Youth projects to receive share of £7m from Youth Accelerator Fund
Melanie May | 3 February 2020 | News
The government has announced which organisations are to receive a share of its £7m Youth Accelerator Fund.
The Youth Accelerator Fund was announced last October, and has been set up to address urgent needs in the youth sector and expand existing successful projects run by Sport England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England and British Film Institute.
Youth clubs and organisations in sport, arts, film and heritage will receive a share of the fund, to deliver a range of positive activities for young people to develop skills and contribute to their local communities.
UK Youth, the membership organisation for youth clubs in the UK, will distribute £1.15 million to run a small grants programme to deliver extra sessions in youth clubs and youth groups across England.
The following organisations will also receive funding:
- Sport England: £1.32 million to expand grassroots programmes and offer extra-curricular sport to young people in deprived areas.
- National Lottery Heritage Fund: £1.27 million to invest additional funding into ‘Kick the Dust’, a project for young people to enjoy, learn and lead heritage based activities in their communities.
- Arts Council England: £500,000 to expand their Youth Music programme, supporting music making for young people in challenging circumstances.
- British Film Institute: £155,000 to expand the weekly BFI Saturday Clubs to more areas of the country.
Additionally, over £2 million of the funding will go towards setting up new Local Partnerships across the country, designed to effectively coordinate and sustain local youth activities. Areas will be encouraged to bid for a Local Partnership, that will bring together existing providers, statutory partners and the private sector to deliver programmes for young people.
The investment follows the Chancellor’s announcement last year of a £500 million Youth Investment Fund for the five years from April 2020, to give young people somewhere to go, something positive to do and someone to speak to.
Maddie Dinwoodie, Deputy CEO of UK Youth said:
“We are delighted to be awarded £1.15 million of funding to distribute through grants to the UK Youth Movement in order to ensure youth services can reach more young people and provide additional activities.
“Youth services are vital as they have transformational and lasting effects on young people’s wellbeing, social and employability skills. At UK Youth we are dedicated to ensuring that every young person can reach an accessible safe space in their community, where they can experience positive activities, develop skills and build relationships with trusted adults.”Advertisement
Eilish McGuinness, Executive Director, Business Delivery at The National Lottery Heritage Fund said:
“This fantastic additional investment will build on the already strong partnerships that are flourishing through our Kick The Dust programme. The collaboration we’re seeing through the Youth Accelerator Fund shows a really joined up approach across all the activities that, together, we know young people can benefit from.
“The extra funding will mean more things happening in more places with more young people, showing how Government investment alongside National Lottery funding can really deliver positive outcomes for young people. We’ve seen through our Kick The Dust projects how young people who might not feel heritage is for them can develop their skills, build their confidence whilst making a difference in their communities.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.