Big Lottery Fund
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BIG learns from young people
The Big Lottery Fund yesterday publishes seven good practice guides for organisations working with young people. The new downloadable publications share learning and practical examples from projects supported by the Young People’s Fund. Since 2004 over £211 million has been invested in projects which actively involve young people in planning and delivering youth services.
The seven new downloadable good practice guides are:
- Encouraging Active Citizenship – supporting young people to make a positive contribution and engage with their community
- Actively involving young people – approaches to active involvement that have worked well for BIG funded projects
- Reducing anti-social behaviour and working with young people who have offended or are at risk of offending – examples of tackling ASB to minimise the risk of young people continuing with offending behaviour
- Improving behaviour in schools – how youth projects have the potential to positively influence the behaviour of young people who are at risk of disengagement or exclusion
- Reducing cases of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) – key learning from youth projects that have helped keep young people actively engaged with education and identifying the triggers and early warning signs of disengagement
- Working with young carers – lessons from organisations working with this hidden group of young people
- Working with care leavers – practical examples of ways to engage care leavers within youth projects and helping to address issues such as instability faced by individuals
Integral to BIG’s funding of young people has been to ensure young people are central to BIG’s decision making as well as the projects we fund. The guide ‘Actively involving young people’ highlights positive approaches from projects supported by BIG to effectively engage with young people.
One such project is Young Project @ Apostles and Cuthberts (YPACs) in Manchester with its SOLE (Shout Out Loud Everyone) project, a youth forum that gives young people responsibility for the planning, delivery and management of YPAC’s youth activities. Through developing a flexible approach to meetings and reducing minimum attendance they found that all members still had the opportunity to be actively involved in a way that was more suitable to their needs. The project lead advises that by remaining committed to the involvement of young people you can bring them on board at different times and in different ways.
Peter Ainsworth, Big Lottery Fund UK Chair said, “BIG has drawn on the knowledge and experience of the Young People’s Fund projects we have funded since 2004. Our new downloadable guides share ideas, tips and case studies of youth projects from across the UK. One of the key findings from our wider evaluation shows that involving young people in our decision making and that of the projects we fund has led to a change in culture among youth organisations. It has allowed young people to shape services that affect them, and develop new skills that will benefit them in the future.”
Putting its learning into practice, BIG is currently looking to recruit a group of motivated 16-25 year olds to help develop an investment that will benefit young people in England. In 2012 and 2013, BIG plans to invest money in ideas that will inspire young people in need, to build on their strengths and make a difference to their lives and communities. Those applying to help us achieve this will know the kind of services young people need, have experience of making difficult decisions as part of a team and be able to share their own views, not just those of an organisation or group they may belong to. For further information and to apply: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/index/about-uk/developing_a_new_investment_in_young_people
The good practice guides are available from http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/er_yp_gp.htm and Young People’s Fund evaluation reports are downloadable from http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/eval_ypf.htm
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund
Notes to Editors
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The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
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BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
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The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
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Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
