Dozens of youth organisations win share of Youth Investment Fund

Announcing the release of £70m of the £300m fund, first mooted in the Conservative Party’s 2019 general election manifesto, Lucy Frazer, MP for South East Cambridgeshire, said that every young person should have “someone to talk to, something to do, somewhere to go”.

Organisations to benefit from the latest release of the YIF, which forms part of the government’s £500m National Youth Guarantee, includes the Blackpool-based Fleetwood Trust.

• Youth Investment Fund to boost vital support for young people

• Hundreds of youth groups receive first YIF grants

The trust has been granted £1m to renovate part of an old NHS hospital site into a youth hub to support young people in the community.

The site will house a wider community hub by 2025.

Chairman of the Fleetwood Trust, Lord Tom McNally said: “Working in partnership with the young people of Fleetwood themselves, the Fleetwood Trust will use this funding to help meet their needs and priorities. 

“It also means that the Fleetwood Trust has a significant building block in place towards the creation, at the old Fleetwood Hospital, of a multi-service hub which will meet the needs and priorities of all the people of Fleetwood."

Elsewhere, Barking and Dagenham Council has been awarded £2m to revamp Romford’s Padnell Hall into a new youth zone.

Stoke-on-Trent’s Ten Count Boxing Gym has been granted almost £960,000 to refurbish its setting and Blackburn with Darwen’s youth services have been awarded more than £4.5m to redevelop two youth centres for eight- to 19-year-olds.

Earlier this week, Frazer cut the ribbon to reopen The Alt Valley Communiversity in Liverpool, the first major project to be completed through the YIF.

The site received £343,000 to build a new industrial kitchen and an outdoor performance space to expand its reach to an additional 100 participants a week. 

She said: “I want every young person to have the opportunity to access the kinds of life-changing activities which expand their horizons and allow them to develop vital life skills.

“We will make sure every young person has someone to talk to, something to do, somewhere to go.”

The National Youth Guarantee pledges that by 2025 every young person in England will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home, and volunteering opportunities.

It also commits £16m to boosting capacity in uniformed youth groups such as Scouts and Girlguiding.