Funding: Big Lottery Youth in Focus programme launched

The Big Lottery Fund has launched its new programme for projects working with particular groups of young people.

'Youth In Focus' aims to target three groups of young people:

• Young carers – Helping these young people between the
  ages of 10 and 25 to be heard and get better access to
  practical advice and the services that can support their day
  to day lives.
• Young people leaving care – Supporting these young
  people between the ages of 15 and 25, so they get better
  access to education, housing, healthcare and employment
  advice and services.
• Young people leaving youth offenders’ institutions –
  Helping these young people between the ages of 15 and
  25 to develop their life skills and get better access to
  services, particularly young men with learning difficulties
  and young women.

Up to £30million is available in total. They expect projects to apply for between £500,000 and £1m over three or five years.

They want to fund projects that work with these young people to:

• improve their confidence, skills and knowledge – so they can deal better with the life events that affect them
• provide more effective support that is joined up with other services – so they can tackle challenges better.

To bring about these changes they’ll expect applicants to:

• target one or more of the groups that our Youth in Focus programme aims to support
• involve the young people who will benefit throughout, from the earliest stages
• form a partnership of voluntary, public or private sector organisations with relevant expertise, led by a voluntary sector organisation
• make sure that the benefits of the project carry on after BLF funding ends; and
• share what they have learnt with BLF and others.

The programme launched in July 2010 and the deadline for applications is 2pm 30th November 2010.