Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) – tackling violence

What projects will it fund?

Funding will focus on four areas:

1. Parenting programmes (including programmes for foster carers or people working with children in residential care), which help parents and their children to develop positive behaviours and relationships.

2. Family therapyinterventions (including for children in foster care), which offer whole families structured forms of therapy.

3. Programmes to reduce parental conflict, specifically designed to improve relationships between parents or carers.

4. Domestic abuse interventions, which are specifically designed to prevent and reduce harm to children and adults.

How much is available?

The YEF says that it is planning to spend “between £6m and £10m depending on how well applications meet our criteria”. Comic Relief is also investing £2m into the programme.

It expects to identify between five and 10 programmes in England and Wales to fund and evaluate.

It wants to invest in approaches that are “most effective in helping families and carers to create a supportive home environment for six- to 14-year-old children, reducing the likelihood of them becoming involved in violence”.

By funding programmes in England and Wales, the YEF aims to build knowledge of how best to support families. And that includes building understanding of what works for children in the care system, who are significantly over-represented in the youth justice system.

What issues are important?

Conversations the YEF have had with children and young people, and those working with them, has made it clear that key challenges growing up in disadvantaged homes include conflict and domestic abuse, substance misuse and family members involved in crime.

It says there is evidence that family support can be effective in tackling these issues, but much of it is international rather than UK-based, so the programme aims to address this.

The YEF is using a broad definition of “families” to incorporate anyone who plays a long-term supportive role in a child’s life, including extended family members or kinship networks, foster families and children’s homes.

It is also interested in what support works for teenagers in local authority care, because this fast-growing group “often don’t receive the help they need to have a stable and supportive home”.

Why this focus now?

The announcement follows a four-month consultation with more than 450 people working to keep children safe. Through Comic Relief, children and young people with lived or near experience of violence got involved to tell the charities what they wanted to see funded.

What is the timeframe?

Applications for the grant round open on 27 September, when more detailed guidance for applicants will be published on the YEF website.

Introductory workshops were held in September, and an application masterclass is being held on 29 September.

The deadline for applications is 1 December, with shortlisted projects notified in March 2022. From April, shortlisted applicants will co-design programmes with evaluators before grants are awarded in September 2022.

Who supports the fund?

Rachel de Souza, children’s commissioner for England, says: “There is a growing understanding in society that supporting the family, and supporting it early, is the way to tackle a myriad of social problems. Children tell me this themselves. I’m confident we can make life better for our most disadvantaged children but we need to be targeted, focused and we need to do it now.”

Samir Patel, chief executive of Comic Relief says: “We’re really excited that this programme has been co-designed with young people, they have used their experiences and knowledge and identified the services they would like to see delivered, alongside advice from expert key workers. Everyone deserves the best start in life and I hope these new programmes and outreach services will help transform the lives of thousands of people.”

• More from: https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/

Funding roundup

• West of England charity 1625 Independent People has been awarded grant funding of £875,000 by the Youth Futures Foundation and £720,000 by the West of England Combined Authority. It secures the organisation’s ability to support young people leaving care to prepare for and find paid work.

• Community charity Groundwork has received funding of nearly £1m to extend the delivery of the youth employment programme, Progress, into 2023. This will allow the programme to support a further 341 15- to 24-year-olds across Coventry and Warwickshire to find employment, training or education opportunities. Progress is part of the Building Better Opportunities programme and funded by the European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund.

• The government will invest an additional £2m into the #iwill Fund, which will be matched by The National Lottery Community Fund to create thousands of new volunteering, social action and community activities for young people. Since 2016 the #iwill Fund has created more than 650,000 opportunities for young people.

• Comic Relief and Walkers have launched Smiles, a fund for organisations that use the arts and comedy to challenge mental health stigma and help individuals at risk of poor mental wellbeing to seek support. The programme will offer grants of up to £300,000 and aims to support organisations that focus on early intervention and community-based approaches to start conversations, promote positive social connections and support individuals to build resilience.