Charities supporting young people in disadvantaged areas are to share £70m in government funding.
The grants are the latest awards handed out through the government's Youth Investment Fund. This aims to improve youth services and facilities, which have been impacted by devastating government cuts over the last decade.
The first round of funding for building and renovation work on youth facilities was announced in March and saw £90m handed to 43 projects.
This latest found announced today sees 44 projects, run by councils and charities, share £70m including capital grants.
The YMCA has received more than £5m to improve facilities in Somerset, Southampton, St Helens, Lincolnshire and Newcastle.
Scout Groups in Sheffield and Norwich have been handed £2.7m. This includes £1.82m to build a sustainable youth facility in Sheffield.
“It will be a Net Zero carbon building, we won’t be using gas, so we can stop burning fossil fuels. It will be better for the environment and cheaper to run,” said the Scouts about its new Sheffield premises.
Meanwhile Gloucestershire Charity The Music Work has received £932,413 for work at the Cinderford Hub in the county and All Saints Community Development Company in Birmingham has been handed £3.13m.
Another to receive a grant is Bridlington Club for Young People, which has been handed £1.05m.
Local authority youth services to receive grants include Blackburn and Darwen Council, East Sussex County Council and Blackpool Council.
The Youth Investment Fund (YIF) is funded by the government and is being delivered by Social Investment Business, alongside Key Fund, National Youth Agency (NYA) and Resonance.
The Youth Investment Fund is levelling up youth centres across England
— Department for Culture, Media and Sport (@DCMS) August 4, 2023
44 sites will benefit from £70 million of government funding
This adds to the 43 beneficiaries who received over £90 million funding in March
Map of Youth Investment Fund awards
▶️ https://t.co/ivQyYXXj7B pic.twitter.com/6Pfsmz0nhV
“We are delighted to see the breadth of the youth work sector which has benefited from the YIF grant programme, said NYA chief executive Leigh Middleton.
“But this is very much the start of their journey with us, as we support them to achieve their development plan, building their systems as well as the skills and confidence of their workforce, to ensure that their youth work offer cuts the mustard.”
“Over the next 12 months we will be providing focussed support to around 200 of the grantees, for example through dedicated webinars, as well as through the direct support of our Youth Work Specialists to help them embed the NYA’s standards and frameworks that will ensure that they are delivering youth work, which is responsive to need, high quality and safe.”
Analysis by the YMCA in 2021 revealed that youth services have suffered a £1.1bn loss over the previous ten years, due to a real term drop of 74 per cent in investment over this period.
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