UK Youth sets up new fund with £10 million funding from Julia & Hans Rausing
Melanie May | 28 February 2022 | News
The UK Youth Fund – Thriving Minds will see £10 million provided over three years by Julia and Hans Rausing channelled into youth work to support young people with their mental health.
The fund launches today, 28 February, and is open to youth organisations in the UK with a turnover of up to £500,000. It is a response to the evidence UK Youth received when it joined forces with Julia and Hans Rausing during the pandemic to distribute £1.3 million in small grants. Over 750 youth workers highlighted their concerns regarding significant deterioration in the mental health of the young people with whom they work.
Youth workers across the UK Youth movement, which includes over 8,000 youth organisations, have also reported seeing significant rises in young people seeking help with their mental health while wait times and fear of talking to professionals mean many are not getting the support they need.
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The UK Youth Fund – Thriving Minds forms part of the charity’s commitment to channel at least £30 million into youth work by 2025; leveraging its network, experience and expertise to deliver a package of ‘wrap-around support’, beyond funding, to deliver sustained impact for young people.
A funding model that responds directly to need will see the charity working closely with grantees throughout the three-year period to develop both partnership and capacity building capabilities alongside grants. This will give grantees access to professional development and youth development content, enabling them to provide high-quality youth work in their communities and improve young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Ndidi Okezie, CEO of UK Youth said:
“We are incredibly grateful to Julia and Hans Rausing for their partnership and unfailing belief in the power of youth work as the catalyst for change that young people need now more than ever. That is the central goal of our Unlocking Youth Work strategy, and these kinds of partnerships go to the heart of our vision for sustained change.
“Not only have they recognised the urgency to respond with revenue funding now, but they have also shone a much-needed light on the pivotal role that youth workers play in supporting young people at all stages of life, including at times of crisis.
“There is an opportunity here to innovate what collaboration looks like across multiple sectors and deliver a model that pushes the boundaries of what traditional funding distribution looks like.”
Julia and Hans Rausing said:
“This funding is a continuation of our work with UK Youth and follows the successful Youth Centre Recovery Fund we launched during the height of the pandemic. During our work with UK Youth, we established there is a real need for youth workers to support young people at such important stages of their lives.
We hope that The UK Youth Fund – Thriving Minds and the £10 million funding will be another example of how good quality, targeted youth work can make a real difference to young people across the UK, and we can’t wait to see the results.”
Last week, it was announced that Julia & Hans Rausing had given a £3 million donation to Centrepoint. Again supporting youth, this donation will support the development of Centrepoint’s Independent Living Programme, which gives young people experiencing homelessness in London and Manchester a home and a job or an apprenticeship.
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.