Young people in St Albans will now have the opportunity to gain skills to become a community leader thanks to a district council grant.

The Rainbow Project was awarded £3,820 from St Albans District Council to support its work with young people from Bangladeshi and other ethnic minority backgrounds.

The project aims to equip young people with the skills to succeed in a competitive business world and to become effective community leaders Sarwar Shamsher, chair of the association, said: "The council’s community grant has made it possible for us to run training sessions which have had a very positive impact on our young people.

"The hard work of Rainbow Association members, various professionals and volunteers has been invaluable.

"We now want to extend this project in the future. We want to include sessions to encourage volunteering and mentoring, and to make our training accessible to the wider community, and to people of different ages."