Increasing VCS Capacity for Youth Activity – Grants Allocation 2012/13

Wakefield Council and its close partners in Young Lives are committed to ensuring a broad range of activities are available for young people within Wakefield to support their social development. We recognise the contribution that VCS partners make to the youth offer of positive activities but like all providers of youth activity, we are aware of the reduced funding streams available to support this work. We are pleased to say that resources have been identified for use in the short term to grow the youth offer of activities available within the district.

Since the key aim in allocating the grants is to evidence growth in the 'youth offer', priority will be given to:

·  projects that are new

·  projects in areas where there is little positive activity taking place

·  projects which attract new young people to participate. Young people will allocate funding based on this criteria.

Small grants of up to £7,000 will be made available to VCS groups working with young people aged 8 – 19 years (or up to 25 if the young people have disabilities). Decisions on how the grants will be awarded will be made by young people supported by adults from YDSS and Voluntary Groups.

We are looking for grant applications which meet the recognised concept of ‘Positive Activity’. A positive activity can include a wide range of sporting, cultural and recreational activities and opportunities for volunteering. The key focus is that activities are structured, good quality, led by an appropriately skilled adult and that they assist and support young people’s social development.

The money could be used to pay for

·  Volunteers expenses or staff time (workers directly involved in the project)

·  Resources – kit for sports, art work, games etc

·  Facilities hire – being directly used in the project

Funds will not be available for trips, visits or residential activities. Applications should focus on core activity within a Wakefield setting that is sustainable for not less than a 6 month period. Equally, because resources are limited we hope that bids will consider how more young people can be engaged in the activities.

Funds would not be awarded where:

·  The required supporting evidence is not submitted within the timeframes set out

·  The project/activity is not thoroughly risk assessed

·  The project/activity isn’t felt to be good value for money

·  Young people have not been engaged in the planning

·  The project/activity has already taken place

·  Training costs or management costs for the group applying

·  Costs to run buildings/utilities but reasonable building hire would be considered if costings were provided

In applying for funds, groups must agree that the project or activity being supported is publicised as part of the Wakefield Youth Offer and that data on the young people benefiting is made available as required. In order to meet audit requirements, groups benefiting from the funds will need to agree to provide invoices/evidence for all purchases and costs and to agree to quality assurance visits to the projects being funded.

Decisions in allocating funding to groups will be completed in December 2012. Funding for the successful applicants will be made available in the New Year.

Key Messages from Young People at Previous Fund Allocations

The funding will be under increased demand and the young people making decisions will scrutinise the applications closely. In order to support applicants as much as possible we wanted to share some of the collective feedback from young people when the awards were made in 2011/12.

Successful bids, in the main:

·  Clearly evidenced good value for money

·  Had photos and messages from the young people involved in shaping the project

·  Itemised exactly what the money would be spent on

·  Had projects or resources that would last over a long time rather than just being one event

Unsuccessful bids or partially successful bids:

·  Had higher staffing or artists costs

·  Asked for money for ‘refreshments’, or ‘incidentals’

·  Asked for 2 or 3 items of the same type (e.g. 3 Wiis)

·  Asked for funds to pay people to do what they already did

·  Were linked to organisations that the young people thought should have been providing the money (e.g. schools/supermarkets)

·  Had very high cost activities built into the programme

·  Had very expensive items of equipment that young people may not get to use

·  Said that young people had been involved but didn’t have much evidence to back it up

In putting these messages out, we are not intending any criticism of bids which were unsuccessful in the last round but rather we are hoping to give all applicants the best possible chances of success.

For guidance or queries about applying, we will be holding drop in sessions for you to attend. Further details about these sessions will be communicated shortly.

Applicants can contact Tami Mohans from YDSS on 01924 304540 of via email or Young Lives.

F:MH/VCS/VCS Youth Offer