Young Manchester has launched a Positive Engagement Programme which will engage more young people in the communities of Manchester through detached youth work. The charity has commissioned £250,000 for the 21-month project which will improve opportunities for young people. 
The funding will be focused on creating positive social action initiatives within communities such as developing skills in leadership, encouraging young people to lead healthier and more active lives and enabling them to be ready for work and lifelong learning.
The project will be led by Manchester Young Lives, a registered charity based in Wythenshawe and partner of Young Manchester, which has been working with children and young people in Manchester’s most disadvantaged areas for over 40 years. They will be supported by a number of other community focused organisations including Odd Arts, N-Gage and Families Against Violence.
Paul Fletcher, CEO at Manchester Young Lives said, "We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Young Manchester, Manchester City Council and One Manchester, to reach young people where they are, in communities across the city. We are excited about developing this new programme and supporting as many young people in to positive opportunities as possible."
The Positive Engagement Programme has been set up in collaboration with Manchester City Council, One Manchester and the Community Safety Partnership with an objective to engage more young people in social and educational development, training, volunteering and youth provision.
Nigel Murphy, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said: "This is a great project which will help create important new opportunities for young people in Manchester and help them reach their full potential. Keeping children and young people safe is a key priority for the city and this programme will help us deliver that."
The Manchester Community Partnership supports the vision to build happy, healthy and successful lives for young people, by tackling crime and antisocial behaviour and keeping children and young people safe from serious harm in the community.
“One Manchester is very excited about the Positive Engagement Programme as this partnership approach, will provide real life changing opportunities for young people living in our communities for years to come.” Alan Leicester, Group Head of Communities, One Manchester
Justin Watson, Director at Young Manchester also commented, ‘’It’s been an exciting opportunity for us to commission the Positive Engagement Fund. Not only will the funding help improve young people’s lives, it has enabled us to bring our partners and their expertise together to create something different for the City. We are keen to look into more projects like this that we can commission in the future’’.
Young Manchester launched In November 2017 and is a charity established to commission youth and play services across the City of Manchester with a mandate to make Manchester a world-class City for children and young people, where they can be happy, safe, realise their full potential and prosper from the city's economic growth.