Organisations working with young people can apply for funding through the Youth Social Action Fund.
Organisations working with young people in lower socioeconomic areas in England can apply for funding through the new Youth Social Action Fund.
The Fund received £1 million from the Cabinet Office, as part of the government’s pledge to support Step Up To Serve’s #iwill campaign. The #iwill campaign aims to increase participation in youth social action (volunteering, fundraising and campaigning) by 50% by 2020.
The government is encouraging charities, community interest companies and social enterprises to apply.
The additional £1 million will support youth social action opportunities based on results from the Cabinet Office and Ipsos Mori Youth Social Action Survey.
In partnership with Pears Foundation, this fund will invest a total of £1.26 million (with equal contributions from Cabinet Office and Pears Foundation) to grow youth social action opportunities for young people across England.
The Youth Social Action Survey showed that young people from the least affluent families, socio-economic group C2DE, had a participation rate of just 34% compared to those from the higher socio-economic group, ABC1, at 45%. This rises to 51% when looking at just the AB group (upper middle class and middle class). It also showed that 36% of young people living in rural areas took part in social action, whereas their contemporaries living in urban areas had a participation rate of 42%. Applicants to this fund would need to demonstrate how their programmes would help provide opportunities for young people from the C2DE socio-economic group and/or living in rural areas.
The Cabinet Office and Pears Foundation are particularly interested in receiving applications from organisations to improve the reach and impact of existing programmes that are sustainable and scaleable in the long term e.g. working with volunteers, through partnerships or utilising existing structures and institutions. We would also be interested in bids which wish to pilot, within existing programmes, innovative approaches to addressing issues of need, access or inclusivity, or which embrace cross-sector partnerships e.g. with the health, education or social care sectors.
For further information and to apply, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-youth-social-action-fund-expressions-of-interest, or email: [email protected]
Deadline to complete an expression of interest, Friday 28 August 2015, 5pm