Youth opportunity fund: How we spent it in... York

The City of York was able to hit the ground running with its youth opportunity and youth capital funds because it had been running a similar scheme - The £50,000 fund - since 1998. It has the tenth smallest allocation among English authorities, receiving £159,913 a year for the youth opportunity fund and £90,000 for youth capital fund.

Instead of starting anew, these funds were added to help develop the existing structures and the project was given a new name: Yorkash.

Who is on the panel? A panel system was already in place before the youth opportunity and youth capital funds began. Carole Pugh, voice and influence officer at York City Council, says the young people involved in the existing panel were retained but now many have moved on and the council is making a big push to recruit a new cohort and, in particular, to target hard-to-reach groups.

"We initially had about 20 involved, which became a core group of 12 and since we've had our end of year ceremony we're down to about four," says Pugh. "What I'm most proud about is that they own the process. They fund a very wide range of groups - only 25 per cent of the money has gone on local authority- run projects. Money has gone to Scouts, theatre groups, Duke of Edinburgh's groups - everywhere."

What do young people say? "It's been a really great experience," says Yorkash panel member Emma Keaney. She joined after seeing a video presentation on the previous panel's work.

"I thought it looked really interesting," says Keaney. "Since then I think we've all learned a lot of new skills, particularly communication skills for when we call up people to discuss their applications, but also things like punctuality.

"We've had well over a 100 applications - a lot of them have been really simple ideas that have made a difference," she continues. "I think the best part for me was the celebration event when we gave out a lot of the cheques - we organised it all, decided where we wanted it held, what food we'd have and everything else."

What have been the challenges? With the panel meeting on a weekly basis at certain times of the year, it required a big time commitment from the young people. There was also an inevitable drop off in interest among panel members after the celebration party.

The large number of applications received also posed problems. "At times the sheer amount of work threatened to make it difficult for the panel," adds Pugh.

"We offered to pre-select some of the applications to make it easier but they wouldn't have it. They've shown a real dogged determination and they've brought a fresh set of perspectives."

The future? Last year there were lots of small grants made, but this year the panel wants to change the focus slightly. With a relatively small amount to give and a large number of applications, it has been recognised that there was more of a bias towards projects asking for smaller amounts of money.

"Next year we want to make fewer but bigger grants," says Emma. A £5,000 minimum is being introduced for the main grants programme with a separate smaller fund for groups applying for up to £150.

Emma adds: "We're also looking at introducing organising a two-day residential when we can get a lot of the marking done."

WHERE THE MONEY WENT

Network 2 Dance Group Dance tutor Hayley Evans and six young people from the Clifton area were struggling to get their group off the ground. Having to rehearse in youth clubs was not great for motivation and membership numbers were dwindling. But thanks to a grant of £2,460 from the youth opportunity fund, the group can now afford to hire a brand new purpose-built facility and bring in a youth worker for four hours a week. There are now about 30 young members, who are working towards a series of performances including Dance Week in June. "If young people see they are being invested in, they respond,"says Evans. "Going through the application process was an education for them."

RAWCLIFFE CREW - A one evening a week youth club in local community centres needs to work hard to pull in young people regularly. Members of Rawcliffe Crew were aware they lacked a wide range of play and other equipment and so submitted a bid to the youth opportunity fund. "The young people put in for £1,400 for new equipment and found the process ok," explains youth worker Terry Kiernan. "They were a bit unsure about it at first and I had to be honest with them and explain they were competing for money against a lot of others." The bid was successful though, and the club has bought a PlayStation, a Wii, a garlic crusher and pots and pans for the kitchen to help with a healthy eating initiative.

2-SLICK - Young people from the Momentum on Two Wheels motorbike project put in a bid to extend their project to include motorised go-karts. The project has its own grass track and the £2,500 grant will now fund the purchase of two quad-bikes and help meet some of the running costs. Youth worker John Mayled explained that the project currently runs a 15-week course focusing on safety and the empowerment of young people. The quad bikes will enable an extended course to be run so that young people can be involved for about six months during which time they can ride, learn about mechanics and contribute by being a marshal and enable other young people from across the city to use the facilities.