The Young Women in Mind programme, previously called the Young Women’s Mental Health programme, aims to improve access to mental wellbeing support for women aged 16 to 25, with around £1mn available each year from 2021 to 2026.
What are the aims?
Recent years have seen a sharp rise in mental ill health among women. Young women are especially vulnerable, with more than 25% experiencing mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression and self-harming – almost three times the rate of young men. Social factors and structural inequalities such as lower income, caring responsibilities, and the trauma of domestic and sexual abuse exacerbate these problems and make it difficult for them to access resources and services. Those in the 16 to 25 age group experience many life challenges, and most mental health problems reveal themselves before the age of 24.
How much is available?
The trust strategy for the programme is to fund fewer organisations with grants of between £60,000 and £100,000 over three years.
Funding can be tailored to meet the needs of the project, including delivery and core costs. The trust encourages applicants to consider costs associated with monitoring and evaluating their work, networking, advocacy/campaigning activities and sharing good practice.
Who can and can’t apply?
The programme is only open to charities working in Northern Ireland, North West or North East England, Yorkshire and the Humber. Charities must be based or have projects operating in one of these areas and have been running for at least three years and have an annual income of between £100,000 and £1mn.
Grants are not available to individuals, non-UK charities, nor not-for-profit organisations including community interest companies and social enterprises.
What work does it fund?
The trust says it particularly wants applications from organisations developing good practice or innovation relating to age- and gender-informed approaches to mental health provision.
It will also prioritise those that work collaboratively with partners to extend their impact and share expertise, and that champion fair and equal access to mental health services.
Although focused on meeting the needs of young women aged 16-25, the trust will also consider projects where at least 80% of the participants of the work fall within the 16-25 age band. Beneficiaries of services may not have been formally diagnosed but their mental health problems will have a clear impact on their ability to cope.
The programme is not for prevention work, acute services, generalised wellbeing initiatives or generic mental health youth services where the service has not been designed to be gender or age specific.
Useful tips for success
The Pilgrim Trust has created eight “fund-principles” that are used to identify bids that are a good fit for the funding. Bidders should demonstrate:
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A track record of working with young women aged 16-25
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A track record of delivering mental health services including trauma-informed ones
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Offer wraparound support that meets the holistic and practical needs of young women
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Provide safe, women-only services and/or spaces that are accessible to young women
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Involve those with lived experience in the design of their services, beyond consultation
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Have staff and trustees that are representative of the communities that they work with
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Develop and share learning with their peers
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Have an impact that reaches beyond immediate beneficiaries of the work
Timescales and how to apply
Applicants should take a short organisational eligibility quiz. There is then a two-stage application process: stage 1 involves completing an online application form outlining the project. Promising projects will be sent a stage 2 application form that can set out the proposal in full.
The deadline for a stage 1 application is 8 July with stage 2 applications needing to be made by 27 August.
More information from: info@thepilgrimtrust.org.uk
Funding roundup
The Department for Education has recommissioned charity Kinship to deliver kinship carer support groups in England, for the next two years, following a competitive tender process. Kinship carer support groups provide nurturing communities in which kinship carers can share their experiences and support one another through challenges that are specific to kinship care. The new funding, worth £1.2mn, means that Kinship can continue to offer every kinship carer in England the opportunity to be supported within a local or online group until March 2026.
A project focused on building a solid, early foundation in maths has been awarded a grant of almost £100,000 by education charity SHINE. Three Saints Academy Trust, based in St Helens, Merseyside, will develop a specialised programme tailored for early years children. Nursery teachers will be upskilled to teach the subject effectively, through training, coaching and mentoring. Meanwhile, parents will be shown how they can help develop their children’s maths skills at home through a series of workshops and resources.
BBC Children in Need, the Health Foundation and Impact on Urban Health have presented £1 million to The Children’s Society as the winners of the A Million & Me Award. Every pound donated by BBC Children in Need has been matched by The Children’s Society. Focusing their support particularly on young people from marginalised communities, The Children’s Society will use BBC Children in Need funding to magnify their impact by offering their services to children as young as eight.
