Isle of Wight awards youth service funding to charities
Laura McCardle
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Eleven voluntary and community groups are set to provide youth services on behalf of Isle of Wight Council, the authority has confirmed.
The council has awarded the organisations grants of between £9,705 and £202,500 to develop a new youth offer for 11- to 19-year-olds and young people under 25 with additional needs.
The funding will support the groups, which include the Footprint Trust, Ventor Town Council and Revive Newport, to provide youth services over the next three years.
As part of the new offer, YMCA Isle of Wight, which received £35,000, will launch a social enterprise project.
The project will support young people to launch their own enterprises, with any profits being re-invested into the project or donated to charity.
Emma Corina, area director, said the project was designed in response to the island’s high youth unemployment rates.
She said: “Young people will have the opportunity to open their own enterprise with £1,000 of seed funding.
“The idea is that they will be using their talents and their enthusiasm to engage their community in their enterprise.
“We have very high youth unemployment and we’re an isolated community. The local community is very much focused on tourism, it’s low paid so we want to spark entrepreneurism in young people.”
Isle of Wight Foyer has received £202,500 – the largest amount awarded – to develop a range of universal and targeted provision designed to develop aspirations and motivation in Ryde, Wootton and East Cowes.
Steve Hillman, director of policy and resources at the Foyer Federation has welcomed the funding.
He said: “Our recently launched strategy calls for just this kind of new youth offer – a joined-up and co-ordinated approach on the part of local areas, to enable all young people to develop independent living and thriving adulthoods.”
In January, Isle of Wight Council announced it wanted to get voluntary and community groups involved in delivering youth services as part of efforts to save £200,000 from the department’s £916,000 budget.
The organisations were selected following an open bidding process during May and June, which saw 20 voluntary and community groups apply for funding.
