Cabinet Office gives £255k to charities in Eastern England to help young people get involved in community action
Howard Lake | 5 August 2015 | News
The Cabinet Office is giving £1 million to charities who help get young people more engaged in community action. Of that, £255,000 will be distributed by Community Foundations in the east of England.
The £1 million has been put forward via the Youth Social Action Fund, as part of the Government’s ongoing support for the #iwill engagement campaign, run by national charity Step Up To Serve. This aims to increase participation in youth social action (volunteering, fundraising and campaigning) by 50% by 2020
Although most of the funding will be given away in large grants across the UK, £255,000 has been ear-marked especially for the East of England, after an official survey last year revealed only 25 per cent of 10-20-year olds in the region say they get involved their local community. Nationally the figure is 40%.
Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk
The £255,000 is being split equally between three of the region’s community foundations, and grassroots groups will be encouraged to apply for small grants of up to £5,000 for youth social action projects running from 2015-2016.
Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, Suffolk Community Foundation and Norfolk Community Foundation already run a variety of youth engagement programmes, and expect to support even more – from befriending schemes, where young people help local older people with daily tasks and IT skills, to dog walking, outdoor maintenance and mentoring schemes.
Matched giving
The foundations are also encouraging local donors, businesses and social investment companies to match the funds put up by the government, to ensure the chosen projects can run on into 2017.
UK Community Foundations‘ chief executive Fabian French said:
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“UKCF is extremely excited to be supporting the Cabinet Office and Step Up To Serve in increasing youth participation and volunteering in the East of England.
“Strengthening communities and increasing community engagement is the very reason community foundations exist, and the involvement of young people is crucial to the future of our communities. We believe it is vital young people are encouraged to engage in their local community, and we are thrilled to be working with our foundations in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk to make it happen.”
How to apply
Applications from organisations in the three counties can be made via:
• Cambridgeshire Community Foundation Local Youth Social Action Fund
• Suffolk Community Foundation information about the funding
• Norfolk Community Foundation information on applying for funding
Applications from other areas in England for the Youth Social Action Fund are now open.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.