# £10mn grant round opens for activities that help protect children from violence

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/04/05/10mn-grant-round-opens-for-activities-that-help-protect-children-from-violence/
- Published: 2023-04-05T08:45:00+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) has today opened a new £10 million grant round 
to test the impact of sports, arts and adventure and wilderness activities on preventing
violence.**

Through its new grant round, [the YEF](https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/) will 
fund projects that use positive activities as a means to protect children from violence
and as a ‘hook’ to engage them in other support services. For example, talking therapies,
mentoring or social skills training.

The grant round is aimed at projects that support children who are already involved
in the youth justice system (for example, in either custodial or community-based
settings) or are considered at high-risk of becoming involved in offending.

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The charity aims to invest between £9 million and £10 million to fund and evaluate
five or six large-scale projects in England and Wales. Projects must deliver one
of the following positive activities:

 * Sports
 * The arts (including music making, arts and craft, dancing, drama, creative writing
   and poetry, photography, painting, pottery, sculpture or new media/digital arts)
 * Adventure activities
 * Wilderness activities

Projects will be funded for a maximum of 24 months and will need to support a minimum
of 350 children over this period.

Analysing research studies from across the world, the YEF estimates that sport programmes
have a high impact on preventing crime and violence.  The research also suggests
that adventure and wilderness therapy programmes have an impact, although the charity
estimates it’s lower. In both instances, the YEF states its confidence in its estimated
impact ratings are ‘low’ due to a lack of high-quality impact studies – an issue
it’s looking to directly address through its _Positive activities_ grant round. 
The YEF will publish an analysis of the impact of art programmes on crime and violence
later this year.

The YEF’s [_Positive activities_](http://www.youthendowmentfund.org.uk/grants/positive-activities)
grant round is open for applications until Friday 26 May.

Jon Yates, Executive Director at the Youth Endowment Fund, said: 

> “When children are facing challenges or going through difficult periods of their
> lives, structured sports, arts or outdoor activities can provide guidance and 
> support.
>  
> “Our £10 million funding will help us know which positive activities prevent violence
> and why. With this information, we can push for better services and support to
> ensure that all children can live a life free from violence.”

The Youth Endowment Fund was established in 2019 with a ten-year £200mn endowment
from the Home Office.

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