Fathers 4 Justice campaigner launches charity in Brighton (From The Argus)

Fathers 4 Justice campaigner launches charity in Brighton

7:04pm Sunday 25th March 2007 in News By Nigel Freedman

A dads' campaigner is to launch a £1million charity in Brighton.

Controversial Fathers 4 Justice founder Matt O'Connor is fronting the new initiative which will be run by children for children.

He will give it a boost by putting £10,000 of his own money in to the fund to help get it off the ground.

The Future Heroes Project has applied for charitable status and aims to give away £1million over the next five years to children who want to make Britain a better place to grow up.

The project will launch at the Palace Pier, Brighton, at 12noon on Easter Monday with Conga4Kids.

It will give away its first £1,000 grant and the first trustees will be appointed.

Mr O'Connor, 40, a father-of-three from Winchester, said: "I picked Brighton because recent crime figures showed 10,000 teenagers are arrested in the area each year.

"I wanted to contribute something to help all children, not just the young offenders from fatherless families that sparked my concern in the first place.

"What I have been saying for the last five years about family breakdown is slowly gaining political currency."

The charity will appoint a "hero" aged 13 to 19 from every region of the country.

They will form a national board of "young heroes" which will consider applications for projects that could make Britain a better place to grow up.

It will award grants of up to £1,000 for each project and hopes to make 2,000 grants over five years.

Details of the launch and future projects are available at www.congathon.com