The recent cost-of-living crisis has only exacerbated the situation.
"This funding will make sure we can offer these people a chance to meet new people, make new friends and build lasting relationships.
"It will give them the chance to become active participants within their communities, rather than silent bystanders."
Another project benefitting from the fund is Jambo! Radio, a Renfrewshire-based digital radio station run and aimed at ethnically diverse communities across the west of Scotland.
George Tah, co-ordinator at Jambo! Radio, is excited about the outreach work their funding will create.
He said: "This funding will support Jambo! Radio's volunteers working on our mental health programming to do more community outreach work, including explaining and offering translations of local services in different languages, community engagement, support, and signposting people to the appropriate services."
Alice McBride, fund officer at Engage Renfrewshire, added: "This second round of applications has been an even harder process, with more groups applying than year one and so much good work already demonstrated from 2022.
"It's clear that there is still a lot of need out there but we're excited for these newly funded projects to develop, to grow and hopefully have long reaching impacts for the people of Renfrewshire."
To view the full list of funded projects that will be running throughout 2023, visit www.engagerenfrewshire.org or follow the dedicated Instagram page @renmhwb.
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