Young People Bid For Cash - Youth facilities

06/08/08 Young People Bid For Cash - Youth facilities

Youn people in East Sussex are being urged to bid for cash to pay for improvements to their youth clubs, centres or facilities.

The money to help groups across the county is from the Government’s Youth Capital Fund (YCF) which is administered in the county by East Sussex County Council.

But although the council administers the grant programme young people are involved at every step of the funding process. Young people have to put forward their ideas and bid for funding, and a panel of young people decides which projects to fund.

The money, available in grants of between £5,000 and £25,000, can be spent on improving their local facilities and the total amount available for East Sussex is £236,000.

All applications have to be supported by an adult from a youth or community organization and in the application the young people have to explain in detail what they want the money for and how it will be spent. The grants are designed for capital improvements including decorations or refurbishments of buildings, new vehicles, or new static fixtures, for example a skate ramp.

In addition they can also apply for money from a separate funding stream, the Youth Opportunity Fund, to support their YCF application – perhaps to buy small pieces of equipment or for activities linked to the YCF project.

Cllr Meg Stroude, the County Council’s Lead Member for Children and Families said: “In the past few years through this grant programme we’ve been able to help hundreds of local youth groups improve their facilities. The good thing about it is that it’s led by the young people themselves so it really gets them involved in making a difference in their local community.”

More than £470,000 in grants has been issued to 43 projects under the Youth Capital Fund in the past couple of years and over £500,000 has been allocated to 264 projects under the Youth Opportunity Fund.

Cllr Stroude added: “I would really encourage young people to take up this opportunity. There’s only a certain amount of money available but this really is a great chance for them to come up with ideas to improve their local facilities.”

The deadline for applications for the YCF funding is 1st October. More information including the application form, the criteria for the Youth Capital Fund and the conditions of funding are available in our section for teenagers and young people.

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