WIREDGOV

YOUNG people across the country will soon be reaping the benefits of £190 million worth of Government investment into world-class places for them to go. Local authorities and charities working with young people are invited to work together to bid for a share of the multi-million pound capital grants programme, which opens for applications today.

The myplace programme, funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), and delivered by the Big Lottery Fund, will be making available grants of between one and five million pounds. These grants will support projects across England that are working to create safe places for young people to go, where they can get involved in a wide range of exciting activities and get information and advice from people they trust.

Driven by the active participation of young people, myplace will support ambitious projects to create world-class places to go as part of the Government’s Aiming High strategy. The ten-year youth strategy was announced in July 2007 to help young people, particularly those in deprived areas, take part in positive activities that will help them develop new skills and raise their aspirations.

Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, Young People and Families, said: “We want to put young people in the lead, giving them a real say in delivering safe and high quality places for them to go – places they can call their own and that give them a chance to take part in a wide range of sports, dance, music and arts activities.

“There are already some fantastic examples - such as the Salmon Centre in London and Bolton Lads and Girls Club. But they are few and far between. We want young people in every area to have the same opportunities. Projects funded by myplace will be at the heart of strong communities and will give young people opportunities to develop the skills and ambition that will carry them through life.”

Big Lottery Fund Chief Executive, Peter Wanless, added: “The BIG Lottery Fund is expert in helping communities themselves develop projects that make a real difference to their quality of life.

“We are delighted to be able to bring those skills to bear, working alongside the DCSF to develop and deliver first-rate facilities with young people, which will open doors and enhance aspirations for thousands of youngsters in England.”

Projects benefiting from myplace funding must demonstrate genuine cross-sector partnership between local authorities and community and voluntary groups or the private sector. They must also demonstrate the active participation of young people throughout the development, design and future running of their project.

The programme will have two funding rounds over the next two years. The first round which opens today has a fast track that will enable well developed projects to access funds early with an application deadline of July 29, 2008, and grant decisions expected in October 2008. The standard route allows more time for applicants to develop their bids through two stages and will close for applications on September 30, 2008 with funding available from early 2010.

For more information about myplace and to see examples of the kind of world-class facilities the programme will fund, log on to www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• The BIG Lottery Fund distributes lottery funding to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. It also uses its expertise in grant-giving to distribute non-lottery funding. BIG has been appointed to distribute £190 million of Government funding from DCSF to develop world-class youth facilities in England through the myplace progamme.
• Application and guidance materials for the first funding round will be available from 6 May 2008. The deadline for fast track applications is 29 July 2008 and the deadline for the standard route is 30 September 2008. Full details of the proposed funding rounds and assessment criteria can be found at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
• For further information on myplace please visit the website http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/youthmatters/aiminghigh/myplace/
• The recent Youth Taskforce Action Plan announced that the Government is also investing a further £22.5m through the Youth Capital Fund to improve places for young people to go in neighbourhoods where anti-social behaviour is a particular problem.

Full details of the BIG Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

BIG Lottery Fund Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030. Textphone: 0845 6021 659.