Youth Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Fund
Youth Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Fund delivery guidance
(2008)
This guidance sets outs out arrangements for local authorities to deliver these
Funds, effective from April 2008. This replaces previous Youth Opportunity
and Capital Fund guidance issued in March 2006.
The Youth Opportunity and Capital Funds provide discrete revenue and capital budgets for young people to control and decide how money should be spent on positive activities and youth facilities in their area. Funded activities must support the five Every Child Matters outcomes, benefit the local community and offer good value for money.
The involvement of young people, especially disadvantaged young people, is central to the Funds. Giving young people genuine influence over local services is recognised as the most effective way of ensuring better access and increasing participation in positive activities.
Aiming High for Young People announced the continuation of the two Funds until at least 2011 and expansion of the Youth Opportunity Fund in the most deprived areas. In March 2008 the Youth Taskforce Action Plan introduced a new dimension - Youth Capital Fund Plus - to provide additional funding to improve youth facilities in the most deprived areas, the same areas which will also benefit from the expansion of the Youth Opportunity Fund. A total of £220 million has been secured for the Funds over the next three years.
Youth Capital Fund and Youth Capital Fund Plus investments are integral to the Government's broader ambitions to improve the range and quality of places for young people to go and compliment the myplace programme of capital investment over the next three years.
The main aims of the Funds are to:
- Give a voice and influence to young people, particularly those facing
disadvantage, in relation to things to do and places to go and convey a
powerful message to young people that their needs and aspirations are
important
- Change the way local authorities and their partners commission and provide
activities and facilities for young people, especially in deprived
neighbourhoods, and increase the responsiveness of providers to what young
people want
- Improve things to do and places to go in line with what young people want
in their neighbourhoods and thereby increase their participation in positive
activities
- Provide opportunities for young people to develop their confidence,
knowledge, skills and abilities and gain recognition and/or accreditation for
them
- Increase the well-being of young people by contributing to the achievement
of the five Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes through engagement in activities
that have a positive impact on their development
- Increase young people's engagement with their services more generally and with democratic processes at the local level
Resources
Youth
Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Fund - Year End Report (July 2007)
Actions
Speak Louder (July 2007)
This celebratory booklet features the 15 winning projects from the Youth
Challenge Project, funded by the Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital
funds.
This page was last updated on 08 May 2008
