£40m cash injection to benefit lives of young people

5 Sep 2017 12:01 PM

Youth organisations will receive £40 million to boost the skills and life chances of young people living in disadvantaged areas.

The money is set to benefit 300,000 young people, providing new opportunities for them to get involved in their communities, support their personal development and get the skills and confidence they need to enter the workplace.

It will be used to create new youth clubs in rural areas, expand sports projects to build the confidence of young people encouraging them to get active and increase services providing support and guidance to young people.

The Youth Investment Fund - made up of government and  National Lottery players money from the from the Big Lottery Fund - will be shared by 86 youth organisations in East London, Liverpool City Region, West Midlands, Tees Valley and Sunderland, Bristol & Somerset and Eastern Counties over the next three years.

Minister for Civil Society Tracey Crouch, said: “This investment from the government and National Lottery players will have a transformational effect on the lives of some of our most disadvantaged young people. It will help thousands who might otherwise have gone under the radar flourish. Local voluntary and community youth organisations already do so much fantastic work and this £40 million will enrich the lives of many more young people throughout England.”

Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive, Big Lottery Fund said: “The Youth Investment Fund is a welcome boost for the many great community organisations that work with young people locally. Money raised by National Lottery players creates opportunities for young people to build on their talents and strengths and the Youth Investment Fund is an important part of the jigsaw for the youth sector.”

Examples of projects that will receive funding to better the lives of young people in their area are:

• Youth Federation: The Liverpool-based charity will receive £749,664 to improve youth provision across Wirral, Halton and St Helens. Youth Federation aims to reach out to nearly 5,000 local young people, providing coding and digital skills to increase their employability and improve mental health through sport.
• Kite Trust: Cambridgeshire LGBT charity will be awarded £193,554 to create four safe spaces for 600 young people to receive advice and support on issues such as isolation. The charity will also develop and implement an education and corporate training programme for schools and businesses in the region to promote equality and inclusion.
• SkyWay: Located in Hackney, the charity delivers a wide range of activities and programmes in youth clubs, sports centres, parks and house estates. It will use £407k in funding to improve its offer to young people by buying new equipment such as cooking utensils, arts and crafts kits and sports equipment, that will be used in support sessions. It will also increase the number of young people being trained as young leaders, a programme that is currently oversubscribed at Skyway.

The fund will allow the chosen organisations to expand the services they provide to young people, and sustain them over the coming years.

The New Philanthropy Capital and the Centre for Youth Impact will work alongside each of the 86 organisations to evaluate the impact of their work with young people.

Find an organisation near you that has received a grant from the Youth Investment Fund

Notes to Editors:

1. The Youth Investment Fund is equally funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Big Lottery Fund.
2. The Big Lottery Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It puts people in the lead to improve their lives and communities, often through small, local projects. It is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by National Lottery players for good causes. In 2016/17 it awarded £712.7 million and supported more than 13,814 projects across the UK for health, education, environment and charitable purposes. Since June 2004 it has awarded £8.5 billion to projects that change the lives of millions of people.
3. A breakdown of the bidding criteria can be found here
4. The fund will be given to organisations in East London, Liverpool City Region, West Midlands, Tees Valley and Sunderland, Bristol & Somerset and Eastern Counties. These areas were chosen based on measures of deprivation, to make sure that the funding reaches areas of greatest need.