The Young People's Fund (YPF) is the first programme to be undertaken by the Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund in their newly merged status as national lottery money distributors. A consultation has been launched on how to fulfil its aims of promoting youth inclusion through activities and facilities out of school and during holidays.
Some of the objectives of the scheme were outlined in London last week at the 4Children conference, 'Investing in our future, investing in young people'. Helen Thorne, senior policy officer for the New Opportunities Fund, said it would support the aims of the Green Paper Every Child Matters, namely, 'being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution, and overcoming socio-economic disadvantage, through a combination of national initiatives and locally-driven projects'.
Although YPF projects will be centrally defined and driven, they are intended to support a huge number of young people across the UK, particularly the disadvantaged. About 157m will be allocated to young people in England and the top slice used for national programmes, leaving approximately Pounds 77m as a non-ring-fenced element.
Ms Thorne said, 'Our thoughts are that this will be primarily focused on the voluntary sector, or partnership between voluntary and statutory organi- sations. However, we wish to help individual young people and small groups to fund community activities that support the outcomes of the Green Paper and give larger grants to large-scale national voluntary organisations that are innovative and of national significance, and which demonstrate new ways of tackling those outcomes.'
The consultation paper asks what age range the YPF, which currently has funding for those aged nought to 25 years, should focus on. It also asks how the YPF can ensure that young people are meaningfully involved in the funded projects, how it should fit into the 'funding jigsaw', and how it can ensure that the benefits of the grants are sustainable.
Research commissioned by the Sure Start Unit aimed at supporting local authorities nationally to develop services for older children was undertaken by 4Children, formerly the Kids' Clubs Network, from August 2003 to March 2004.
Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, said, 'Young people are the forgotten generation without places of their own or a voice in the community. There is a need for a much more strategic approach for planning for services in the eight plus age range. However, there is a major gap in provisions for people of transitional age - 11- to 16-year-olds.'
The consultation is on the New Opportunities Fund website at www.nof.org.uk. Views must be submitted by 14 May.
